The Elements of Turmoil

by RadaVonVon

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Adventure, Sad, Dark, Romance
Length: 70933

Turmoil and Harmony are like two sides of one coin; one simply cannot exist without the other.

Time moves on. In spite of whatever happens, the world still turns. The clock still ticks.
There is an imbalance in Equestria.
Long after the Elements of Harmony have gone their separate ways to have families and their own lives, the only ones who can sense it are the Princess and the Spirit of Disharmony himself.
And Princess Celestia is insisting it has something to do with the foals of the Mane Six!
Much to the parents' protest, she sends them on a far-away journey to a land called Dystopia to stop whatever was disturbing Equestria before it is torn apart.
But, it seems that the threat has always been right under their noses, and is far more powerful than anypony ever imagined. How do you defeat a being that can change your very memories against your own will?
Somehow, they have to only hope that their foals are safe while everything slowly comes full circle.
"Turmoil and Harmony are like the two sides of one coin; one simply cannot exist without the other."

-Next generation-
Fluttermac, SoarinDash, TwilightWhooves, Bluejack, DiscordPie, SpikeRarity
Tyrant Celestia/Trollestia.

Rated for very light crude humor, alcohol references, very minor language.

Images of the Elements of Turmoil made with General Zoi's pony maker: http://generalzoi.deviantart.com/art/Pony-Creator-Full-Version-254295904
Future cover image will be by Auzie-Angel: http://auzie-angel.deviantart.com/

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-01-07 06:21:48 UTC

Chapter 2: Rebellion

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 2: Rebellion

The morning light filtered in slowly through the blinds of modest house, filling the room with light, very slowly. It began to illuminate the room with a soft dawn glow before spreading its golden rays across the room, spilling around the home as darkness faded to dawn.

When Fluttershy rose, she found the other side of the bed had been long since cold, messy and unkempt. She smiled sheepishly and slowly made the bed, smiling and humming quietly to herself. Big Mac had most likely been out there since long before sunrise. She quietly trotted downstairs and knocked on the door nearest to the kitchen. When there was no answer, she slowly creaked it open and poked her head in.

“Applecore, dear?” She whispered softly. “It’s time to get up…” She quietly moved forward, and when the filly, wrapped up in the blankets that were strewn across the room didn’t stir, she quietly nudged the foal pegasus' head.

“Mmfmm…” Applecore grumbled, raising her pale orange head and glancing sleepily at Fluttershy. “Whaaaat?”

“O-oh dear, it’s just, I thought because your father might be tired and hungry when he comes back, so I thought that maybe, oh, maybe I was wrong…”

“Eeyup.” Applecore grumbled, putting her head under the pillow and immediately falling back asleep with a loud and satisfying yawn.

Fluttershy paused, first opening her mouth to say something, but then smiling to herself and gently closing the door. She went outside and began to prepare breakfast, just as Big MacIntosh waltzed in the door. “Ya wouldn’t believe just how hot it is out tharh…” He grumbled, moving forward and kissing Fluttershy for a moment, who blushed.

“Oh… Is it really that bad? Should I he-“

“Naw. Ya’ll just stay here, now. Ah’ll take care’a this here farm we have, and that Ah maintain.” He mumbled proudly, nuzzling Fluttershy’s neck for a minute and sitting down. “What are ya cookin’, applesauce?”

“Oh, uh…” Fluttershy stammered, blushing. “Nothing, just some eggs. I thought I’d let Applecore sleep in today… She was tired…”

“Ah hope so. That girl can really run around. She tired me out, eeyup, she did.”

Fluttershy smiled at him. “She does that to me, too.” She cracked several eggs and fried them quickly, and set five before Big Mac.

“Aww, darlin’, yer so sweet…”

Fluttershy smiled sweetly and poured him a cup of coffee, just as Applecore stumbled out in her pyjamas. “Mornin’…” She murmured, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Why, good morning.” Fluttershy turned and smirked quietly, kissing her daughter on the top of the head. “Did you sleep okay?

“I did.” She nodded, sitting down, and Fluttershy set two eggs in front of her.

“Daddy’s been out since it was dark.”

“Really, dad!? Did you buck all the trees?”

“Sure did, sweetheart.” Big Mac chuckled, smiling at his daughter as he chewed on the lengthy piece of grass. He was still sweating slightly.

Fluttershy served herself last, sitting down with her plate of two eggs and smiling across from Applecore, whom was fixated with breaking the yolk in her egg and swirling it around the egg white.

The first time Fluttershy was aware someone was outside was when she heard a crack, and a small cry of pain from outside. She jumped up from her seat, hurrying out the door to find Big MacIntosh, doubled over in pain, his forelegs crossed against his chest, panting.

She scurried outside, fear lighting up her eyes as she jumped out and darted toward the large stallion, hooves clopping against the packed earth as she rested beside him. “O-oh dear!”

“Augh…” The red pony grunted, forcing himself to his feet, while Fluttershy stopped him by planting a hoof on top of him. “Oh, no, please, don’t do that…” She murmured quietly, staring at him in worry with blue eyes wide. “Y-you’ll be hurt.” Fluttershy felt weak in the knees as she struggled to help the earth pony somehow, fluttering all around him from various angles. “O-oh… You hurt your knee…”

The muted yellow Pegasus, from her angle, could now clearly see that his knee was bent at a grotesque acute angle, and she landed softly. “Okay, erm, MacIntosh, ah, Big Mac, uh, Mac, earmm… MacIntosh, okay, uhm, well, you see, you should, uh…”

“What, ya little filly?” MacIntosh was staring up at Fluttershy, through his painfully obvious agony, he managed a sore smile from the ground and the awkward angle his neck was bent at. Fluttershy looked up again, assessing the damage of the situation. He had been trying to lift what appeared to be several heavy boards of wood, and then… She spotted a small rock near his foot. That must have tripped him, of course…

“Dad! D’ya need any help today?” Applecore asked, racing around the large crimson stallion with her chest puffed out. Big Mac grinned, taking off his hat and putting it on her. He paused for a moment. Oddly enough, it seemed to fit her rather well. He grinned to himself, reminding himself to give her one of her own later.

He paused dramatically, in ‘thought’ “Ah don’t think so, sugarcube, but if y’all wanna keep me company, ah’d b-“

“Yay!” Applecore pranced around him, grinning in delight, occasionally bucking.

MacIntosh smiled to himself, glancing at the door. “Ya ready?”

“Mhm!” Applecore exclaimed, hopping toward the door while Fluttershy smiled. Big Mac kissed on the cheek. “Ah’ll be seein’ ya this evenin’, Ah’ll be sure we’re home just around sunset. Ah love ya.” He murmured, nuzzling her neck for a moment and smiling before darting out the door with his daughter, still awkward on her too-long filly legs.

“What’re we doin’, pop?”

“Well, we gotta take care’a the carrot fields, don’t we?”

“Okay!” Applecore skidded to a stop in a muddy puddle, splattering her orange coat with dark brown mud before she got to her hooves and followed her father to the designated field.

Big Mac sighed as Fluttershy let him down on her couch. “O-oh dear, this looks bad…” She murmured, examining his knee. “Uh, okay, I’ll, uh. I’ll get some bandages, okay? And then we… we can see what happens from there. I, uh. I’ll… I can bandage it and get you an ice pack, and uh, some erm… p-painkillers.” She murmured, dropping the end of her sentence.

“Some what?”

“Some painkillers…”

“Oh. Er. Ah’m okay, but thank’ya kindly.” Big Mac tipped his hat to the filly, with a weak, if awkward, smile. He forced himself to his hooves immediately, but toppled over once again onto the couch with an audible grunt.

Fluttershy gasped. “O-oh dear… She murmured, gently helping the massive red stallion to his feet and putting him down on the couch again. “N-now, Mister, uh, MacIntosh! You need to… uh…” She grew quiet and MacIntosh chuckled to himself. “Big Mac is fine, and ahlright, ahlright. Ah’ll stay here for a couple minutes ‘ta catch mah breath. Alright?”

“O-okay…” Fluttershy blushed, prancing noiselessly away and coming back with an ice pack and some bandages. “Should I let Apple Jack know you’re going to bed here for a while?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a li’l impatient, but the gal needs to get over it mighty soon. Besides, lately she’s been busy with that… Blueblood boy. I dunno if I laik him. Snooty.”

“Oh… Uh, okay.” Fluttershy blushed, remembering Apple Jack had mentioned Blueblood a couple of times but not quite remembering why or in what context. She had been too busy with Angel’s sickness to really know.

Her eyes scanned over his bulk, strong, well-built shoulders, his muscular back… And his facial features were none too shabby either. She blushed immediately. She realised that she did, kind of, somewhat, somehow, perhaps… She kind of… liked him? The notion startled her.

When she was a filly, all of her friends had had crushes on all of the other colts. But never her, she had always been… Asexual or something. She blushed. Was she really thinking about this?

“Hah! Be careful thar, sugarcube!” Big Mac smiled, laughing for a moment and trotting over to push his daughter up, smiling. Her blonde mane was tangled, in spite of the fact that it was pulled up, with heavy amounts of mud, woven in like dark coloured streaks. Applecore shrugged, promptly shaking it all off and trotting off once again, leaving Big Mac in the dust, grinning to himself.

He recalled the last time he had let her work on the farm, and he looked at the missing chunk of her left ear with disdain, and his face fell, even as he ran. Never again. She wasn’t going to end up like Braeburn. He cringed.

Braeburn. Before the accident, the orange pony was… Well, he had come to visit them often. Him and Fluttershy. He had passed while Fluttershy was still carrying Applecore and MacIntosh was terrified at the notion of being a father. He still didn’t exactly know what he was doing. He still felt guilty for letting Applecore get hurt.

“DDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDD!” Applecore called from across the field. Big Mac realised he had stopped in his tracks. “Sorry, darlin’! On mah way!” He chortled to himself and set off at a canter toward Applecore.

“What do ya need help with!?” Applecore grinned, prancing around him, and Big Mac mockingly put a hoof up to his mouth. “Hmm. Weeeeelllll. If I had a little filly that could help me go around and pull up some of the carrots to feed the rabbits, maybe we could dig around the mud a little afterw-“

“OKAY!” Applecore exclaimed quickly, darting to the large plot that held the carrots and barreling through the field, reaching some sort of top speed. Big Mac slowly smiled to himself, about to stop her, but he thought better of it and dove in.

“Okay, are you… Are you sure you’ll make it back okay?” Fluttershy asked nervously, blushing and shuffling her feet. Big Mac glanced over at her and smiled weakly. “Yeah… Ah’ll be ahlright.” An awkward silence followed as Big Mac shuffled lopsidedly shuffled to the door.

He stood by the door for a minute, then looked over his shoulder. “Uh. Fluttershy, is it? Well, uh, Ah would like to personally, thank ya for yer kindness and help and Ah’d like to invite you to come over to the farm someday, to uh, for dinner.” Fluttershy noted that his face was an even deeper shade of red, and blushed as well.

“O-Oh… Okay!” She squeaked suddenly, looking at the floor and trying not to look up at him. Big MacIntosh smiled toothily. “Ahlright. Well, Ah’ll be seein’ ya, then.” He tipped his hat just as she looked up and slowly he walked out.

Did he just…?

No, he couldn’t have possibly. No one had ever really… They wouldn’t.

Though they were upright and walking, Fluttershy was leaning against Big Mac, yawning contentedly while Applecore pranced around them on those sticklike filly legs of hers that were still much too long. He eyed her bare flank for a while.

Still nothing. She was older than Applebloom had been, but, for some reason… His stomach flopped around inexplicably. Was there really any reason for him to worry? Apple Jack hadn’t gotten her cutie mark until she was two or three years older than Applecore. He shrugged it off. There was no reason to worry.

Everypony got their cutie mark at some age! He had heard stories about some ponies being born with them, and some ponies not getting theirs until they were Fluttershy’s age, but they were so rare, and ponies always got them…

He shrugged it off. Applecore would be fine. He looked over at the muted yellow, pink-maned pony leaning against him as they walked along the trail that spiraled into the Everfree forest. They had all just hosed down and eaten, and the last orange rays of the sun were casting a warm glow on the family of

three.

“I think we should get going.” Fluttershy sighed, smiling and stretching. Big Mac nodded and Applecore turned and followed suit.

Big Mac stood at the edge of the property he had just purchased with Fluttershy. The center of the Everfree Forest. He stared at the foundation of the new home, and the signs planted carefully at the edges of the property: ‘Gala Farm’ it read.

He trotted through the turned-up mud and glanced around. Fluttershy was in her home. When they had started to date and MacIntosh was bold enough to finally ask her to be his girlfriend, he remembered Applejack’s initial shock, then approval, claiming that she had always been hoping that Fluttershy would get a big hunk of stallion, and that no one was a kinder soul than he.

Big Mac smiled weakly at the memory. Their relationship was slow and awkward, but now, they were at a stage where it was completely comfortable, and they were comfortable with each other, and even showing some affection in public wasn’t really a problem for them anymore.

It had been three years. He had decided it was time to leave the Apple estate, as Apple Jack was going to take it over any way. To start his own plot and make his own living.

He was going to do it with the girl he loved. He was going to do it with Fluttershy.

They’d raise animals and grow things in the middle of the forest and return to Ponyville for supplies when necessary.

Braeburn may come out and help them, now that Fluttershy was pregnant and couldn’t do any work. The prospect excited him. Finally! He’d live on his own without Granny Smith tanning his hide for every little lost apple or bit.

They were trotting back now. Big Mac yawned. It was starting to rain, even as the sun set, and Applecore was steadily trotting ahead. “Wait just a minute!” He called but she sped forward. He sighed and shrugged, mumbling partially to himself, partially to Fluttershy, “That filly…”

A crack of thunder sounded and lightning flashed.

A strange, faint noise echoed through the night. A noise that made Big Mac’s hair stand on end as he started to canter forward, and he came across Applecore, lying limply in the mud.

Image credit to BlacksWhites on DeviantART.

Chapter 3: Spite

“The Elements of Turmoil”

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 3: Spite

“Auntie Sweetie?”

Wow, it was actually pretty cold. Maybe he should have brought a jacket. This kind of sucked.

“Yes?” The white unicorn swung her head around to turn around and scan the room for the one who had called her, her curly purple mane bouncing cheerily as she scanned the room, looking for him.

Hah. Where would he get a jacket from, anyway? He didn’t have anywhere to go. Silly. But, maybe… Nah, it was kind of crazy anyway.

“Am I… Am I ugly?” The timid voice asked as slowly, a purple pony’s head poked out from under the desk she was working at, with a shaggy green and purple mane and a small set of white horns.

But… Damn! It was COLD! He shivered and took a deep breath. He was cold-blooded. Couldn’t this kill him or something? Cold, and dark…

“Gem!” The unicorn gasped in shock. “You most certainly are NOT!” She reached forward with her white hooves, picking up the creature, with odd reptilian wings stretching from its back, and large, green eyes.

He took a deep breath, exhaling sharply, and small sparks flew on his breath, searching for some kind of home to lay to rest and prosper in. The dank area was briefly lit. The image of a slender purple and green reptilian creature flashed for a moment, and then faded immediately.

“The kids at school say so. Miss Heartcheer says otherwise, and so do Mom and Dad, but… But I think I’m ugly! I’m not a pony. What am I?” The colt’s voice dropped from entirely miserable to interrogating. Sweetie Belle was at a loss for words.

Wood… Wood. He breathed again, lighting up the icy cave and the large stash of gold and jewels glimmering again as he sighted a stockpile in the corner. He sighed in relief. So he had saved up for the remainder of winter. Good.

Gem snorted. “I thought so. You don’t know or care, do you? I am ugly!” He suddenly stared at the pony with disdain. “You were lying to me.”

He shuffled awkwardly to the corner. He could feel the burning fire in his chest slowly going out. Hurry… Hurry…

“And so was Miss Heartcheer, and Mom, and Dad!” Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. Sweetie Belle stopped him just as he was about to run upstairs. “Gem.” She said flatly, staring at him plainly and cocking one of her eyebrows.

As soon as he was in a close enough range, he breathed a huge plume of green fire to the stack of wood, immediately illuminating the huge hoard in the massive cave, along with the beast inside of it, whom had been evidently living in the cavern.

“Your parents and I-“ Sweetie Belle choked for a minute. “C-can I tell you a story?” She murmured suddenly, slowly walking over to the hybrid.

“A story about what?” Gem asked, the suspicion in his voice hanging deadly in the air.

“A dragon and a pony that loved each other very much.”

In the green light, the large wings protruding from the creature’s back was plain. A wingspan of three or four meters, easily. The dragon himself was snakelike, lithe and oddly lanky, though he walked on his forelegs he was more like a snake with legs and wings than anything else. A pair of pearly white fangs protruded from the front of his mouth. He was predominantly purple, with a light green underbelly and darker green spines, the same colour as the undersides of his wings.

“Was he any trouble, Sweetie Belle?” A white unicorn with elegantly an elegantly curled, dark purple mane trotted into the boutique, with a slightly larger, serpentine dragon in tow.

He shivered, sighing next to the fire and curling his long body around it. So much better. He could get back to his sleep… He’d only been asleep a year or two. Maybe a hundred more would do it. Spike snorted, a plume of smoke escaping his nostrils.

“Of course not.” Sweetie Belle smiled. “He’s very sweet, actually, Rarity. You did a good job.” The two sisters briefly embraced while Spike walked upstairs, his claws clacking on the hardwood of the boutique’s flooring.

Stupid Rarity. Stupid, stupid, stupid Rarity. Did she know he hated her? Hah. He bet she did. He briefly wondered if Twilight was still running around with that other crazy stallion. Ever since Blueblood came to Ponyville looking for her she decided he was SO great.

Spike slowly opened the door to the colt’s room, peeking in to see the pony-dragon hybrid sound asleep. He smiled to himself. Okay. Good. He shut the door again and came back down to see Rarity sighing, sitting at the table with a mug of tea in her hooves, idly sipping as she stared blankly at the table. His brow furrowed.

He was flitting in and out of consciousness, thoughts floating by of their own accord. Gold, gems, Ponyville, Twilight, Rarity… Rarity… RARITY. Rarity… Murmuring his name quietly. Ahh. Spike, yes. Yeah, that was his name. Spike. Don’t wear it out.

“Something wrong, Rarity?”

“Hm?”

“You seem… distant.”

“Oh. No, it’s just… I’m a bit worried about Gem. I suppose, in retrospect, being a hybrid does look a little odd. He’s being, err, teased, at school.”

“… Shouldn’t the teacher be doing something about that, then?”

“She’s trying. It’s no better than it was with Sweetie Belle and her friends, though. As a matter of fact, it’s worse. A lot worse, from what I’ve heard…”

“Spike... Spiiike… Spike! SPIKE! SPIIIIIIIKE!”

The voice he had thought was in the back of his head suddenly jolted him awake. He slowly opened his eyes, smacking his lips. How long had it been? He looked around for the source of the noise, before his eyes fell on a purple and white pony.

“HAH!” His now deep voice echoed through the cavern as he exhaled steam on the pony. “And what do you want?” His rumbling chuckle reverberated the entire area.

“I just… I… I wanted to apologize. I may have been wrong in my actions, and I wanted to ask you to come back.”

“What? Did that Blueblood guy treat you like crap?”

Rarity visibly bit her lip, pausing and shifting on her hooves. “Well, not exactly. I… I turned him down.” She stared awkwardly down at the rocky floor.

Spike’s brow suddenly rose. “How much worse?”

Rarity stared blankly down at her tea. “Bad. She thinks he may be pretty depressed. He eats lunch and plays by himself.” She sighed. “It makes me think about when I was a filly. There was a weird boy in my class, and we were always so mean to him. Horrible, in fact. To think that he was someone’s… son. That he was someone’s child.”

Spike watched her in silence; she spoke almost as though her chest was constricted. In tight, short breaths and bursts of words, as opposed to Rarity’s general speech pattern of long, lissome babbling.

“You know, I didn’t even know ponies and dragons could have children.” Rarity murmured mournfully.

Spike blinked. “Yeah… I didn’t either.” Spike sighed. “Twilight said she’d never heard of it. It was new, I guess. Never in recorded history has it happened. We should make the most of it, I suppose.” He sighed sadly, glancing to the side to avoid eye contact with the fashionista pony.

“What?!” Spike’s voice reverberated loudly. He inhaled sharply, releasing a sizable amount of smoke upon exhalation.

“… I never loved him. Never, really. Sure, I wanted to be treated like a princess. I just didn’t get that with him, and in retrospect, I realised that you were the… you were the one who would treat me like a princess.

Spike could only stare in shock, his large maw gaping open to reveal a huge set of perfectly positioned, sharpened fangs. “You turned down… a… P-prince… for me? You ch-chose me?” He felt his own smoke clogging his throat, then he inhaled sharply. “You’re lying.” He scowled.

“But… What should we do?” Rarity’s frown deepened as she only glanced up at Spike, raising an eyebrow before taking a sip of her tea. Her makeup from their night out was now smeared, but Spike found her beautiful nonetheless.

Spike hesitated. He had heard of things like psychiatrists back in Canterlot, as a child with Twilight Sparkle, but of none such thing here, in Manehattan. Was there anything he even could do?

Rarity interrupted his train of thought with a half mournful, half thoughtful suggestion. “Well.” She sighed, looking around her at the boutique. “We could always… Go back.”

Spike stared at her. “Go back?” He raised an eyebrow. “Go back where?”

“Ponyville. I heard Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack are still there,  Fluttershy is living in the Everfree forest.  Cheerilee still works at the school; she knows how to handle these thi-“

“Rarity.” Spike stopped her, his tone void of any kind of emotion. “… Do you not… like it? Living here? Manehattan?”

Rarity bit her lip. “I… It’s certainly bigger. I just… I fear I haven’t been doing as well as I could be. There’s so much competition, and most ponies here won’t associate with me. I’m, uh, ‘country folk’, I suppose.”

Spike stared. “But… Your book club and all that?”

Rarity sighed somberly in response, brushing purple curls behind her ear. “To tell you the truth, I miss Ponyville. I thought I’d be happy here, Spike. I really did. But… Maybe it’s not too late to patch things between us. Between the Elements of Harmony.  I know that Twilight is still in Canterlot, and Dash is in Cloudsdale, and I know they’re happy and I’ve accepted that. And Fluttershy lives quite a bit outside of Ponyville now, with Big Mac, but I…” Rarity suddenly choked. “I miss them, Spike.”

Spike felt his heart clench as he walked over to Rarity, resting his scaly head on top of hers. “Rarity, anything for you. I… I love you.” He sighed. “I hate it here, too.” He started laughing. “The food portions are so small.”

Rarity smirked slightly. “Heh, I suppose you’re right.” She glanced up at Spike with her watery eyes, now drying, and chuckled, “Heh, it’s like they’re trying to feed Opal instead of ponies… or dragons.”

Spike smiled sadly. “Hah, people are used to me in Ponyville. I just get weird looks here.”

A long silence passed.

“It’s not us, you know.” Rarity said passively as she began to regain her composure. “We did fine. We’re just new at this. No one wrote a manual on how to raise a foal, let alone a hybrid.”

“I wonder if Pinkie Pie and Discord decided to… you know.” Spike mused.

“I doubt it,” Rarity sighed. “Unless Pinkie’s matured a great bit.”

“Yeah. Doubtful.”

“I swear to you, Spike, I most certainly am not!” The unicorn looked stressed, staring at him. “I know that… Well, I know that I made some mistakes and such but it can be fixed, can it not!?”

Spike chuckled hoarsely. “It really can’t be. Twilight’s gone. You’re gone. You think you’re so available that you can just waltz into MY territory, asking forgiveness!?” His voice began to rumble violently.

Rarity stood stock-still, unsure of how to react. Slowly, her jaw began to work and she quietly murmured, “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Spike’s booming chuckle echoed once again. “You really should be. Now, do me a favour, and go back to stupid little Ponyville and your dumb boutique. Leave me alone!” Suddenly, without realizing, his voice had become a loud roar. He paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that he was shaking.

“Spike, can’t we reason this out? I never meant to hurt you.” Rarity paused, facing towards the exit but taking one last glance back at Spike.

“I know.” Spike muttered. “I never understood why you liked him so much anyway. He treated you like crap.”

“… Yeah.” Rarity mumbled,  the melancholy hanging thick in the air. She flopped down on her haunches, staring at Spike. His massive size was simply proportional to his hoard, also gargantuan.

“I’d treat you like a princess, you know,” Spike sighed, curling himself around the fire once again. “And not like a piece of trash.”

“Yes.” Rarity mumbled. “I do know, Spike.” She slowly glanced up at him, shifting nervously and examining his large, protruding fangs, razor-like spines, and glimmering purple scales.

A long, awkward silence passed as Spike settled around the fire, glad to be warm, finally.

“Spike?” Rarity uttered, near-silently.

“Yeah, Rarity?”

“Come back to Ponyville.”

“Why? What reason could I possibly have for going back there?” Spike snorted once again, staring angrily down at the ground and pawing at a small rock with his talons.

“We miss you. People wonder where you are. Blueblood is gone, Spike. Yeah, he was pathetic and stupid and I have NO CLUE why he’d show up and suddenly ask for me to come with him, to Canterlot, but… Spike, I’m lonely. Pinkie and Discord are happy, which, admittedly, makes me relatively uncomfortable, and maybe it’s really weird, but if a draconequus and a pony can be happy, I know a dragon and a pony can be happy, okay?”

“… Did you honestly just compare me to the god of chaos?”

“… Somewhat, I suppose. Yes.”

Another long period of silence passed with Spike just staring at Rarity, frowning. Finally, he spoke: “I don’t want to go back to Ponyville.”

Rarity stared at him. “I’m sorry I bothered you.” She susurrated, standing up slowly, but walking stiffly and lifelessly, like a puppet.

“Wait.” Spike paused. “I never said I didn’t want to be with you. Rarity, I love you. I have ever since I first saw you, but I don’t think I can go back there. Not anymore. All it will do is remind me of how much I miss Twilight. She’s like my sister. That’s all I’ll be able to think about. Of course, I want to be with you. You have no freaking clue how much I used to wait up here, every day, hoping that one day I’d see you again,” The great dragon rumbled. “But…”

Rarity leaned in. “But?”

“But I can’t go back to Ponyville.”

Rarity paused, thoughtful for a moment. She sighed, finally, looking up at Spike. “Manehattan. Let’s go to Manehattan. No one we know is there, save for a few of Apple Jack’s relatives. We never met them. We’ll be alone."

“… So. We’re really doing this, then?” Spike asked quietly, his voice hushed though the conversation wasn’t secret, and there wasn’t anyone to listen anyway. “Moving back to Ponyville?”

Rarity sighed. “I think it’d be best for Gem. I think Cheerilee would do a good job, and a lot of the foal’s parents grew up with you around anyway. It’s small. Here, it’s just… I’d imagine it’s ruthless. This has been persistent enough.”

Spike nodded slowly. “Alright.” He smiled weakly. Though the idea disturbed him slightly,  he closed his eyes. This was for Rarity. Rarity, and Gem. A small smile graced his lips. He opened his eyes to see Rarity staring back at him with her watery blue eyes.

“Spike? Rarity gazed at him for a moment.

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, Rarity.” Spike sighed, smiling.

Yeah.

He could do this.

Image credit to mariatamayothewierdo from DeviantART.

Chapter 4: Fear

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 4: Fear

“Ahh! Who the bloody hell are you!?”

“Who the hell are YOU!? What are you doing in my house?!”

The two ponies stared at each other for a long time, tension thick in the air. One mare, one stallion. The stallion, a sandy brown colour, shifted on his hooves. “Uh. I’m the Doctor.”

“What is THAT thing!? You’re not a doctor!”

“Oh. Uh, this? It’s the Harnis. And you’re right. I’m not. I’m THE Doctor, thank you very much. And who are YOU?”

“Who are YOU?! This is MY home!” The mare stamped a purple hoof indignantly. “SPIIIIIIIIIIKE!” She called, glancing over her shoulder for whoever she had evidently called for.

“I told you! I’m The Doctor! And this is the HARNIS! The Here and Relative Nowness in Space! H-A-R-N-I-S! Harnis!” The Earth Pony sighed. “I suppose you could say that I’m, uh, Doctor Whooves? But just call me the Doctor.”

“I’m not calling you anything!”

“I suppose that’s alright, too. Who are you, by chance?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle! Now why in Equestria are you in my house!?”

“Isn’t this the library?” The Doctor began to trot through the area, glancing around passively, as if browsing books, and acting as though he hadn’t just appeared in a public police barn stall, materializing in Twilight’s library.

“Yes! But... Why are you here? And why did you just... appear? In... Harnis thing!”

The Doctor glanced over at Twilight, musing for a moment. “Hm.” He yawned, pulling out what looked like a small pole with an LED on the top of it. The Doctor’s gaze passed over it for a moment. He pondered it for a moment longer before putting it back, shrugging and shaking his head.

Spike hopped down the stairs while Twilight only stared at this Doctor guy. “Uh. Who’s he?” Spike asked, staring at the earth pony.

Twilight didn’t take her gaze away. “Uh. He’s the Doctor, I guess?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Come on! Would you doubt me?” Twilight grinned nervously, feeling her hooves shift underneath her.

"Sort of, yeah." He mumbled with a sigh, focusing his magic to the book on the table. "What if something explodes or gets set on fire or somethi- AH!"

A visible stream of purple magic shot from his horn as it encompassed the book in a shimmering, waving extra appendage. The colt took a deep breath as the book shuddered and lifted an inch off of the table that sat before them.

‘Come on, come on... So close!’ He was gasping for breath now as the book rose. Two inches. Three. Four. Five!

His focus broke for half a second, and the book clamoured to the ground.

Twilight Sparkle sighed, looking at the tile.

“Sorry...” He mumbled uncomfortably, shifting on his feet.

Twilight walked slowly over to a photo sitting on a bookshelf of her and a brown stallion standing outside a police barn stall, with her looking terrified and standing behind him. She picked up the duster in her mouth and dusted off the photo, looking distant. “It’s not your fault, Clockwork.” She turned around and smiled at him. “Some ponies are better at magic than others, and if you really want to work with magic, sometimes you just have to practice. You know I’m not making you, right?”

“Heh. Yeah.” Clockwork shifted on his hooves for a moment. “I know, Mom.”

A long silence passed before Clockwork looked up.  “So,” He began, shifting on his hooves and trying to take his focus off the picture. He got off the couch and looked up at Twilight to see her smiling sadly at him.

“He did love you, you know.” Twilight breathed quietly, staring at her hooves. “They don’t tell you how to be a single mother in books, you know.”

Clockwork blinked at her. “Oh.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah. I know.”

Twilight looked over and smiled rather weakly.

OhmyCelestiaOhmyCelestiaOhmyCelestia.

Whooves. His coat. It smelled like... The beach.

Twilight was barely aware of the intense pounding in her chest. She’d never quite thought about the possibilities of going to the top of the tallest building in Fillydelphia with him. She examined the wide expanse of street and concrete buildings stretching out before her.

“Been up here thousands of times.” Whooves shrugged, jokingly shoving her off of him. “Why haven’t you? Aren’t you Celestia’s most faithful student?”

Twilight shrugged. “I suppose.” She mumbled. None of it mattered, of course. Since when was the sky so big? An immediate compulsion to map it out during the sunset overtook her. There was Gemini! And Orion... She moved to pull out a scroll and a quill when she looked up, Noticing Whooves had an eyebrow cocked at her, an amused smirk dancing on his lips.

“Oi, what’s that about?” He sat down next to her, pressing into her side and staring at the blank scroll. What were you intending to draw?”

“I-I, uh...” Twilight suddenly trailed off, staring into his eyes. Ah. His eyes. His blue, blue eyes...

At least seven seconds passed, the Doctor wearing a satisfied smirk. “You were saying?”

His accent, his voice. She stared at the orange and pink lights reflected from the sunset dancing in his eyes. “O-oh. I was... writing a letter. To, uh. Princess Celestia?”

“Oh, REALLY?” Another smirk played on his lips. “Would it, perhaps, have anything to do with how you’re sitting here on the tallest skyscraper built by earthbound ponies in Equestria, with the most HANDSOME pony in all of Equestria?” Whooves fluffed out his chest, cocking an eyebrow at her, and she chuckled, picking up the scroll and writing with her magic and a quill, reading aloud as she wrote.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m stuck up here with a pony who I’m relatively sure has an extra chromosome, a-“

“OIII!” Whooves interrupted, snatching the scroll from her in his mouth. “Give me that.” He took the quill as well and crossed out what Twilight had written, save for her addressing the Princess.

He coughed dramatically. “NOW, I shall write a correct letter!”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” He began, stopping for a moment to think, and then a devious grin flashed across his face.

“I can’t recall the last time I took a shower, I kind of smell, an-“

“Give it back!” Twilight snatched it back, chuckling, before her giggles turned into an uproarious laugh, and Whooves stared at her, snorting at her. Finally, Twilight took a deep breath and tried to relax her aching stomach muscles, but the occasional snicker escaped her, sending a shock of ache through the entirety of her body. She glanced back over at him; he was just lying back, staring up at the sky, now nearly entirely dark.

“You know, I feel... sort of bad.” Twilight sighed, thinking of Pinkie and Discord, wondering if she now understood why they felt the way they did about each other.

“Why is that?” The Doctor turned his head to look at her, as they were both lying on their backs. “I guess I was sort of judgmental about this whole... Uhm.” Suddenly, Twilight became very bright red. “Never mind.” She paused and smiled.

Suddenly, his tone grew dead serious. “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Clockwork! I’m home!” Twilight called out into the house, but her voice echoed deadly through the structure, rather than being muffled by the wood and various books as it had been in the library in Ponyville.

The unicorn colt tentatively came down the stairs with a pencil in his ear. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey.  Help me with the groceries.” Twilight grumbled, fumbling with the bags and putting things away using her magic.

Clockwork began to passively make an attempt in engaging in conversation. “So, I’m reading this book on time travel and I-“

He was interrupted by a large can of soup clattering to the ground as Twilight stiffened suddenly. She looked over her shoulder and paused. “Ah. Sorry.” She giggled nervously, partially to herself, as Clockwork stood there, dumbfounded, before going off to get a mop.

“Are you... okay?”

“Fine, fine!” Twilight’s expression was slightly twisted and Clockwork paused nervously. “Ah; If you... say so?” He mumbled, sighing to himself and mopping up the soup, picking up the demolished can. “Please be more careful.” He mumbled. “Do you need to lie down?” He cocked his head at the lavender-coloured pony.

“Y-yeah... I should.”

Maybe she should apologize to Pinkie and uh... What was his name? Discord. Discord.

He was just on top of her, forelegs wrapped around her back, their lips mashed together in some kind of mad frenzy. He smelled so nice. His brown mane carried the familiar smell of beach sand and crystal clear water. She wondered why that was. She couldn’t exactly think coherently.

“Ohh... Equestria.” She moaned as she gasped for breath and Whooves gazed back at her, smirking to himself. “Not right now.” He gently put his hoof to her mouth and gestured around him. He was right.

They were in some kind of desert oasis, with moons and other planets rising extremely close to the horizon, taking up at least a quarter of the sky. Each of the stars was plainly visible, but it was somehow light as day, the golden sands around them soft, but they didn’t give and crumble all over her mane.  Somehow, it had been polished by the gentle breezes that made it the perfect temperature, perhaps caused by the evaporation of the small pool of clear water next to them. Several subspecies of palm trees Twilight had never seen before were growing out from around the shoreline.

“This is crazy. I’m dreaming, right? Discord’s messing with me or someth-“

He moaned something nugatory while he drew her back into kissing him passionately, her head rising off of the caked layer of sand to meet him desperately as she hooked her forelegs around his back.

Suddenly, Discord could screw with her until he worked his little chaotic heart out.

“We should get back to the Harnis soon...” She murmured.

He didn’t respond, trailing kisses down to her neck.

“Aahhh- or, or that!”

“Clockwork.” Twilight mumbled quietly several days later, staring at her book without looking up, though it was clear her eyes were not focused on her book, she was staring at nothing; into oblivion.

“Yeah?” He looked up from his school studies, raising an eyebrow.

“... What would you think... about moving to Ponyville?”

“PONYVILLE?” Clockwork’s expression contorted. “Good Celestia of Equestria! Why would we ever move to Ponyville!? I thought you liked Canterlot!”

Twilight sighed, glancing back at him for the first time in several days, since she had dropped the soup the minute he had mentioned Time Travel.

He didn’t understand why that was such a sore spot with her. Every time any kind of interdimensional travel or space travel or deserts or Fillydelphia was mentioned, she’d get all silent and freaked out.

It probably had something to do with his father, but he didn’t dare ask her any questions about him. He didn’t know if he was just dead, or missing, or whatever, but it seemed like every time some odd thing was mentioned, she’d get all depressed and quiet.

It wasn’t her that was forced to grow up without a father, now was it? No, it wasn’t!

Suddenly, Clockwork felt anger boiling in his veins. That BASTARD! Who did he think he was? Did he just up and leave? HAH! He probably did.

It was only when he looked up at Twilight Sparkle that he saw a sad smile forming on her lips. “I got a letter from the mayor, the local librarian passed away and they want me to come back and take over the job again.”

As indignant as he wanted to act, he needed to get out of this hellhole. He nervously shifted on his hooves and sighed. “I guess that’s okay.” He smiled weakly. This would make her happy. It would definitely make Twilight happy. Maybe, all she needed was to move back to Ponyville and to see her old friends, and she’d cheer up.

Perhaps, she’d even be the cheery mare he constantly saw in photographs with five other ponies or even his father, whatever the guy’s name was. Maybe this would finally be it.

Twilight smiled, her eyes suddenly lighting up. “Really? Okay! I’ll move all of the books around and... and... And I’ll see who’s still living back in Ponyville and we’ll arrange a big get-together, okay? I think Pinkie Pie is still living there, with...” She suddenly scowled. “No one in particular.” Venom dripped from her voice, and Clockwork jumped. He had never, in the time he had known the mare, (His entire life, mind you.) heard her speak with such malice before.

Her expression did fade gradually as she paused and smiled feebly. “Don’t worry about it, I just, uh, have a history with the... erhm. Person she fell in love with. But- oh! You’ll get to meet Spike!” Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you’ll love Spike! If he’s anything like I remember him...”

“Wait, you mean Uncle Spike? The dragon?”

“Yes!” Twilight grinned, her eyes gleamed. “Heh, he could tell you some pretty wild stories.” She reminisced. “Oh, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash... Oh, Fluttershy, too!” Twilight was still grinning excitedly as she trotted off to her room upstairs. “Start packing, Clockwork!~”

The couch. Spike was out for the night. Said he’d be gone for a while. The Doctor was on top of her again, as they had been back on the oasis planet. There was no noise, but his heartbeat and their occasional sighs and gasps for breath as their lips mashed together.

Finally, Twilight pulled away. “Whooves?” She gasped.

“Yes?” He inhaled sharply as he spoke.

“I love you.” She murmured before striking again, pushing their mouths together, but something was lost. He pulled away after a shorter amount of time. His muscles were tense, and he sat up, staring at the floor suddenly. He bit his lip.

Twilight stared at him. That certainly wasn’t normal. Had she done something wrong? Had she... Had she perhaps become so accustomed to him that she had done something stupid? Oh, no... But... This was her fault. She should have just done what she knew how to do correctly, let him kiss her on the cheek or something. Nothing... Like they’d been doing. Spike had almost caught them the other day.

She felt her face go red as her thoughts trailed off, but she shook them off.

“Wh... what’s wrong?” She asked softly, pushing herself to her haunches so they were both sitting upright.

Whooves sighed. “Twilight. I... I love you, too.”  He stared back at her; his bright blue eyes were now moist and rigged slightly red. When had this happened? That was good, wasn’t it? He loved her back? Right? That’s what that damn draconequus always said to Pinkie, right? (Of course, whether he was lying was another matter entirely. She understood it slightly better now, but still held little more than bitter resentment for the chimera.)

He took another breath, and time seemed to stop. *‘Please don’t say ‘but,’...’ was all Twilight could think as she watched him slowly form the horrendous word. “But,”*

Twilight opened her mouth to immediately interrupt his train of thought. Something, anything.

The Doctor paused, gently putting a hoof to her lips. “Wait, okay? I’ve known this is something I’ve needed to say. I’ve felt horrible about it for the past few weeks now, and I think it’s about time I said this, or I think it’s going to tear me apart.”

Twilight felt her eyes begin to water. “No...” Her mouth fell open.

“Hang on!” The Doctor insisted, looking at her and sighing. He slowly pulled out the strange pole with the LED light she had seen him holding the first time they had met. “So...” He held it in his hoof, quivering. “This is...” He coughed as if he had been choking. “This is a sonic screwdriver.”

Twilight suddenly jumped back. “N-no... I’ve read a-about those. No! That’s something Time Ponies have, right? N-no...” She scrambled backwards against the couch, her eyes suddenly red and tearful.

Whooves tensed up, staring at her desperately. “There’s nothing I can do. You know too much, you’ve travelled in the Harnis, and you can’t be my Companion because of your relations to the Princess and your duties to her.” He suddenly shivered. “Twilight, I’m so very sorry.”

Twilight clenched her eyes shut. “No! I won’t let you!”

Whooves paused. “Twilight, I have to leave, you don’t understand. I have... I have duties! I don’t want... I want you to be happy, okay?” He took a shakey breath. “And I want you to find a nice stallion who will be with you always, not like I will. I want you to find someone who... who makes you laugh and makes you happy who you love.”

“... But... You’re that stallion.” Twilight murmured, a large tear rolling down her cheek. “YOU make me happy, and you make me laugh, and... and... No one’s ever... made me so comfortable. And I love YOU.” She finished that last line with over exuberant confidence.

“I’m very sorry, Twilight.” The Doctor leaned forward, kissing her, before planting the sonic screwdriver in front of her face and wincing, clenching his eyes shut.

Twilight let out a horrible, ear-piercing, blood-curdling wail, and Doctor Whooves stopped, staring at her, and throwing it down, mashing their mouths together passionately, while Twilight sat in shock, tears still running down her face, flowing freely now as a single constant stream, as opposed to individual tears.

He sat there with her, his forelegs around her as a single tear went down his cheek.

Suddenly, he took a sharp intake a breath. “Y-you know what? I’m going to fix this. I’ll fix it right now.” He steadied his shaking breathing, picking up the sonic screwdriver and walking over to the Harnis, it hadn’t left its position in the current Equestrian dimension since he had somehow ended up in the library.

“Uh, Twilight.” He walked inside. “Listen, I’ll be back in five minutes, okay?” He smiled, moving forward and kissing her before disappearing into the Harnis.

Once he was gone, she managed to illicit a quiet, trembling, “O-okay.”

She waited five minutes. Then ten. Twenty. An hour. Two hours. Five hours. Eight. A day. Two. Five. A week. Two weeks. A month. A year.

He never returned.

Of all the things that could have happened that could have led to the circumstances she was in now, this particular situation would have never even crossed her mind. He’d be back in five minutes. Then he just... was gone. No goodbyes, no sorries, just that he’d be back. But he wasn’t. He had disappeared into thin air. Nopony seemed to remember him except those who knew Twilight, as he was oft so antisocial.

Sure, he’d go to things like the gala and the summer solstice. He’d always just... oddly stay in the background. Twilight never saw him again after that, nor did anypony else.

She had her speculations. He had skipped town. Disappeared off to Manehattan, or Fillydelphia, or Canterlot or maybe he’d gone to some other alternate universe like the ones he so liked to show her.

She didn’t know. But he was gone. Her stomach dropped every time somepony mentioned it. Or him. She still held the smallest amount of hope. Every morning she’d wake up with the tiniest amount of belief in her heart that perhaps... Maybe, just maybe, he’d come back today.

Clockwork nervously shifted back and forth on his hooves in the carriage that the pegasi were controlling. His heart jumped into his throat when he looked down to see just how high they were above the ground. He had always been aware that Canterlot rested on a cliff, but this was to an outrageous extent.

“Hahh.” Twilight sighed, relaxing more than he ever thought she had seen her relax. “I remember the first time I made this trip.” She grinned like an idiot, and Clockwork stared.

“Are you kidding? I’m terrified.” He gulped, glancing over the side again before coming to the conclusion that he should simply stare blankly at his hooves.

“Don’t worry, this is perfectly safe!” Twilight Sparkle insisted, jumping up and down in the carriage, making it rock. The guard pegasi didn’t even glance back, and Clockwork’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Holy Celestia...” He groaned to himself, staring back at Twilight.

Everyone suggested she find a new coltfriend. They all were convinced he just skipped out on her in the night, as that was the story she had insisted upon them, not wanting to speak of the Harnis or any of its capabilities. She would just sigh longingly and stare at the closest window, or the floor, or the ground, or the sky. Whatever was really available.

She never did find somepony else. All of her friends went off and got together with other ponies, (or draconequuses.) to be with, though there was no reason for Twilight.

As luck would have it, she had a foal.

Who looked almost identical to him.

She loved him. She did. She taught him everything she could. Anything and everything she knew about the alicorns, magic, Equestrian history... All of it. He was very intelligent and could read and write from a young age. By the time he was four years old, he was reading Antipone, by Clopocles, and the rest of the Thebarn Plays.

He made her happy. Yes, he made her very, very, and outrageously happy. Twilight loved Clockwork. He was her foal.

She understood, however, that it would be difficult to raise a colt without a father. She had to accept that Whooves was she never going to come back. Either he had left her or died or forgot about her, but he wasn’t coming back. She’d waited long enough.

He grew to be intelligent. She had no doubt of that, he was incredibly intelligent. His unicorn powers were far below average, but it didn’t exactly concern her. She didn’t care. She’d seen far worse.

They landed in Ponyville. By this time, Twilight was full-on smiling. She took their suitcases, only around three, as Twilight had left all of her books, claiming there would be far more at the library. Clockwork doubted this, only responding with a skeptical glance, but Twilight had just smirked.

“Oooookayyy.” She had chuckled before bounding away to leave Clockwork with his book.

“Come on!” She finally looked over her shoulder and called to him several  feet away. “Come on!” She repeated, making a face at him and chuckling.

Still, in a sense, she still kind of waited for him. Every day, still the smallest amount of hope. It never quite left. She saw him in the corner of her eye. Sometimes, she thought she might simply be hearing things, but she could swear she heard his voice, accent and all.

She dreamed about him. Every night, almost. There would be a knock at the door, she’d sit up, and Spike would have answered it to reveal him standing there. Of course, every time, she would wake up not long after, sweaty and with her eyes teary. Not in Ponyville. Not in the library.

In some dumpy, whitewashed apartment in Canterlot.

Upon examining his surroundings, Clockwork glanced around. An apple stand, run by a humongous red pony and a small orange filly with a blonde mane, braided and in a bow, with her tail in a ponytail, wearing old leather workboots and a cowboy hat. She had her front, right leg bandaged tightly in a splint.

Twilight turned, seeing the large red stallion and gasped. “Big Mac!” She cried out, galloping over at full speed.

Big Mac’s eyes grew large as he stared in shock. “Miss Twilight! Howdy! Ah thought Ah’d never see you again since you left for Canterlot. Applejack’s been worried ‘bout’cha!”

Applejack? The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Twilight smiled widely.  “Well, I’ve come back since the librarian left.” She glanced down at the filly, and her eyes grew wide. “MacIntosh!”

The filly galloped in front of Twilight, dramatically clearing her throat. “Hello there, fellow Ponyville and/or Everfree Forest citizen. Could I interest you in buying an apple this fine day?”

Twiligth stared at Big Mac, then smirked. “And what’s your name, miss?”

“Applecore! Ah’m gonna be famous!”

“Who’s the lucky lady, Mac?” Twilight pried, cocking an eyebrow at the stallion.

“Oh. Ya mean my mom? Fluttershy!” The filly, Applecore, interrupted.

Twilight stared. “Fluttershy?” She looked down at the foal, then at Big Mac, and smirked. “Well, well.”

Big Mac turned a slightly darker shade of red. “Now, uh, Applecore, you mind yerself.”

“Eeyup.”

Big Mac nodded to her as she went to the back to sell more apples to people, and stared back at Clockwork, who suddenly was unable to move as Twilight beckoned him over.

“Mac, this is my son. Clockwork, this is Mister Apple.”

“Mac is fine, but thank ya’, Miss Twilight.”

“Uh... Hello... Mr... uh, MacIntosh?”

She was still waiting.

Image credit to Inkwell-Pony on DeviantART.

Chapter 5: Ambition

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chaper 5: Ambition

“Hey, Blue? Do me a favour, will ya?” Applejack glanced over her shoulder to the blue-grey pony standing behind her, taking a tedious and cautionary bite into some expensive-looking pastry.

“Hmm?” He slowly walked over, glancing over the orange farmpony’s shoulder at the business ledger she had in front of her. His eyes scanned over it. “Are we having issues with Gala farm?” He mumbled to himself.

“’Course not!” Applejack stared back at him in shock. “Mac’d never pull a fast one. Seventy five, twenty five depending’ on who’s selling. That’s how it works.” Applejack firmly stamped a hoof on her desk.

“Then what do you need help with, love?” The stallion asked slowly, raising an eyebrow at her.

Applejack stared blankly back at him. “Do this fancy schmancy Canterlot math!” She got up from her chair. “Ya got a good education, didn’tcha?”

Blueblood suppressed a chuckle. “I suppose I did.” He murmured articulately.

“Ah got some trees ‘ta buck anyway.” She shrugged it off as she put on her hat.

“Alright.” Blueblood grumbled, now almost entirely engrossed in the business ledger.

Well. What was he going to do now?

Prince Blueblood sat, dejected, on the doormat of Carousel Boutique, watching the mare he had realised was the love of his life, run away from him.

For a DRAGON. He scowled. A dragon. A scaled, winged lizard-beast. Since when was a dragon even slightly more capable than he was? She had just stood there, stammering like a fool in front of him, before sighing and admitting she had to leave, before dashing off, talking about dragons and a mountain. Blueblood frowned, sitting on his hooves as the rain pelted down, soaking his mane and his wondrous light blue-grey coat.

He slowly brought himself to his hooves after what seemed like hours. He had apologized! He’d done everything right that his friend, who happened to be a mare, told him to do. Of course, she said it may not work and some people are just stubborn, but…

The white mare was now no longer anywhere to be found. He frowned. What now? He tried to come up with something he could do. He’d never been… rejected! No mare had ever turned him down. Even supermodel mares like Fleur had a fling with him in the past. He shifted on his feet nervously. What was he going to do now?

He began to mope quietly walking through the rain and allowing his mane to become soaked and tangled, no longer worrying. He had no one to impress.

“Excuse me, ma'am! Sweet Apple Acres is having a sale today, can I interest you in our daily deal of a dozen for half off?”

“Uh, Prize, please, uhm, calm down, okay?” Fluttershy murmured in distress. “I just had to tell Applejack something…”  She squeaked out, turning bright red and tucking her face into her chest.

“Sir Prize, calm down.” Applejack admonished sternly before glancing up at Fluttershy. “What is it, sugarcube?”

“Uh, well, MacIntosh came back the other night with Apple Core and apparently they, uhm, met someone.”

“Oh, now? Who was it?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow at Fluttershy. “Someone Ah know?” Though Fluttershy’s visits  were rare and she generally stayed home, Applejack could count on seeing her in the middle of town once or twice a month just to exchange some words, as if she was trying to revive a dead friendship or pretend like they hadn’t drifted apart long ago.

“Uhm, yes.” Fluttershy dropped the end of her sentence. “Since the librarian left, Twilight came ba-“

“WHAT?” Applejack had been eating a green apple at the time, promptly spitting out and spewing particles of peel and apple all over the ground, the cart, Fluttershy, and Sir Prize, who made a disgusted face, sighed, and began to wipe off his hat.

Many of the potential customers were now giving her the same perturbed face, and Applejack sighed, giving up. They had already sold quite a stock already. She began to pack up. “I thought Twilight left for Canterlot.”

“I thought so, too… Uhm, but, she has a son…”

Applejack froze. “Twilight?” She turned around. “Has a SON?”

“Uhm, yes.” Fluttershy shrank back. “His name is, uh, Clockwork. Mac said he was very polite…”

“Who did she marry?” Applejack asked, completely befuddled.

“She… didn’t say. She was alone. They were just moving in, it was just her and a colt.”

As Fluttershy said this, a young unicorn colt with a brown coat and a purple mane and tail passed by, walking slowly up to the cart. “Uh, hi. Can I buy a pie and a half dozen apples?”

Applejack stared at him, scrutinizing. “Ah reckon ya can…” She mumbled, grabbing a bag and the last pie. “Sixteen bits.”

The foal nodded nervously, his blue eyes searching through a pouch before he used his hooves and set out the bits on what remained of Applejack’s cart.

Sir Prize leaned over. “You! You’re a unicorn, aren’t you? Why don’t you use your unicorn powers?” He asked, easily picking up the bag and pie that the colt had just purchased with a stream of glimmering blue magic, setting them at his feet without missing a beat.

Applejack shot him a cross look, but Prize merely shrugged it off, continuing trying to sell what little remained in the cart. Fluttershy remained silent.

“You new ‘round these parts, friend?” Applejack asked.

“Oh!” The foal had been trying to balance his goods on his back, failing terribly. Applejack had startled him into dropping everything, apples spilling out across the ground, and the pie lay in a defeated, dusty mush and a pie tin. “Uh, yes, actually. I-I’m meeting people, I suppose.” He began to desperately chase apples around.

“Yeah, Ponyville’s pretty small. You’ll like it. Ain’t you a little young to be livin’ all by yer lonesome, though?” Applejack eyed him, he was simply an adolescent pony.

It took a while before Blueblood could reiterate himself, he had no clue where he was. He had simply been aimlessly wandering through the rain, now completely soaked. He realized he was in the middle of some sort of estate. He glanced around for some kind of sign or indication of where he was.

He spotted a large banner sporting, “SWEET APPLE ACRES” on large red letters. It sounded rather familiar. He paused, suddenly remembering the Gala, when he had eaten something that the orange mare had cooked. He had acted as though he found it entirely disgusting, but that was not so. He simply could not embarrass himself in a room full of nobles like that. He paused, glancing around and finding no one. It was late at night. He shivered, spotting a barn. He wouldn’t be able to get back to Canterlot in this weather.

The thought crossed his mind and he froze, horrified, before sighing. What other choice did he have? He slowly, tentatively, entered the barn, finding it surprisingly dry and warm. He’d probably be interrupted rudely in the morning, but he thought nothing of it. He gathered up a large volume of hay, and, uncaring, flopped down on it. He’d get back to Canterlot in the morning.

“Huh? Oh! I’m not.” He paused, seeming thoughtful. “I moved here with my mother, from Canterlot. She lived here several years ago and decided to come back.”

Applejack and Fluttershy stood there, exchanging glances, entirely dumbfounded.

Applejack scratched the back of her neck. “An' what’s yer ma’s name?”

“Oh. Twilight Sparkle. I’m, uh-“ He chased after a stray apple, picking it up in his mouth and shrugging, biting down and swallowing after chewing it thoughtfully. “Clockwork.”

Sir Prize stared. “Wait, wait, wait. Twilight Sparkle? As in, THE Twilight Sparkle? The one you guys NEVER shut up about?” He asked, glaring at Applejack.

Clockwork stared sheepishly at the floor. “Uh. I wasn’t aware tha-“

“Celestia, what is TAKING so long?”

“Speak o' the Disharmony.” Applejack gasped, staring as Twilight picked up the bag of apples and what was left of the pie rather easily with her magic, having not seen Fluttershy or Applejack.

Applejack’s jaw was on the floor. “T-twi?”

The unicorn spun around, dumbfounded. “Applejack? Fluttershy?!” Suddenly, she took a huge leap, dropping the apples, once again, all over the place and tackling Applejack. “Oh, Equestria, I missed you!”

Tears formed in Twilight’s eyes and Clockwork sighed, nervously picking up the apples again and calling back, “I’ll be in the library.”

Twilight nodded vigorously in response.

Prince Blueblood awoke with the orange mare who had been running the stand at the Gala kicking him in the side. “Get up! What are ya doin’ on this here property!?” She snarled. Blueblood shivered.

“I can explain.” He mumbled calmly, hints of sadness dotting his voice. “Listen, I just needed a place to stay. Here’s some bits.” He muttered dejectedly, using his unicorn power to float it over to her. “I’ll get out of here, thank you.”

Applejack stared at him. “Wait, yer that fella that was girlier than Rarity at the gala, weren’t ya?”

His face went red. “Perhaps. I came to apologize and she ran off, saying something about dragons.” He shrugged it off, glancing in the corner.

Applejack stared at him. “Really, now?” She smirked. “Interestin’. Well, yer ahr guest, so if you need some time to do some recuperatin’, yer welcome ta stay here.” She muttered, examining him up and down. Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well,” Applejack muttered, walking outside and glancing up into the grey sky. The air felt thick. “Ah do believe it’s gonna snow tonight, ya may not have a choice.” She mumbled. “And yer ahr guest, so we’ll treat’cha nicely, ah s’pose.”

“PINKIE!” Twilight called excitedly, poking her head into Sugarcube corner. It was exactly how she remembered! She scanned the area when she saw a draconequus slip out from upstairs, looking melodramatically exasperated.

“OH! I’ve been working SO LONG on these cupcakes!” The object of Twilight’s ire groaned, holding out a tray of cookies before they dramatically changed. The walls of the room seemed to melt, warping and changing, to reveal some kind of discordant redesign of the Sugarcube Corner of her memories.

Twilight only glared and Discord smirked. “Twilight Sparkle! My, my.” He put his face inches from hers. “You’re the last pony I’d expect to see in Ponyville!”

“Discord.” The purple unicorn’s ears were flattened behind her head. Suddenly, she wished that she had brought Applejack or Fluttershy. They’d sat down outside, talking for a good hour as she had explained how she moved to Canterlot, though, not disclosing the details of Whooves and the Harnis. She simply said he had had an unfortunate accident. With the occasional obnoxious interruption by Sir Prize, Applejack had finally suggested that she go see Pinkie, as her and Fluttershy had to catch up on business  while Applejack packed up.

Unfortunately, she had been so caught up, it hadn’t occurred to her to ask her friends about their children or their significant others. Sir Prize looked oddly like Blueblood, but she didn’t dare mention the name specifically to spare herself from Applejack’s potential wrath.

“Particularly after the Doctor’s….” He trailed off, before smirking and putting a claw beneath her chin. “Unfortunate accident.”

Twilight stood stock still. “How do you know about that!?” She barked, eyes practically bugging out of her head as the colour drained from her face.

“Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Tut, tut, tut.” He chuckled. “I know EVERYTHING.” He widened his yellow and red eyes, before relaxing entirely and smirking as Pinkie came up behind him. She let out a huge gasp. “TWILIGHT!” She screamed, diving for Twilight, who gasped in surprise, having been tense and horrified by Discord’s previous behavior.

“Ohhhmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! You’re back, of course you’re back! This is crazy! Amazing! Okay, parties, parties! Let’s have a party! Three days! Since you’re new and all, I mean,  not everyone’s going to remember you super-duper well! This is just like when you first came to Ponyville! You had so many friends before you moved to Canterlot! Everyone missed you, all you need is a PARTY for everyone to remember how great you are! Ohmygoshohmygosh!” Pinkie rattled.

Twilight glanced awkwardly at Discord, who had an unsettling, knowing smirk on his face before he dipped back into the other room he had just been in, now that the house was strange and bent into impossible geometric shapes. “Uh, yeah, Pinkie. Sure.” She mumbled, watching the tip of Discord’s snake tail disappear in the doorway.

“WHEEEE! It’s snowing!” A small filly, Applejack’s sister, ran outside, squealing in glee. Her friends seemed to materialize out of nowhere and dashed off with her, taking Blueblood by surprise.

“Yee haw! The pond’s frozen over!” Applejack leaped out of the house, looking at Blueblood for a second, scrutinizing him. “There’s no way yer getting back ta Canterlot in this weather. Big MacIntosh left his skates here when he moved, ya wanna come with us?” There was a certain tension held in her voice, as if she wasn’t quite sure why she was asking.

Blueblood blinked, equally confused. “I-ice skating? Isn’t that a peasant thi-“ He caught a silencing glare from Applejack, who was cocking an eyebrow. “I mean, erm. I’d love to?” He smiled awkwardly.

Applejack grinned subtly before chucking a pair of skates at him and picking up a pair of significantly smaller ones in her mouth. “C’mon!”

Sir Prize entered the door, panting and removing his hat, his mane drenched with sweat. “A hundred and… four.” He gasped, swallowing heavily.

Applejack glanced up at him in shock. “You bucked a hundred an’ four trees?!”

Prize nodded, shuddering with exhaustion. “I’ll be fine; N-no worries.” He groaned before promptly collapsing.

“Aww, Prize!” Applejack sighed. “This is the fourth time!” She looked at her unconscious son, sighing to herself before slowly setting him on the couch, running to get an ice pack for his head and putting it on his forehead.

Blueblood walked out, staring. “Again?” He groaned tensely, staring at Sir Prize. “It’s getting too hot out for him to be working that hard.”

“Ah know that!” Applejack snapped, looking over at him, before sighing heavily. "Ah know, I'm tryin' ta get 'im to slow down. He's fine." She mumbled.

Blueblood briefly smiled before putting his head on top of hers. "He is." He agreed quietly.

Ohnonononononono.

Blueblood stood frozen, staring down at the icy peril that lay before him. “A-ah… I don’t…” He stood, completely stiff and terrified even to move slightly. How had he gotten here?

Applejack chuckled, smirking. “Don’t worry, I got you, Sugarcube.”

Image credit to DespisedandBeloved on DeviantART.

Chapter 6: Failure

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 6: Failure

His paw ran idly through the water, sending multi-colour ripples through it. He flicked at it with one of his lion claws, causing it to rapidly splash around. He lazily blew his paw dry, causing a sudden swarm of cyan and pink butterflies to burst into existence and flap their wings as he breathed life into them, watching them drift away carelessly. He rolled over onto his stomach, sitting lazily by the pool and resting his head on his paw, kicking a dragon leg in the air, his snake tail flicking from side to side.

“And who let you in, Discord?”

Discord didn’t look over, his red and yellow eyes remained trained on the rippling water that sat before him. A chuckle rumbled in his throat. “Oh, I simply wanted to come visit my old home. For, you know. Five thousand years or so.” He paused, seeming amused, as he examined his talons, still without looking at who had confronted him.

There was no response.

“Something wrong,” The draconequus looked over, smirking as he stood up. “Celestia?”

Celestia stood still, looking oddly alarmed for a moment before settling on a look of smug satisfaction. “No.” She answered simply as she flicked her tail, pastel and flowing. “Nothing, nothing at all.” She smiled plainly, though Discord identified something off in her smile.  He paused.

“I see. You've noticed it, too.” Discord mumbled, returning to his position, stretched out on the grass in Canterlot gardens. His eyes wandered to the pedestal he sat on for so long, like an unassuming piece of art. He felt disgust rising in his throat, but repelled it. A simple pillar now stood upon it.

“Noticed what?” Celestia asked, seeming abnormally panicked. She was masking something…

Discord suddenly looked back at her, startling her once again. He cocked an eyebrow. “The imbalance. As much as I may despise you, Celestia, and your love of all that is sickeningly symmetrical, you are far from an idiot. Or, have you changed?” He suddenly appeared disgusted as he returned to the water, languidly drawing a claw through it, seeming thoughtful.

Celestia paused. “I have noticed.” She said, sounding uncertain at first, but ending sounding poised. “And you are to blame.”

The chimera chuckled. “I would love to take credit!” He spiraled into the air, extending his wings and hovering there as fireworks exploded vividly behind him. He donned a jester’s hat and a small scepter thumping her on the head with the scepter and gracefully landing in front of her.

“Alas, I cannot.” He sighed sorrowfully, theatrically slapping the back of his paw to his forehead and collapsing to his knees, before straightening and removing the scepter and hat. “What is happening in your kingdom is in no way attributed to me.”

“LIES!” Celestia snapped suddenly, raising a hoof irately and slamming it down on his lizard foot.

Discord paused angrily for a minute, looking as though he was about to attack her, but when her smug grin remained plastered on her face, he shrank back. Then, he smiled, much to her confusion.

“Now, now, Tia. Is that any way to treat your,” He paused, to chuckle. “loyal subject?”

“You’re not loyal to me.” The alicorn spat. “If anything, you’re an anarchist! A mutinous fool. You cannot be trusted. I will see to that. And do not call me that! To you, scum, I am Princess Celestia!”

“Oh, Princess Celestia. We’ll see who can be trusted.” Discord smiled peacefully, before returning to his spot beside the pond, beaming.

“Aaaand… Two minutes and fourty seconds!”

“Th…” The pegasus was tense beneath her blue coat, her wings flapping madly to stay in the air as she collapsed onto a cloud. “That’s it?” She groaned.

“Yeah. Sorry.” The orange Pegasus shifted uncomfortably.

“I’ll never be a good flyer.”

“Hey! Don’t give up! That’s what I used to think.”

“Please. That’s what everyone says.”

“When I was your age, I couldn’t even get off the ground!”

“Liar.”

“It’s true! Ask mom. Come on, Flare. Let’s grab a bite to eat.” She shifted, putting her purple mane slightly more forward.

“… Hey, Scootaloo?”

“Yeah?” The orange pony glanced over, smiling for some reason as they drifted lazily through the streets of downtown Cloudsdale.

“Am I really your little sister?”

Scootaloo blinked, looking worried for a minute. “Uh, yeah.  I mean, y’know I’m adopted, Squirt, but you might as well be, Flare.”

The blue Pegasus nodded, seeming thoughtful. “So it doesn’t matter, right?”

Scootaloo grinned. “’Course not! Besides, Soarin and Rainbow both think of us as their kids, even if I was already your age when they adopted me. I was there when you were born, kid.”

The Pegasus stared. “Really?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Soarin was freaking out, they almost sedated him. Some solar discharge caused this massive blackout. RD was screaming, Soarin was crying, and I was just kind of trying to keep him calm. Things worked out, obviously.” Scootaloo paused, smirking. “But, that’s how you got your name. Solar Flare. “

“Really?” Flare stared blankly back at Scootaloo, eyeing her for a moment as they flew down to a small café sitting on an individual cloud, residing on the edges of the city.

Scootaloo grinned, batting her on the back of the head gently. “Why would I ever lie to you, Squirt?”

Ohmygoshoohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.

There he is. Right there. Right there. RIGHT THERE.

“Come on, RD. You can do this!” She breathed to herself, stamping her feet as she looked across the room, gazing at him. Him. His green eyes, his well-muscled body. She shuddered, chills going down her spine as her heart jumped into her throat and her stomach doing flip-flops. She slowly approached him, and he turned, making eye contact with her.

Oh. My. Gosh. Is my mane okay? My tail? OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH.

“Hey. You look, uh, nervous.”

“NERVOUS? Hahaha! How silly. I’m not nervous! Why would I be nervous? That’s stupid! I’m not nervous, why would I be nervous! You’re just… Soarin. Of the Wonderbolts. Haha! What is there to be nervous about?”

Soarin only chuckled. “Hey, you’re the girl who did the Sonic Rainboom at the Best Young Flier’s Competition, huh? Rainbow Flash?”

“D-dash!” He knew her name! Well, almost! But he knew the first and last parts of her name, just kind of messed up on the middle!

“Sorry.” Soarin smiled. Even his smile was beautiful… “I meet so many people in one day. Me and Spitfire were actually talking about you. We kinda wanted to run into you. How’d you get back here?”

“M-me!? Oh. Uh, my friend. She’s got some super rich friends up in Canterlot, she was at some fashion thing and got tickets and a pass… She knew how much I ador- I, ergh. I mean, she knew how much I admi- No, I mean, she knew I have this massive crush- Shoot.” Rainbow felt the blood rush to her face as she bowed her head in embarrassment. “She knew I really, uhm, would like the chance to meet you.”

Soarin blinked. “Really? Wait, repeat what you were gonna say.”

“Wh-what was I gonna say?”

“You had a massive crush?” The Wonderbolt smirked self-righteously.

“Soarin, stop killing the poor girl.” Spitfire laughed, walking slowly over and grinning. “Hey, kid. Nice to meet you. Ignore Soarin’s table manners.”

“Hey! That was ONE TIME!”

“Anyway,” Spitfire began, casually glancing at Rainbow, the tension she had had with Soarin gone. “Kid, we saw you do that Sonic Rainboom. It’s practically unheard of.”

“Well,” Rainbow began, staring to relax a little. “Nothing’s too hard for the DASH!” She slicked her hair back with one hoof and exaggeratedly struck a tableau.

Soarin and Spitfire exchanged glances shortly, and Dash felt her face heating up. ”L-listen,” She began shakily. “I’m just REALLY nervous, so I’m sorry if I’m acting really we-“

“Rainbow Dash, we got a question for you.” Spitfire addressed, and Soarin nodded toward her.

“Huh?”

“Five minutes and two seconds.” Scootaloo sighed.

“Wh-what!? The worst colt in my class gets two minutes and fifteen seconds!”

Scootaloo glanced up at Solar Flare, seeming disappointed for a moment. “Come on, Flare. One more time. Take it from the Cloud 9 Hotel, go around the city, and meet me here. You can do this. Just avoid that one updraft when you go over the nightclub.”

Solar Flare nodded, and was off. Though Scootaloo would never dare to say anything, she feared for the filly’s career as a flyer. Having talked to Soarin, apparently, she was failing flight school. She examined the blur of blue and orange zipping away in the distance and sadness overtook her. She had dreams of being as great as her parents.

How ironic. The two best fliers in all of Equestria, and their offspring can’t land a simple barrel roll…

She was even more competitive than Rainbow Dash was. Well, of course she was. She had her parents to compete with. Scootaloo felt her stomach drop as she watched the younger pony swoop dangerously, before seeing her swoop up at a sharp angle. She sighed with relief, before smirking to herself and glancing back at her cutie mark. A feather. Just a feather.

Scootaloo smiled, remembering running to Rainbow Dash and exclaiming she had gotten her cutie mark. She was confused on the fact that it was a feather, though. Soarin had interjected, talking about how feathers represented virtues in the household he was raised in, though it could easily have a dual meaning.

She had grown to really like it. When she was younger, she had taken it as a sign that she would never fly, only be like a feather. Destined to fall, some time, only take short bursts of flight. Of course, that wasn’t the case. She wasn’t amazing, but she was certainly better than average.

Her thoughts were cut off with her sister came speeding by, and Scootaloo looked down to stop the timer. She cringed. “Seven minutes, thirty-six seconds.”

“Rainbow! Slow down!” Rainbow Dash could faintly hear Soarin call behind her. Rainbow smirked, slowing down and falling back. “Maybe you should speed up, slowpoke! So, will you finally admit that I am THE fastest flier in all of Equestria?” She grinned cockily at him.

Soarin chuckled. “Fine, but I’m still the best stunt flier.”

“Deal.” They bumped their hooves together.

Soarin examined her new garment, a tight-fitting Wonderbolts uniform. “Well, it certainly suits you.”

“Can I just say something, Soarin?” Rainbow asked pointedly.

“Yeah, of course.”

“This is the COOLEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!” She turned around, grinning widely. “You have no idea, ever since I was a filly, I’ve wanted to do this! I would sit outside all day and-“ Suddenly, she was choked up and took a deep breath.

Soarin stared at her in surprise, guiding her over to a cloud and setting her down. “Hah! Are you alright?” He questioned, concern dotting his voice.

“Yeah.” A small smile graced her lips. “I really am.”

Soarin waited a moment before asking, “So, uh, when we first met for the first time and it wasn’t just you, gazing dramatically at me from the audience, in the front ro-“

“Hey!” Rainbow thumped him on the back of the head. “Give it a rest.” She smiled.

“Fine, fine. But, uh, what was it about that massive crush, eh?” Soarin chuckled, rubbing up against her, and Rainbow tensed visibly, but laughed, as her cheeks grew red.

“Oh, uh, that? That was nothing. I… Freudian slip!”

“Haha, oh, really, now?”

“Yes, really, now.”

Soarin paused, seeming thoughtful, and for a nanosecond, he seemed almost… disappointed. “Ah. Y’know, we’re pretty high up.”

“Psh, I know. It’s cold.” Dash groaned quietly, sinking into the cloud. “I’m still hot from those endurance runs we did.”

“Well, you’re a Wonderbolt now, that’s regular.” Soarin grinned at her, poking her in the head. “Get used to it.

“Oh, I’m prepared to. The question is… Are the Wonderbolts prepared for the Dash?”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny. Very funny.”

“Oh, what? Fine, then! I know.” Dash grinned. “Let’s jump off and when we get to a couple hundred feet, let’s open our wings and fall. No flying. Freefalling.”

“Oh, please! Foal’s play.” Soarin smirked. “You’re on. But!” He stopped abruptly. “We have to hold hooves.”

“Hold… hooves?” Dash asked ,staring back at him, practically whipping around.

“Yes.”

“… O-okay.” Rainbow found herself blushing again, but she smiled weakly. “Let’s do this, then.” She said, practically leaping off and grabbing his hoof in hers.

“Soarin, I just dunno what to do.”

“Listen,  she just needs to keep trying. She’ll get it eventually!”

“Soarin,” Scootaloo interjected. “I’ve seen her. She needs something slower paced. They’re going too fast for her. She has you guys to compete with. You guys are the greatest fliers in Equestria! It says so on those plaques!” Scootaloo insisted, pointing at the plaque across the room.

Rainbow Dash sighed, glancing at Soarin. “She may be right.”

Soarin blinked. “But… I mean, it’s not like she’s failing, or anything.”

Scootaloo cringed. “Well, erhm.” She shifted, having wanted to keep this from them. “She kind of is. But, listen, before you get all mad at her and stuff, I think… Well, this is kind of crazy. I need to move out anyway, but I thought… Well. I was thinking… Okay, this is gonna sound TOTALLY insane.  But, hear me out.” Scootaloo took a deep breath. “I think you guys should take her to Ponyville. I learned without flight school from you, Rainbow Dash. I think that without the pressure of flight school…”

Soarin stared blankly at her. “Maybe that’s valid, but I’ve never been to Ponyville. I wouldn’t know anyone. At all.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded in agreement. “What’s the big rush to move out, Scoots?”

“Nothing, I just feel like it’s time for me to, metaphorically, spread my wings and fly. You know?”

“Yeeeeeah.” Rainbow contracted. “I remember movin’ out of my parent’s place…” She trailed off for several seconds before snapping back to reality. “Wait. We’re not… Old?!” She exchanged a horrified glance with Soarin.

“Nah. You’re apparently younger than my biological ‘parents.’ Though, I’m not sure how much good that’s going to do you guys. Everyone gets old. You just kind of have to be awesome when you’re old, instead of being afraid of it and playing checkers and drinking lemonade in a gazebo.” Scootaloo pointed out.

Rainbow chortled. “Yeah, we raised you right, I think. From where we started.”

Scootaloo smiled briefly in return. “Yeah, you really did.” She murmured, with a nostalgic grin on her face, before cutting off the memories washing over her. “But, uh, back to what I was saying. Flare’s the worst flyer in her class.” She said plainly, her eyes downcast. “We have to do something about this. They’re going to kick her out.”

“Can we homeschool her?”

“How much good is that going to if she can’t fly her way to Ponyville from Cloudsdale?” Scootaloo suddenly snapped to Soarin, “She needs a more basic education.” She insisted. “They try to teach her to be like you guys here. She’ll never be like you guys, she can barely fly. She may be normal some time, but… She’ll never live up to you guys.” Scootaloo sighed. The words pained her, knives cutting her throat and mouth as she spoke them. For some reason, she found tears welling up in her eyes.

Soarin paused for a moment. “Yeah.” He muttered. “I guess I know that.  I don’t want what happened to Spitfire to have a repeat, of any extent."

The room grew silent.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Soarin was going downward too quickly at a right angle.

He wouldn’t be able to pull up. If he expanded his wings, they’d be torn off by his momentum.

“Soarin!” Rainbow gasped from the stands. She zipped off, ignoring Spitfire’s calls for her to come back. She flew slightly down and forward at an angle before she followed him down, catching his tail in her mouth. Now she just had to pull up.

Rainbow extended her wings, trying to slow the fall. It shouldn’t be as dangerous as it would have been with Soarin, as she had already yanked him upward. “Soarin! Pull ouf your winfs!” She called, his tail muffling his mouth.

“Okay!” Soarin yelped, wincing before extending his wings to their full glory, large and powerful, and muscular.

Rainbow spotted Spitfire racing toward them. Something was off. Her trajectory was misguided. She was going to crash. As they were slowing down and both of them gained control and began to fly on their own, about a hundred feet away from the ground, they began to race toward Spitfire.

The scene had already attracted a great crowd, oohing and ahhing at something that they thought was a show, for some damn reason.

Rainbow was now racing toward Spitfire, a Mach cone appearing around her as she struggled, her cheeks being pulled back by her speed and her face feeling like it was going to peel back as she began to approach the sound barrier. Still not fast enough!

A large explosion wracked her body as a sonic rainboom bursting gaudily behind her, leaving a trail of colour as the nearby houses trembled in her wake.

A gigantic gasp echoed through the crowd, and all was silent. Rainbow, still petrified, looked around frantically for Spitfire, whom was nowhere to be seen.

Until she looked down.

“Mail!” A certain grey-blue Pegasus pony with a yellow mane called from the door of Soarin and Rainbow Dash.

Soarin answered the door. “Thanks, Derpy!”

“Okay!” Derpy called back, flying away to deliver the mail to the next house. Soarin examined the bright pink, yellow, and blue envelope that the pony had left behind. It was adorned with glitter and balloons. He shrugged, bringing it inside.

“Dashie! Mail!”

Rainbow Dash walked in, looking embarrassed to be called by her pet name, but shrugging it off. “Who’s it from?”

Soarin held it up. “No idea. There’s no return address. Someone really bothered to decorate it, though. Looks like an invitation of some kind.”

Rainbow Dash froze, staring at it. “This looks like it’s Pinkie Pie’s.”

“You mean the girl who tried to turn the Gala into a child’s birthday party?” Soarin smirked, seeming amused.

“Uh, yeah. She’s one of my best friends, I guess. We haven’t really... Talked. What could she possibly want?” Rainbow Dash grumbled, opening the letter tentatively.

Confetti exploded into her face, and she could hear Pinkies’s voice, thanks to some kind of recording device inside.

“This is your singing telegram,

I hope it finds you well!

There is a pony we all know and love

Who’s came back with her spells!

There’s gonna be a party

With her and all the others!

So please don’t be afraid to come, we’d love to have you here!”

Another spray of confetti showered Rainbow Dash and Soarin. “Ergh.” Rainbow Dash blinked, shaking a hoof free of the colourful bits of paper.  “Huh, well. I think she means Twilight! Twilight left forever ago with that Whooves guy! Why would she come back?” Rainbow blinked. “A lot of people left. Pinkie may have sent these out to everyone…”

Soarin paused. “Well, let’s go. We might as well test out Ponyville, since Scoot seems to think it’s such a good idea.”

“Solar’s going to be good at something, Soarin.” Rainbow Dash paused. “Whether it’s flying, or liking animals, or magic, or… or designing or cooking or growing apples or…” She suddenly seemed melancholy.

“Hey.” Soarin sighed, resting his head on top of hers. “It’s alright. It’s gonna be fine. Promise.”

Dash could only stare at the ground, her eyes oddly focused. She looked back up at Soarin. “But… What if it isn’t?” She sighed, her mane losing some of its volume. “What if they kick her out? Where’s she going to go? No one’s ever heard of a fully grown Pegasus that can’t fly, Soarin.”

Soarin grew silent.

There is no life here.

Sterile. The walls are white, reflecting any and all fluorescent light that comes in contact with it so it blinded against your eyes. There is no life here. In the smell of sterile rubbing alcohol and antibacterial things. Cold, unfeeling tile, mopped carelessly by the earth pony in need of a quick buck.

The only sounds are of metal clanging, paper sheets and clothing shifting.

This place is dead.

Rainbow’s heart thumped passionately in her chest as she had her eyes on the doctor pony approaching her and Soarin. “Is she okay? Can we see her?” She barked.

She could only watch in horror as the doctor’s face fell. Rainbow’s expression faded, and he shifted. “Her wings are damaged severely. She’ll survive. But…”He stopped solemnly. “We may have to amputate her wings.” He explained slowly.

There is no life here.

She was able to make it, but just barely. By the time they got there, Solar Flare was panting and sweating, whilst Rainbow and Soarin h been leisurely talking the entire time, with her struggling behind them.

Scootaloo glanced back at Flare. “Listen, you alright?” She asked, just as the filly collapsed into the dirt and groaned.  Scootaloo fuddled with the old photo album she had on her back. Rainbow Dash thought it might be fun to bring it along if they were going to have a reunion of some sort.

“Aungggg… Can we never do that again?”

“Maybe.” Dash chuckled, elbowing Soarin discreetly, who smiled in response, but seemed oddly melancholic. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Dash raised an eyebrow at him, but shrugged it off. “C’mon, Pinkie’s probably still in Sugarcube Corner. I think we’re actually a little late.” She grumbled, half to herself, half to the rest of them as she ducked inside.

“Leave me alone.”

The sudden attack surprised Soarin, as he had considered himself to be a very light walker, particularly on clouds.

“Rainbow-“

“No, stop.”

“Just listen.”

“NO! YOU LISTEN!” Rainbow snapped, hopping to her paws. “Do you even understand what happened to her? What she has to live with now? I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine living without flying, Soarin!” She hissed.

“Rainbow, she’s going to be okay. She’s alive. She’s just going to work as a normal earth pony now. She’s going to live.”

“No, no she’s not!” Rainbow jerked away when Soarin tried to place a hoof on her shoulder. “Soarin, she’s never going to feel the wind in her mane or soar into the sky or rest on a cloud ever again! She’s never gonna fly with us again! She might not even be able to be stuck in the stands half the time, she won’t be able to get up to Cloudsdale without magical help!”

“Rainbow, her bones are still hollow. She can still walk on clouds. We can still get her up here if she needs it.”

“Where’s her sense of dignity gonna go, huh? What about THAT, Soarin? What’s everypony gonna think when she needs other ponies to help her get around? She used to be great! She’s SPITFIRE! I used to idolize her, and now look at her.” Rainbow Dash paused, choking on her own tears. “Now look at her! Who’s she gonna be? Sure, she’ll be living. But she won’t be alive! I had to live without my wings for all of ten minutes the first time Discord showed his ugly head here in Equestria, and you know what?” She gasped suddenly, trying to control herself.

Soarin was now at least a foot away. “What, Rainbow?” He murmured.

“There are things worse than death.” Rainbow Dash muttered quietly, staring at him with fire blazing in her eyes before she took a deep breath and controlled her breathing once again.

Soarin stared blankly at her for a minute as she sat back down. They were on a solitary cloud in the middle of nowhere. Soarin looked at her sadly for a moment, cocking his head. “Listen, I know. And I know that this is going to suck for Spitfire, but we have to keep the Wonderbolts going. What else can we do?” He slumped beside her. “This is going to be on us. Finding new members and stuff.”

Rainbow nodded. “Soarin, what does this mean for us?”

Soarin froze. “What?”

“… Never mind. I dunno what I was saying.”

“Was it about that massive crush?”

“Now isn’t the time.”

“Sorry.”

A long pause ensued, with Soarin looking up at the stars beginning to show themselves.

“Yeah. I did, and I still kind of do.”

“Huh?” Soarin glanced over at Rainbow, then, upon realization of what she had just said, his face turned red. “O-oh.” He smiled to himself.

“Why?”

“Nothing.” Soarin covered quickly, smiling, though it was forced.

“Come on.” Rainbow suddenly smiled weakly, jumping to her hooves.

“Wha-? Where are we going?”

“We’re gonna jump.”

“Jump?”

“Offa this cloud!” She suddenly extended her wings in their full glory, she had at least a seven foot wingspan. Soarin stared in wonderment.

“Uh… Okay.”

Dash grabbed his hooves in hers and leaped off without a second thought, grinning. “Catch me, okay?”

Image credit to NabbieKitty on DeviantART.

Chapter 8: Stained Glass Windows

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 8: Stained Glass Windows

The Equestrian summer was blisteringly hot. Cicadas chirped through the streets, filling the air with meaningless noise as humidity soaked into their fur and seeped into their bones, warming them from both the inside and the outside. Heat waves simmered from the pavement in visible smears of light, distorting images around them.

Such was the case with the foals and Twilight Sparkle. The letter had called specifically for Twilight and the foals of the Elements of Harmony, asking that the rest of them stay behind. Thankfully, the carriage with the white Pegasus guards traveled at such a high altitude that they weren’t down near the ground, where the heat was coming from every angle. Rather, they had a light breeze blowing on their faces as they traveled in the direction of Canterlot.

Princess Celestia had summoned them, for whatever reason. She hadn’t specified, though Candied Chaos had heard Discord mumbling to himself and to Pinkie about some kind of imbalance, but Chaos had shrugged it off every time, passing it off as something that didn’t involve her.

Being raised by the ultimate embodiment of chaos and a pink party pony wasn’t exactly the most conventional of upbringings, though, in retrospect, Chaos couldn’t imagine the prospect of being raised by the modern equivalent of a ‘normal’ family. She glanced over at Twilight Sparkle, who looked unnaturally excited.

The six foals and Twilight were crammed into a small chariot pulled by three strangely well-muscled Pegasus guards. She was smashed between Twilight Sparkle, who hadn’t bothered initiating conversation, and Apple Core, whom was too busy constantly chatting to Sir Prize about things regarding their family. Something she, unequivocally, was uninterested in. She turned slowly to Twilight. “Hi!” She greeted cheerily.

Twilight Sparkle was brought from her reverie of hanging over the edge of the chariot to turn to her, and blinked, almost in surprise. Chaos paused, grinning. “So, do you like cupcakes?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I love cupcakes! Have you ever made them from scratch? I like to make them inside out! Have you ever made inside-out cupcakes?”

“No…”

“You must have! They taste particularly good if yo-“

“Listen, I’m really sorry, but I’m not feeling all that well and I’m not up to talking.” Twilight elucidated plainly.

Chaos, taken aback, only stared at Twilight, blinking. For once, she was at a loss for words and slumped back into her seat. She’d never particularly spent time with anyone outside of her anomalous little family. She paused, as everypony seemed to be in conversation, aside from the other pony sitting on the far end of the chariot. The dragon one.

He seemed so… introverted, though. He paused, deciding to go down the row and decide, based on what she knew so far of each of the ponies, whether they were introverts or extroverts. The ride would be somewhat lengthy… Perhaps she’d entertain herself.

Gem was an introvert. Clockwork… Introvert. Solar Flare… Introvert. Sir Prize and Apple Core? Extroverts. She wasn’t too sure about herself. At this point, Twilight seemed rude, so she didn’t bother qualifying her. She tapped a back hoof in anxiety. What would the Princess be like?

She wasn’t entirely immune to the fact that Discord was disliked in Ponyville, and perhaps Celestia and him weren’t entirely loving of each other, but…

She pondered this for a moment. “Hey!” She turned back to Twilight. “Is Celestia gonna like me?”

“Why?” Twilight turned, furrowing her brow, almost in disgust. Chaos recoiled. Twilight flickered her eyes before her gaze, ordinarily so stiff, had just softened. Twilight smiled, almost sadly. “Ah. Well, I think so. The Princess isn’t discriminating or anything, and-“

Candied Chaos interjected, “But, do you like me?”

“Huh?”

“Do you like me? I know you don’t like Dad, but that makes sense. Someone tries to destroy your home and turn it into a chaotic mess, however comfortable that may be…” She paused. “I guess I understand. I don’t know the full story either, but I know Mom loves him, and… I do too, I guess. That’s all I need to know and to be content with who he is.”

Twilight simply kept her mouth shut, though the tenseness underneath her lavender coat had returned, and Chaos sighed to herself. Thankfully, the chariot landed almost immediately, avoiding any further awkward conversations with the unicorn.

They had landed just outside the gardens. Whilst walking through the area, Candied Chaos couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. There was something… unholy about this place. She shuddered and continued walking until they were inside the castle, and her sense of worry only grew as they walked through sets of stained glass windows, many featuring Discord and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She felt her throat tighten and she took a deep breath, shaking.

Gem, the pony-dragon she’d been talking to earlier at the party, the only one who had really responded to her, glanced at her, blinking and cocking his head toward one of the stained glass windows, raising an eyebrow.

Chaos nodded slowly. She’d known enough about what had happened long ago, but only could wonder if Celestia would react similarly. Twilight pushed open a large chamber door with odd inscriptions and more details on it, made of marble with dark colours swirling and ducking just beneath the visible surface of the stone.

When the doors were opened, the throne room was revealed. A soft, downy carpet, a dark shade of crimson, covered the floor. The same tile, an eggshell marble covered the floors. Columns stood at attention, lining the carpeted pathway to the Princess’s throne, with more of the white Pegasus guards standing between the columns, dressed in glossy gold armor, shielded from any possible debris or weapons that may come flying in their direction.

The princess herself was breathtaking. The descriptions she had heard from her father had always been some kind of insult, but the filly had to wonder how one could insult one as majestic. Her coat was an iridescent white colour, shining a full spectrum from a certain angle, causing her to shimmer in the correct light and angle. Her mane and tail flowed elegantly on some unseen breeze, appearing almost liquid as it shimmered and wavered even further with each movement she made. Her wings, though folded in, were massive, with well-preened feathers that gleamed just as brilliantly as the rest of her did. She wore a golden breastplate with inscriptions all along it, a brilliant purple gem set in the center, matching the tiara that was sophisticatedly placed on her head, adorning her lengthy horn.

It wasn’t until Twilight tapped her that she realised her mouth was hanging open. Though the young mare had heard stories about Princess Luna, the other princess was nowhere to be seen, it seemed. An empty throne, made of dark onyx, with several multi-faceted diamonds set in the back, giving the illusion of a limitless night sky.

She was just beginning to examine the solar princess’ throne when her train of thought was broken as she realised that at some point, Princess Celestia had stood up and was now in front of the seven ponies. She gulped, sitting back on her haunches.

The princess smiled graciously, and Candied Chaos felt herself relax slightly. Some of the guards were staring at her oddly, whispering and pointing alabaster hooves. She shook it off.

“I’m sure there’s a great deal of confusion as to why I was so secretive in summoning you lot here.” Celestia said slowly, her eyes scanning over the group, though she was smiling good-naturedly. Chaos relaxed, observing her hooves had been shaking for some bizarre reason. The violent thumping in her chest had finally slowed to an oscillating cadence she was barely aware of.

Everypony slowly glanced at each other before nodding slowly. She noticed many of the other  foals looked even more nervous than she did, more so than she did. Particularly the brown one with the purple mane. Whatever his name was. Clockwork?

“Well,” The matriarch continued, swishing her magnificent tail behind her. Candied Chaos got a glance of her intricate cutie mark, a sun. Precipitously, she snapped her head toward the guards. “Please, leave us. I am safe with these seven. We have matters of the utmost secrecy to discuss.”

Each of the guards nodded in unison, still at attention, and marched out unanimously. Celestia waited until the last one had left before opening her mouth to continue. “Now, I’ve discovered something rather disturbing. There is an imbalance in Equestria, between harmony and chaos. It is unidentified, but both Luna and I agree that it has something to do with you six.” She swished her glorious horn over the foals. “I had Twilight accompany you here because she was one of my students, and I trust her greatly. We detected two imbalances.” The Princess paused, cocking her head for the seven to follow her. She led them closer to the throne, where she pulled out a large, extravagant map of the known world, with Equestria in the center.

Celestia pointed to Equestria, where Canterlot was high in the northern area, with Ponyville lingering more toward the center. “We are here.” She motioned to Canterlot before moving her hoof, adorned with a beautiful, sparkling glass shoe, westward. “This is a land known as Dystopia. It’s been long abandoned, it’s a wasteland. She moved her hoof to the farthest edge of the map, to an area haphazardly circled in scarlet. “This is where we’re sensing a disturbance. It seems to be resonating throughout Equestria, sending waves of… Well, disturbances throughout the entire map, but, for some reason, it appears to only be affecting Equestria.”

The princess coughed before continuing. “Eh hem, ah, so, there’s another disturbance. Yesterday, we sensed it centered in Sugarcube corner, in a very concentrated area. It’s you six.” Celestia said slowly, and Twilight Sparkle shot to her hooves. “What?! That’s impossible. Princess, these are just six foals. There’s nothing special about them!”

“Twilight,” Celestia interrupted sternly, and Twilight nodded slowly. “I’m sorry, Princess.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “As I was saying, “Even some of the most skilled ponies in Equestria cannot exactly identify exactly what the issue is, but we believe you six are the answer. That’s the only thing we seem to be able to agree upon.”

“Please, follow me.” Celestia purred deliberately, picking up the Equestrian map and hovering it around her in a graceful orbit as she walked over to a doorway Chaos hadn’t noticed upon first entering the palace.

The ponies got to their feet, trotting after the Princess, who took shockingly large strides but never seemed to trip over her lanky legs even once. Finally, they reached a stained glass window that, evidently, Twilight hadn’t even seen before, as she gasped when she saw it.

The six foals, each standing around what looked like a raging fire, a multicoloured swirl of magic coursing from each of them and mixing and eddying and running together. The window itself cast broken rays of light upon the cool tile floor.

Celestia sat on her haunches, nodding to each of them and taking a deep breath. “I understand you’re merely foals. I’m asking a lot of you. But, I need each of you to go destroy this source of trouble before it kills Equestria.” She said seriously.

There was a dead silence until Twilight gawked at the princess, gaping. “B-but, they… They’re foals!” She leapt to her hooves. “You can’t ask this! Ask the Element Bearers to do this! We’ll do this, we-“

“Twilight Sparkle, the problem is that my own magic only strengthened it. The Elements of Harmony will do the same thing. There’s something unidentifiably special about these six. The universe has its way of fixing itself.” The Princess elaborated, looking skyward at the arched ceiling. “And I believe these six are the answer. It may or may not have something to do with their relation to the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight’s pelt was standing on end. “You can’t ask this! They could be killed!”

Celestia snapped toward Twilight. “You expect me to risk the lives of foals for fun?” She hissed. “Do you think that this is what I want to do? I wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t our last option! This is the last opportunity we have before Equestria is destroyed!”

The familiar, nervous thumping returned in Chaos’ chest. Was… Was Celestia asking her to save all of Equestria? She could only stare blankly forward, her legs unable to support her while she trembled violently. She felt sick.

Twilight’s gaze snapped to Chaos, at which point she jumped. “What about her? She’s Discord’s offspring! This! You want THIS to save Equestria?” She snarled, her ears folded back. “What about my son? You can’t just be asking us to give up our children!”

Celestia bowed her head. “Twilight, you are accusing a foal of incapability because of her parents.” She glared. “Has all that I taught you meant nothing? Does it mean nothing to you?” She got to her hooves. “Not only that, but this is our last resort. It’s this, or death to everything that lives in Equestria. I have a device that will allow you to watch them from your library as they go on their journey. You will be able to monitor them every second. I would not be asking this if it wasn’t our last chance.” To Chaos’ surprise, Celestia shed a small tear. “I do not enjoy making sacrifices, or threatening lives. I no longer have a choice. We are in the calm before the storm.”

Twilight sat there, suddenly on her haunches. The lavender unicorn was staring darkly at the ground. Celestia moved forward, resting the tip of her horn on Twilight’s head. “I know you have lost much, and you wish to lose no more. But unless you want to lose everything you have, risks have to be taken.” Celestia smiled sadly, and Twilight nodded.

The princess turned back to the six, who were now shaken up and nervous. Celestia bowed her head sadly. “If you do this, you will be doing all of Equestria a service, and you will receive a remembrance long after your lives have ended, whether they are cut short or not. I will not lie,” Celestia took a shaken breath. The stained glass window was now behind her, illuminating her silvery coat with a myriad of hues. “The road will be dangerous, and potentially life-threatening. But you are Equestria’s last hope, and I can only do nothing more than beg you to help us.”

The six sat in stunned silence. Very, very slowly, the grey foal with the blonde mane, Sir Prize, got to his hooves, every limb shaking. “I-I’ll go.”

The remaining five stared at him, but he held his head up in faux confidence. Chaos felt her heartbeat strengthen. “I will!” She leaped to her hooves. “I… I’m gonna prove myself.”

Celestia stared oddly at her, something between bewilderment and amusement plastered on her face. Slowly, each of the foals stood up and nodded, except for Clockwork. He sat there blankly, seven sets of eyes on him. “There’s… no other solution? Nothing at all?” His voice was unnaturally high and he gulped audibly.

“I’m afraid not.”

The colt feigned self-assurance and stood up slowly, stumbling several times. “O… kay.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, hanging her head.

Celestia smiled sadly. “I’m very sorry I’ll have to ask this. Thank you. Each of you. Twilight, I’ll give you the maps and any necessary items they’ll need, along with a list of optional items.”

Twilight nodded, soberly getting to her hooves with each of the foals shaking. They returned to the throne room in dead silence. Chaos’ thoughts wandered back to what Twilight had said about her just several minutes before. Was that what the pony thought of her? Her stomach dropped. Was that what… everypony thought of her?

She stared at the floor, skidding her hooves over the tile. Suddenly, she wanted to go back home. And make cupcakes. She only glanced up momentarily to watch Celestia handing Twilight the same rolled up map and six different blank saddlebags, as none of them had cutie marks yet.

It just now hit her what had been asked of her. A filly. She had just been asked to travel to, uh. Wherever it was, whatever the place was that Celestia had said, to save Equestria. It dawned on her that the same had been asked of her mom when she had first met her dad, but for some reason, she couldn’t wrap her mind around that, or the concept of her father being evil. That eluded her entirely.

The Princess called them in, addressing them thoughtfully. “First off,” She began with a sigh. “I’d like to thank you, each of you. You are doing Equestria a grand service today. I’m afraid I cannot tell you exactly what you are about to face, but we can only hope that it will be without trouble.” She bowed her head. “I wish each of you the best, and a safe journey, and that you leave together tomorrow morning on the crack of dawn.”

Twilight gaped. “So early?”

“We have little time to waste, unfortunately.”  Celestia nodded, eyes cast downward. “Be prepared to face dragons, diamond dogs, rogue ponies, bandits, hydras… Anything. Things are not always as they seem.” She warned. “Somepony may try to trick or double-cross you. And, remember: If something you see doesn’t seem real… It probably is not. I have one last gift to bestow upon you, it’s the only thing I can hope to give you that may help you.”

She floated a book over to Twilight, one with a large skull and crossbones on the cover. Twilight stared at it, already carrying a great amount of bags and maps on her back. She flipped through the book thoughtfully. “Creature identification, ward spells, basic first-aid, and anti-venoms?” She asked.

Princess Celestia nodded. “Yes. Should you be attacked, this should help you in your hour of need.”

Twilight dipped her head sluggishly, still seeming shell-shocked from the news. “And, Twilight…” Princess Celestia grabbed one last thing. “I have one thing for you and for the rest of the Elements and their partners. This.” She floated over a large glass orb. “You will be able to watch them through this.” At this point, Clockwork was helping Twilight Sparkle by grabbing each of the foal’s saddlebags and distributing them, as there was no particular order. They were already filled; judging by their weight, but Chaos hadn’t bothered to look through them quite yet, and simply fastened the saddlebag to her flank.

Celestia nodded again. “Once again, I apologize. I ask that you do not share this information with anyone outside of your families to avoid panic. I’d like to have this problem taken care of without causing a panic.”

Each of them nodded obediently. “Thank you.” Celestia smiled sadly. “You may go, it is probably best that you are honest when you share this information with them.”

With that, they turned and left. Chaos leisurely ambled over to Solar Flare. “Uh, hi!” She said quickly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh. Hi.”

Chaos grimaced. “My name’s Candied Chaos.”

“I know. I’ve met you.”

“Yeah, but not that well! If we’re gonna be doing this world-saving journey or whatever then we should at least get to know each other!”

The Pegasus blinked. “I… I guess. Sorry. I’m still kinda, y’know. Freaked out.”

“I think this is gonna be fun!” The filly chattered, bouncing beside her newly-made friend.

“We’re risking our lives. It doesn’t sound all that fun to me…” The blue filly trailed off slowly, shifting on her hooves while they walked back to the chariot. Chaos glanced over to Twilight, Clockwork was talking to her softly about something, his brow furrowed.

She noticed everypony was scared-looking, except for her. She bounced around carelessly. “Come on, everypony! No need to be so glum!” She chirped, attempting to forget what Twilight had said previously.

Her efforts were, for the most part, entirely fruitless. She bit on the inside of her cheek, trying to think of a way to cheer everypony up, but she managed to come up with nothing. Her ears fell and she sighed.

They each entered the carriage. Clockwork was sitting next to Twilight this time, with Candied Chaos on his other side, and Gem on her left side.

She cocked an ear toward the mother and son in an attempt to hear what their conversation had been previously, as he was speaking so lowly.

“We’ll be fine.” Clockwork murmured, Twilight was silent. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be trying to focus on the edge of the chariot. “Princess Celestia wouldn’t send us on some stupid mission thing if she thought she was just going to send us to our deaths. It’s all going to be fine, I promise.” Clockwork smirked meekly.

Twilight only stared downward somberly.

The trip back to Ponyville was far quicker than the trip to Canterlot was. Chaos assumed it had something to do with the wind.

It had begun to cool down, thankfully. Much of the breeze had taken over as the sun was now beginning to set. The filly was aware that everypony would be waiting at Sugarcube corner when they got back, Twilight would have to deliver the news, and… Well, she wasn’t too sure, then. They’d leave in the morning.

A weight dropped in her stomach. She’d never even attended public schooling, and now she was going to go off and save the world? She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about this. Celestia would never misguide them, but… What if she was just trying to kill them for some reason?

She shook herself free of the thought immediately. Why would Celestia send them with so much equipment, then? She looked up, gasping when they sailed straight through a thin, wispy cirrus cloud. The cloud came in contact with them and dissolved immediately, shattering in tiny droplets and moistening their coats, though it simply rolled off anticlimactically.

Celestia’s sun was now mostly down over the horizon, only about a quarter of it remained visible, sending the rays of light shooting across the sky in a faded mix of hues that went from reddish, to purple, to blue, to purple, and on the other side of the sky, she could clearly see the swimming inkiness of Luna’s night, a thin crescent moon hanging loosely in the air. The smell was crisp, so high up. Far away from the heat of the day and humidity, as the air was much thinner at this altitude.

She took in a long, deep drink of the air, sucking out all of the oxygen it was worth, and exhaled. The unseen force tugging on her heart lightened slightly as she looked up again into the uninterrupted purple sky, the stars were just beginning to peek through the wisps of clouds.

She looked back down at her lap, deciding she might as well examine the contents of her bag. She opened it carelessly, sorting through items. There was general first aid, a blanket, a canteen, and what looked like several packs of dried, compressed flowers that needed water to be added, and a small volume of hay. In all, the food would last around a week, if carefully rationed out. She furrowed her brow. Did Celestia really think that was how long the trip would take?

Her stomach began to sink. Of course, they were going to pack food.  What a silly thought. She had already established this: Celestia would never do anything to purposely cause them harm. It was a silly thought. Luckily, she had no more time to question the matter as Ponyville was visible on the horizon and they had already began to descend.

Once they landed just in front of Sugarcube Corner, everypony stumbled out the door, looking worried. “Are you guys okay?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously, flitting about. “We got worried.”

“Go inside, everyone.” Twilight said calmly, not the slightest hint of stress in her voice as she gathered the things from the chariot, thanked the guards, and came in after them.

“Miss Twilight, can Ah please ask ya what’s goin’ on?” Big MacIntosh asked slowly. “Yer white as a ghost.” He pointed out while Apple Core leaned against the stallion.

“Well, uh, everyone. There’s been… A development.” Twilight sighed out the last few words. “Take a seat, everyone.”

With some trouble, considering the number of chairs that were on the sides of walls or upside-down, kept by an unseen force, everyone found an area to sit. Twilight’s eyes scanned the group. “I’m going to ask that no one interrupts while I explain, and know that this is the Princess’ request, and not my own. I have no control over this.” She took a deep breath and began to explain, albeit shakily, “There is a disturbance in Equestria. It’s settled in a region called Dystopia, and it seems to be resonating throughout the kingdom.” Twilight bit her lip while Chaos remembered what the name of the area was. “Princess Celestia believes our foals have something to do with it, and that they may be able to stop it. I don’t know why, I don’t know how. This is what she told me.”

Twilight paused, seeming as though she had to recall what the Princess had so blatantly told each of them. “She asked the foals to go to Dystopia and stop whatever the source of this disturbance is. She calls it some kind of… imbalance. Her and Luna both noticed that there was a concentration of… Something else, here, in Sugarcube Corner. We can only assume this is because of the party. She thinks that our foals are… Special, and that they can fix it. Evidently, this was her last resort. She didn’t want to do it, but it’s either this, or Equestria dies. She asks that we don’t share this information with anyone but our own families. So, no one outside this room.” She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

A dumbfounded hush had fallen over the room during some point of her talking. “But,” Her voice cracked. “She sent me with… This thing.” She pulled out the orb with her magic. It was more of a sphere, Candied Chaos observed, as it had a flat bottom that allowed it to be set on surfaces without rolling to one side or the other.

“It should allow us to watch them as they go, so we can monitor them. I’m going to set it up in the library. There’s… There are several spare rooms, so whoever wants to stay there to keep an eye on it is welcome to.” Twilight added.

“She just…” Blueblood stood up, his ears back on his head. “She expects us to simply give up our foals? Just because she said so?!” He snarled.

“Please.” Twilight looked at him gently. “This isn’t easy for any of us.” She swallowed loudly. “Each of them has agreed to go. The Princess is sending them with plenty of supplies and saddlebags, and has assured me that this is her last resort, and she wishes there was some other way. There may be no danger at all, but this is just a precaution as the journey will be long.” Twilight nodded, beginning to regain some confidence, as it seemed. “But, ah, she asked that… That they leave tomorrow morning.”

“WHAT?” Soarin leapt to his feet. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Please!” Twilight snapped. The room began to erupt into echoes of agreement and begrudging protests. “SHUT UP!” Twilight screeched. A hush fell over the group once again, and Twilight breathed heavily for a moment. “They’re going to do it, and the Princess pretty much ordered it! Whether you like it or not, they have to go, okay? It’s either this or all of Equestria is destroyed! I’m sorry! You know that you guys and your foals are the world to me! I’d never do anything to risk any of their or your lives! So, please, I’m asking you to do me this favour and just go along with it. I don’t particularly like this either, but it’s something we have to do! You guys remember facing Nightmare Moon?” She snapped her head to the other five mares in the room. “That was scary, wasn’t it? We risked our lives then! Our parents would have tried to have stopped us, too. But Equestria was in trouble! What choice did we have?”

Twilight scanned the crowd. “Discord! We were scared! We were terrified, and we were almost torn apart! But, we won, didn’t we?” Twilight scanned the group. “If it weren’t for Pinkie Pie, he’d still be stone. So, listen, I ask you, this isn’t easy. But we have a choice to make, and maybe it’s time that we allowed our foals the choice that we had.” She smirked weakly. “Maybe, they’ll find their cutie marks!”

Scootaloo didn’t even chuckle at this, she was stone-faced, as were the rest of them.

Twilight took a deep breath. “If you’d like to stay in the library tonight, please come with me. We need to pack some extra food and any extra essentials. They have blankets, about a week’s worth of food, and a canteen in their saddlebags that the Princess provided.”

With that, Twilight left, and ponies slowly began to follow after her. For some reason, without protesting. Candied Chaos glanced over to the draconequus in the room. “Can I stay here?”

“Yes.” Discord answered almost immediately. He scrunched up his face, brow furrowing.

“Everything okay, Cordy?~” Pinkie sang, twirling around him and bouncing circles around him.

For whatever reason, the chimera didn’t answer.

~XXX~

A good lot of you aren't commenting, and I'd really like it if you did just to let me know you're here and what I should work on. Thanks to my regular commenters.

-- RadaVonVon

Chapter 9: Deadpan

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 9: Deadpan

Thankfully, it had gone quickly. It wasn’t so much that Clockwork hadn’t wanted to say goodbye, it was just that he couldn’t stand to watch it. He wasn’t aware of the details of his father’s disappearance, but he wasn’t sure it was something he wanted the details of. To see Twilight lose anything more…

She already seemed kind of dead in comparison to the other ponies, as though some sort of force had come along and readily sucked the life out of her, leaving nothing in its path. He knew that to have such lively friends... Surely, the unicorn had once been as alive as they had been?

The previous night, he had discussed with his mother the best route to take from Ponyville to travel through Dystopia to reach the source of the disturbance. Twilight had spent most of the time carefully outlining their road with a shaking hoof. After a desperate search through the library, she managed to find a map almost identical to the one Celestia had given the foals and done the same thing to both, in spite of the fact that the map they had found belonged to the library and was in the middle of a book. Oddly enough, it was one of the few books Twilight hadn’t read. He vaguely remembered her saying something about how she’d never seen it before, but... He hadn’t questioned her actions.

After having been forced to recite everything he knew about first-aid, poison treatments, ward spells, and essentially anything in the large encyclopedia that Princess Celestia had granted them, Clockwork finally had forced his bleary-eyed mother to bed, while he sat awake by the candlelight, (careful not to be too loud as to avoid disturbing those staying in the library with them while they slept.) and studied. And studied. And studied. He read everything.

Equestrian mythical creatures, their behaviours, the best defences against them. Try as he might, he was, peculiarly, unable to find anything about any region called ‘Dystopia’ in any kind of history or geography book aside from that single book Twilight and him had discovered after a mutual search.

He shrugged it off before he took a groggy glimpse at the clock. It was 3 in the morning. They were leaving in two hours. He sighed, closing Myths and Legends of the Known World, Volume 4 and grabbed his candle, one of the few things he could lift with magic, (This was due to the fact that there was a direct wick between him and the energy of the burning flame when he grabbed it with his magic. That, and it was light.) and began to slowly step up the solid wooden steps of the library. They were carved right into the hollowed-out tree.

The tree’s rings were plainly visible in the steps, resembling something of water damage. He continued trotting up the spiral staircase that was also carved directly into the tree. From an architectural standpoint, the Ponyvillian library was a masterpiece.

As a place to hold literature? Not so much. The library barely held a tenth of what the Canterlot library held; a factor he hadn’t considered when initially agreeing with Twilight to move to Ponyville.  He was starved for a good novel, (Something his mother hated. She preferred books that catalogued and categorized. Information, information. Never expanding her mind to the possibility of this universe or any other.) and found himself only able to amble around the library restlessly, humming a nervous tune or tapping his hooves or laying on the couch and trying to write his own novel in his head.

Clockwork had considered becoming a writer before, but his general attempts had been failed. Without many friends in Canterlot and a mother who despised novels with every fibre of her being, he hadn’t known anyone who could give him legitimate constructive criticism, so he’d essentially given up on the possibility and looked for something else to do with his life. (As his magic career was going nowhere.)

Getting to the top of the stairs, he had tiptoed across the polished, solid-wood floor, the marbling effect from the rings of the wood remaining a constant as he passed several doors, the quiet coos and murmurs of ponies, sleeping soundly muffling through the tree as he crept by. They were preparing for the emotional and physical exhaustion of the next day, and he was making sure none of them died.

Fan-bucking-tastic. He had two hours to sleep. Twilight and him had made estimates of how many days the trip should take. About a week and a half, one way, on foot. Twilight had attempted to see if there was any way to teleport them as a last resort, but she was unable to do it, for lack of power, and in order to perform a teleportation spell, you need to know the area.

All in all, they’d be gone roughly three weeks, and that was if they ran into no major obstacles. Like, you know, dragons on the loose, or diamond dogs, or bandits. Or diseases, or anything poisonous, or if something ate their food. The usual.

The colt moved tediously through the hall until he came to a door on his right. The door to his room. He sighed in relief, nudging the door open and pushing it closed with a hind leg. He had set the candle on a stand and blew it out, immediately slamming onto the bed, his eyes burning as he shut them for the first time in what seemed like days. He didn’t recall blinking for the past several hours. Almost immediately, he had fallen asleep, not even bothering with the velvety green blankets that he often had to sleep under.

It seemed almost as though he blinked, and the morning he was so going to dread had arrived. The first rays of dawn filtered in through his window. In spite of how tired he was, he was still a ridiculously light sleeper. It became immediately apparent that he was the only one awake, so, he took it upon himself to wake up the others in the house.

He turned to the first door, finding Miss Fluttershy’s family. It was a rather comedic sight, the large crimson stallion, the tiny orange filly, and the small young mare crammed together into a single bed. He caught himself smiling, but dropped it immediately. “Uh, miss? It’s morning.” He smiled nervously, and Fluttershy looked up, her mane slightly ruffled.

“O-oh. Thank you.” She smiled good-naturedly at him. “I’ll take care of these two.”

Clockwork nodded, going to each of the rooms and gradually waking them up, however begrudgingly. He was aware that Candied Chaos had stayed over at Sugarcube Corner for the night, and left that to them. Whatever they did was up to them.

By the time Fluttershy and her family were up and about, Clockwork had already set out breakfast for them, (being something he had to do routinely for his mother.) and had eaten, and had his saddlebags strapped onto his flanks.

“Ah, Apple Core, please hang on…” Fluttershy begged. “Let me tie your mane and tail.”

The filly’s mane and tail were hanging comically in a messy fashion, as opposed to her general braid or ponytail. Clockwork decided to take one last glance through the book he had been reading last night. His eyes still burned from exhaustion.

Big Mac glanced over at him. “Ya look mighty tired, son.”

“I was up late.” Clockwork answered blearily. “Studying.” He mumbled, walking over to the collapsible tent on the floor and setting it in his saddlebag. “I wanted to make sure we were…” He trailed off, shutting his eyes and blinking rapidly. “Sorry.”

“S’alright.” Big MacIntosh turned to him, supporting the colt. “You feelin’ alright?”

“Not much we can do.” Clockwork sighed. “Hang on, I think Mom bought some, uh,” He forgot what he was gonna say, then shook his head rapidly. “Coffee.” He mumbled, walking sluggishly to the cabinet to get some instant coffee. A spoon was another one of the items he could lift. The coffee most often available to the common ponies in Equestria was instant, so he had no problem stirring several spoonfuls of the dried, bitter brown powder into some hot water he had poured into a cup.

He tediously stepped over to the table, taking a free step and sitting down, gulping the scalding liquid feverishly. He received almost instant relief. He sighed contentedly and slumped back in his seat, the scent of coffee, daisies and hay filling the room. He shut his blue eyes, for but just a moment. When he jolted himself out of his relaxed state, everyone was sitting at the table, staring at him.

“You alright there, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, munching on several blades of grass.

Clockwork nodded, rubbing his eyes of sleep. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He mumbled, walking over to the rolled up map. It didn’t entirely fit in his saddlebag, so it stuck out somewhat and he just left it partially unzipped. He knew the roads they had to follow until they hit the edge of Equestria and entered Dystopia. It was then that he was going to need the map, but they could hopefully get to Dystopia within a couple of days.

For some reason, he was entirely numb to the heinousness of what he was preparing to do. It was just something else he was going to do, going about his daily life. It was just something else. No big deal. Vaguely, somewhere in the little corner of his consciousness that was reality, he heard Apple Core groaning, “MAAA, Ah’m a big pony! Ah can take care of mahself. Ah’ll be fine.”

But that couldn’t be farther. He was at his hooves, wandering around the library. His eyes fell upon the same old photo of his father and mother, and he reached over, pushing it over so it faced downward. His mother didn’t need any more stress. Perhaps… Perhaps, if this worked out okay, maybe she’d be back to her lively self. Whatever it was that had caused her to be friends with these other ponies.

He briefly wondered if these other foals could become his friends. It was an odd notion, between the dragon-pony hybrid, the draconequus-pony, the overly-ambitious country boy unicorn, the lively farm girl, and the depressed Pegasus. He scoffed. Yeah, it wasn’t happening.

Maybe, he could just get this over with, return home, find a nice novel, and curl up on the couch that smelled so oddly of the beach, and lose himself once again.

Clockwork wasn’t depressed. No, that wasn’t the case at all. He was perfectly content with where he was. He simply had little to no interest in socializing, and he found the universes and ideals in novels to be so much more understandable and interesting, as opposed to real life.

It was a mixture of that, and concern for his mother. The most that he understood of her and her relationship with his father was that he had a Buckingham accent, and was often referred to as ‘The Doctor’.

To an extent, he was spiteful. Perhaps, if this Doctor fellow had been sensible, he would have done something for his family, for Twilight. But, at the same time, his reading had given him an edge. Everyone had a reason for doing what they did. Sometimes, it didn’t make sense to everypony. But, misunderstandings happen.

Clockwork snapped out of his musing, apprehending that almost everypony was ready to go. He glanced up. “Is everypony ready?”

The general attitude of the group was decidedly somber, but there was an odd sense of melancholy that went along with it. Clockwork opened the door, and the early summer morning breeze rolled in.

It was a short trek to Sugarcube Corner, where the group picked up Candied Chaos. Several feet away was the road that they would turn down off of Mane Street to head west. Slowly, foals pulled away from their parents, until the six foals were left in a line, sitting on one end of the road.

A peculiar silence had befallen the group as a couple of the older parents seemed slightly misty-eyed. Twilight was the only one to move forward, briefly resting her head on top of Clockwork’s. “Be safe. Always remember that I love you. Come home soon.”

Those were the only words spoken between them as Clockwork inhaled deeply. Twilight gave them a confirming nod that slowly resonated through the group, and Clockwork turned to lead the group down the first turn of their journey.

Now, that’s where he was. They had been walking for something of ten minutes now, not a word spoken between them, even the two cousins of the Apple family. They’d taken several turns since then, and they were now walking on some kind of off-road. The road was dusty, and they kicked up a light coating of the chalky, sandy stuff with each step that they took. Around them was a seemingly endless expanse of thorny shrubbery and briar patches. They could still see Ponyville, though no one had bothered to glance back.

Finally, someone broke the silence. It was Solar Flare. “So, uh,” She Pegasus began slowly, as if unsure what to say. No one glanced at her, though their ears were pricked. “We’re gonna be with each other for a while. We might as well get to know each other.”

“Eeyup.” Apple Core agreed plainly. She had developed a habit of fluttering around the group occasionally, and no one had protested it, though, she was currently walking next to Sir Prize.

“… What do you propose we do, then?” Clockwork asked quietly, still not bothering to glance backward, like the rest of them.

“We could ask each other questions.”

“Yeah!” Candied Chaos suddenly cheered. “That’s a great idea! Let’s do that!”

“Alright, sure.” Clockwork agreed with a shrug. “Why not?”

“I’ll go first.” Sir Prize began. “Uh, Solar Flare?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you fly?”

“Barely.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well,” She paused. “I don’t know.” She sighed shamefully. “My parents are the best fliers in all of Equestria, and… I can barely get off the ground. Scootaloo, my sister, is trying to tutor me, I guess, but… It doesn’t help.”

“I’m sorry. Time and patience, maybe?” Sir Prize suggested.

“Maybe.” The Pegasus grumbled.

“Okay, uh, you next.” Sir Prize suggested to Solar Flare.

“Alright, fine. Clockwork.”

Clockwork groaned. These were foal’s games. He just wanted to get his job done and go back home. “Yessss?” He exaggerated.

“Celestia; Sorrrrry.” Solar Flare muttered. “I was just gonna ask you why you’re always in such a bad mood.”

“Can I make something very, very  clear? Before I have to endure any sporadic instances of bedlam and anarchy?” When nopony answered, he sighed. “Listen, I just want to get this done. Okay? I want to get this done, save Equestria, whatever, and go home, find the last novel I can find in that stupid, limited library, endure whatever schooling system this place has, and be done with it. I don’t want to be doing this! I’m terrified! I just want to go through my life and get old or something.” He snapped. “I’ll run the library, whatever. I’m just being brutally honest.”

“… Someone’s grumpy!” Candied Chaos sighed dramatically.

Murmurs of agreement rang through the group. Sir Prize trotted ahead. “Weeeeelll, I suppose I’ll lead the group since Mister Cranky’s having a bad day.” He pranced ahead, and Clockwork just groaned.

“Honestly-“ Clockwork began, but he was cut off by Chaos.

“SHH. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all! Gem, you’ve been quiet this entttiiiire timeeee!” She bounced over to the dragon hybrid, who remained silent. “What’s wrong?”

“I have to agree with Clockwork.” He snapped. “I want this over with. Look, we’re risking our lives here. We’re not going to a club to go hang out! Why do you think people took it so seriously?” He growled.

“Okayy, so that’s two whole Mr. Crankies we have to deal with.” Chaos let out a breath of exasperation.

Gem and Clockwork exchanged glances while Candied Chaos bounced off toward Apple Core and Solar Flare.

“Is that really an efficient method of transportation?” Clockwork asked, raising an eyebrow, but Candied Chaos merely stuck out her tongue. Clockwork rolled his eyes. “Hey! Sir Show-off!” He growled toward the front of the group, throwing the map at the other unicorn. “You know where we’re going?”

Sir Prize caught the map with magic. “Of course.”

After that event, the only speaking was meaningless chatter between the fillies. The early morning dew began to evaporate, leaving nothing but the dry, dusty road in its wake. Ponyville was now a blur on the horizon, and Clockwork realized with a sinking sense of terror in the pit of his stomach that he was moving farther and farther away from the only things he knew were familiar. He gulped.

“What tiiime is itttttt? We’ve been walking for hourrrssssss…” Candied Chaos skulked.

Gem glanced into the sky, now a swimming sea of blue, with Celestia’s sun perched perfectly in the center. “It’s noon.”

“Can we stop to get a burger?”

“Wha-?”

“A burgerrrr! I want a daisy burger and hay fries!”

“No- are you entirely incapable of understanding where we’re going?” Gem snapped. “This princess lady decided it would be just fine and dandy to send us off  to our deaths, even though we have no clue what we’re facing or why. Neither does anyone else! Better start writing your will!” Gem snapped.

“Oooo-kay. Jeez. I was just kidding.” Chaos muttered. “It’s really hot out, though.” She observed.

“No dip! It’s in the middle of summer, and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a desert!” Gem snapped, stopping to wipe sweat from his brow with a hoof.

“Is everything I say just going to get you to yell at me? Gosh, you’re no fun!” Chaos pouted.

“Eeyup.” Apple Core interjected.

“That might not happen if you didn’t have to talk about pointless things every two minutes! I don’t care about ANYTHING that you talk about!” Gem hissed.

“Hey, calm down.” Clockwork sighed. “This isn’t worth it. We have to come back alive, remember?”

Gem only glared at Chaos, who rolled her eyes and bounced forward again. “Jeez.”

Silence rang out once again for several more hours, the sun not easing up. Every step taken shot a searing pain up Clockwork’s leg. The bottoms of his hooves felt charred and black. Sand covered his pelt. He couldn’t see any water for miles, so he wanted to preserve it.

“Wha- time izzut?” The colt slurred, looking desperately over to Gem. The roof of his mouth was dry, his lips felt cracked.

“About five. Sun’ll be going down in a few hours.”

Clockwork nodded desperately. The hunger had seeped into his stomach as well, occasionally building up and vocalizing a roar of protest every time he denied himself the hay that was in his bag. He needed to preserve everything he had.

The exhaustion hit him like a brick wall. The coffee and a few endorphin rushes from his lack of sleep had kept him going just fine until then. His eyes grew bleary, particularly around the edges, and he was rubbing them nearly constantly. He realized he was stumbling around on his hooves.

Gem glanced over at him. “Dude, are you feeling okay?”

“Nuhh…” Was all he choked out before the ground rushed up to meet him.

A stallion’s voice. He had an accent. It was… Buckingham. He chattered something about harnesses and pears, Fillydelphia and five minutes. The smell of the ocean… the beach was overwhelming, washing over him like the tide. He opened his eyes. He laid on the shore, purplish water gently lapping over him. The colt struggled to his feet. Sand and water stuck together messily in his purple mane, but he did his best to shake it out, giving it a drolly spiked appearance, as though he had used gel or some other styling agent.

Bits of sand had stuck to his damp coat. He shook it out to his best effort. The colt had the vague sense of importance. He needed to be somewhere… doing something. This wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He examined the sky. To his shock, he recognized none of the constellation, though it was clearly night time. Somehow, it was light enough for him to see fine. There was no visible moon, or sun. The sky matched the deep shade of purple that the ocean was. The taste of the water lingering in his mouth was sweet, like sugar water, maybe with honey.

He brushed off his sandy brown coat to the best of his ability before looking around for what he thought was important. He walked along the beach. The sand was immaculate, white. He was almost sure it was quartz. Not even stray chips of driftwood had wandered into the mix.

Looking up again, he came across of the stony likeness of the draconequus King of Chaos himself: Discord. He felt every hair stand on end, until he recognized it was simply a statue. A harmless statue. He laughed at himself, out loud, for being so silly. Something was very… Off, about the chimera’s expression.

Scrutinizing, he trotted closer, kicking up sand behind him with a soft sshft, sshft noise. He paused, looking up. His expression was not that of when he had been imprisoned, according to the illustrations. He always had a look of fear on his face.

This statue, for whatever reason, had its hands up to its face, and seemed to be laughing obnoxiously, an expression of static jubilance frozen on his face. Clockwork bit his lip. There was something unsettling about this. He couldn’t place his finger on it. Slowly, he backed up, turning away and deciding to leave it alone and find whatever his objective had been.

For good measure, he glanced behind him after several seconds of cantering away, the sound of the ocean was now pounding in his ears. He glanced behind him and gulped. Had the statue moved closer?

No, no. How silly. Statues couldn’t walk. Discord was imprisoned. He quickly continued, now galloping away at full-speed, his heart thumping deafeningly in his chest, threatening to overtake the normally soothing sounds of the ocean.

Again, he looked back. It was closer now, just two or three feet away. His eyes widened and he ran backwards, tripping over himself and accidentally looking away once again. Oops.

Bad mistake. Discord’s grey face was looming over him, his laughter echoing in his ears. Clockwork screamed, flailing and throwing his limbs around to get away from the draconequus. No! No!

“CLOCKWORK! Ah’m gonna smack him!”

“Don’t hit him, that’s mean!”

“He needs ta wake up, he’s havin’ night terrors!”

“Chaos, let Apple Core do it, he needs to wake up.”

“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP! LET HIM HAVE NIGHTMARES!”

The last voice, yelling, jolted him into consciousness. He sat bolt upright, screaming at the top of his lungs and gasping for air that he hadn’t been breathing. Tears ran down his face, sweat gathered in abundant amounts on his forehead.

“Now, now, Sugarcube. It’s alright.” Apple Core insisted. “Lay back down.”

“Wha- happen?”

“You passed out while we were walking.” Solar Flare explained, worry lines appearing on her forehead. “You okay?”

Clockwork laid back immediately, slapping against… Wait. Where was he?

He relaxed slightly when he recognized the blue inside of the plastic tent he had packed. The floor was lined with the blankets Celestia had given them, of various colours and textures. His back audibly slapped against his blanket.

“Y-yeah.”

“You’re just shaken up, is all.” For once, Candied Chaos seemed serious. “We dragged you off the road and figured you should rest. Here.” She passed over a somewhat disorderly plate of hay.

Clockwork’s stomach immediately roared. He sighed in relief. “Thank you.” He sighed happily, consuming the lot of food In a matter of seconds, his appetite satiated for the first time today. He made an attempt to identify who had been the person yelling to wake him up. Gem was fast asleep on the other side of the tent, though Sir Prize was laying down, though glaring.

“Great,” Prize muttered. “He’s up. Now, can someone please put out the lantern so I can sleep?”

“Wait! Clockwork, mah mom always sang this one lullaby to me when I had night terrors.” Apple Core added. “D’ya wanna hear it?”

“Mrrff.” Clockwork mumbled into the blanket, not particularly opposed or excited about the idea.

Apple Core cleared her throat promptly after putting out the lantern. “Good night, everypony.”

“Good night.” The other groans sounded out.

“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed.

Drift, drift, off to sleep, exciting day behind you…”

That was all Clockwork heard before he fell back into his sleep, every muscle in his body completely relaxed.

“I knew I’d regret not taking him to that Coltillion class. He said he wanted to sleep in. I said ooookay!” Blueblood stamped a hoof, and Applejack chuckled.

“He’s just a colt.” Applejack smiled. “Calm down. “

“Eaugh, but… He’s so… uncouth! Vulgar!”

Applejack had no clue what any of those words meant, neither did anypony in the room aside from Twilight and Blueblood. His use of his vocabulary went unacknowledged.

“It’d be nice if this thing showed dreams, as well…” Twilight mumbled, hovering over the glass sphere.

“Ah don’t think it does, Sugarcube.” Applejack sighed. “S’pose you’ll just have to ask ‘im when he gets back.”

“Eeyup.” Big MacIntosh agreed. For some reason, he seemed almost unperturbed by the entire situation.

Fluttershy turned to MacIntosh. “I’m going to go to bed. Are you coming?” She murmured quietly. She, however, was quite obviously shaken up. When she walked, she walked more delicately than usual, as though stepping on eggshells. Her wings quivered if she stretched.

“Nnnope.” The stallion sighed, nuzzling the top of her head. “Ya should sleep, though.”

“Screw sleep! I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” Rainbow interjected.

“That totally didn’t involve you.” Scootaloo replied from the ground, watching her adopter swirl around the high ceiling. Soarin only watched from the ground, shrugging it off. “She’ll burn herself out.” He assured to those in the locality.

“Guys, nothing’s going to happen while they’re asleep.” Twilight guaranteed. “Clockwork and I are both light sleepers, we’re up at the slightest hint of light. I’ll wake you all. We’ll probably be up at the same time.”

“Sleep is irrelevant to me,” Discord suggested. “I can stay up and warn you if anything happens.”

No protests sounded as the ponies went up to bed. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle?” Discord asked, raising and eyebrow and blocking her doorway, seeming to come from nowhere.

“Yes?” Twilight huffed.

“Do you happen to have that map?”

“Yes.” Using her magic, Twilight chucked the book at him.

Discord slipped back down the stairs, hovering, with his book in hand. Several ponies were still downstairs, around the sphere. He supposed he understood the comfort they took in watching their foals sleep, in spite of how far away they were.

Spike, Big MacIntosh, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Scootaloo, and Pinkie were the only ones left when he returned. He flipped the book open to the map. He froze, and his blood turned to ice as he realized with an increasing sense of dread what the map actually was.

“Everything okay, dude? You look-“ Spike asked with concern, but he was cut off when the panicked draconequus blew right by him.

“I’ll be back!” He called, not looking back as he soared through the night air that carried the leftovers of the day’s heat. He had to save them. He was breathing heavily. He had to hurry.

“Going somewhere?”

He knew that voice. “Yes!” He called without a second thought.

“Ah, ah, ah. Tut tut, Discord. Did you really think I’d be so foolish?”

The draconequus was slammed into the ground, met with a faceful of dirt and sand. “Celestia- I’m going to- I’ll kill you!” He roared. “If anything happens to them…”

“Oh,” The alicorn chuckled, smashing one of her hooves down onto his tail, grinding it into the ground. Pain exploded in his tail, but he continued trying to pull away. “They’ll be just fine. You know, I should have killed you when I had the chance five thousand years ago.”

“I’m going to smear you across that damn castle!” He finally slipped from her grip, struggling more in the direction of his destination.

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Celestia feigned laughing, slowly and deliberately. Discord’s stomach twisted when he began to feel a familiar, creeping stiffness, starting at his tail and his feet. It was much slower than usual. She was teasing him!

“You can’t do this! You can’t send them to Discordia, Chaos’ blood will show! Pinkie will notice me! I should have known it was you and bashed your pretty little head in! You can’t do this!”

Celestia’s smile faded. Discord’s entire lower half was now turned to stone. He was unable to move, and the bottoms of his wings were just now seeing the effects. “Discord, darling, what are you talking about? Pinkie married Braeburn Apple. It’s such a shame he had an,” She paused to smile deviously, for good measure. “unfortunate accident. His death was untimely, but he was a good pony and will be remembered for how much he loved his wife and daughter. However deformed his poor daughter may have been.”

Discord scowled, throwing his lion hand at her, claws unsheathed. “You’re not going to get away with this! They’re not that stupid! I’ll find a way out!”

“Oh, no. I’ve already won. Don’t you see? Equestria is mine! Forever!” Celestia smiled, walking circles around him. “With no pesky draconequi or little sisters to disturb the peace.” She looked up, toward the moon and smiled. “You know what’s the best part? Pinkie Pie never loved you! No more than I ever did.” Celestia swung her head around and smiled. “It’s good thing that the Elements of Harmony turned that evil old Discord back to stone, isn’t it?” She smiled, and Discord opened his mouth to retort, a tear rolling down his cheek, pathetically, until he found he could no longer move his face.

Somewhere, back in Ponyville, a certain pink party pony’s hair began to flatten out.

~XXX~

If whatever I recommended last chapter is fixed now, please let me know in a comment.

Chapter 10: Reality and Fallacy

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 10: Reality and Fallacy

Thankfully, the rising sun had bled enough through the tent to wake up Clockwork. As he had been sleeping since five ‘o clock the previous night, he awoke well-rested, albeit groggy. He had no issue waking up, however his eyes were blurry and the colours smeared together as though a painter had splashed water on a fresh painting.

He stood up, getting to his hooves and carefully folding his blanket so it once again settled nicely in its saddlebag. He reached for his canteen, taking a meager sip of the water that was held inside, and turning to the rest of his party. “Guys.” He opened the window to the tent, a dusty, desiccated breeze rolled into the tent, sending the edges flapping wildly.

The first up was Sir Prize. He scrambled to his hooves, inhaling deeply and rubbing his eyes. “Eaugh. What time is it?”

“As if I know,” Clockwork grumbled. “Rise and shine, guys!” He exclaimed, unpegging a corner of the tent, leaving nearly an entire half of the tent covered with the canvas. He heard Apple Core groan and scramble to her feet. “Whyyyyy so earrrlyyy?” She queried pathetically.

“As I said yesterday,” Clockwork muttered through his teeth as he pulled up another peg. “I want to get this done as quickly and efficiently as possible, so I can just go home.”

He watched Candied Chaos crawl out from underneath the canvas, with the rolled-up blanket in her mouth and her saddlebags filled and strapped to her flanks. “Good morning.” She greeted.

“Good morning.” Clockwork smiled back at her. “How did you sleep?”

“Well.” Candy nodded, walking over to assist him in pulling up the other two pegs, and she helped him fold the remaining pieces of the azure canvas together and place it in his saddlebag. She was silent, which struck him as odd.

“You okay?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Chaos looked back at him. “Yes, of course.” She asked. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She looked up, smiling calmly at him. Clockwork was aware enough of her family situation, and could relate to her, as they’d both been raised without fathers. Though, Braeburn had died when Chaos still had slight memories of him.

“Just making sure.” Clockwork nodded. “Up and at ‘em, guys! Come on, I want to reach Dystopia by tonight. We’re about…” He pulled out the map, flatting it out against the hard-packed sand with his hooves and holding down the crisp edges so that they wouldn’t curl inward and obstruct his view.

His eyes scanned the brown, water-damaged page. “Alright, we’re about halfway there. So we’re making great time! Cool, we should be there in a little over a week.” He announced, though half to himself. Finally.

When each of his companions had pulled themselves and their blankets out from under the collapsed tent, (However begrudgingly.) he began to fold the fabric and finally placed it in his saddlebag. He glanced around, double checking for anything that may have been left behind. “Alright,” He turned around, smiling, to come face-to-face with four ponies, curled up on the ground with their blankets, snoring obnoxiously, or simply cuddled up.

Clockwork huffed, reaching for the corner of the blanket underneath Sir Prize, yanking it out from under him.

The grey colt gasped, startling to his feet. “Wha- Who?” He groaned. Clockwork turned back to Candied Chaos, nodding at her as they shared unspoken communication. She began to go doing the same.

“Everypony get up! We’re going. With or without you.” Clockwork shrugged while the rest of them writhed to their feet. Candied Chaos followed after him, strolling calmly beside him.

Everyone had caught up by the next five minutes, clearly not holding back their grumbles and complaints, aside from Sir Prize, who pranced ahead once again.

“Dude,” Solar Flare groaned from the back. “Over-achiever, much?”

“I’d rather win than fail.” Sir Prize elaborated simply.

Chaos was now chattering to Apple Core about things going on specifically in the Apple family, something that didn’t concern, nor interest Clockwork. He turned to Gem, unsure of whether or not to greet the hybrid. He seemed rather antisocial, and the last thing Clockwork wanted was to disturb someone who simply didn’t want to talk, or cause another conflict in the group.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a significant thought popped up, but he lost it immediately. He furrowed his brow, confused. “Hunh.” He mumbled quietly to himself, examining the road beneath his hooves. He wasn’t too sure what it had been, or what it had even been relevant to. He shrugged it off as simple de ja vu.

Luckily, he could appreciate the residue left behind of the night. The road was still slightly moist and humidity hung densely in the air. They were surrounded by high cliffs on all sides, sprawling up to the ever-large expanse of dark blue that was slowly fading into a lighter colour.

“You know,” Gem grumbled. “You can say hi to me. I’m not going to bite off your hoof.”

“Huh?” Clockwork turned to Gem. “Oh.” He chuckled nervously. “Yeah, sorry. I just kind of was worried you didn’t feel like talking or anything.”

Gem snorted. “Yeah, okay.”

Clockwork cocked an eyebrow. “I’m assuming you want to talk.”

“Whatever.” Gem huffed. “Listen, I know you don’t actually care. It’s cool.”

“Wha- No, I jus-“

“Go buck yourself.” Gem growled.

Clockwork gaped. “What? I-I’m sorry?”

“You heard me.” Gem muttered, heading to the other side of the road. (If you could call it that. It was more a weathered patch that was slightly more trodden than the rest of the area.)

Clockwork, now shaken up by the incident, had his eyes popping out of his head. “What in Equestria was that about?” he murmured to himself. Solar Flare trotted up to take his place.

“Well, that was rude.”

“Yeah…” Clockwork mumbled, his eyes staring at some nonexistent object in the distance.

“Hey, do you know if Chaos is okay?

“Yeah, she’s being weird.”

“Think it has anything to do with her dad?” Solar Flare asked, frowning.

“How do you know about that?” The only reason Clockwork knew was because Twilight had told him about it in some inexplicable attempt to make him feel better. (Why she had tried to relate him to Miss Pie’s family, he had no idea.)

“My sister was there, she warned me about it so I didn’t look for him or anything. Same thing with you, too, huh?”

“… What do you mean?”

“Your dad’s dead?” Solar Flare asked. “I mean, uh. You don’t have to answer.” Her cheeks went red.

Clockwork blinked. “Yeah.  He died before I was born.”

“Pinkie? Can I have the map?”  Fluttershy asked from across the room, slowly standing up and walking over to the pink pony. Fluttershy stopped, cocking her head at Pinkie. Something was off.

“My name isn’t Pinkie.” The mare turned around, and Fluttershy realized what exactly was wrong. Her hair had gone pin straight, hanging dully across the side of her face. Fluttershy cringed. “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie.” She countered. “Call me that.”

Fluttershy shrunk back, her pink mane covering her face. “O-oh. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…” She murmured, quickly heading up the stairs where she knew Twilight, among other ponies, still were.

“Everythin’ alright, Sugarcube?” Applejack queried, green eyes glancing up at Fluttershy. “Ya look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“P-Pinki- I mean, uh, Pinkamena. She’s… I mean, oh…” Fluttershy quickly shuffled her hooves, looking down.

“Pinkie? What’s wrong with her?” Fluttershy glanced up to see Twilight advancing, and Fluttershy shrunk back. “Her hair’s straight, a-and… She’s all…”

Applejack frowned, sucking in one cheek and exchanging a glance with Big Mac, whom was now next to Fluttershy, affectionately nuzzling her head. “She’s pro’lly just upset ‘bout Braeburn, still.” Big Mac sighed.

“Should I go talk to her?” Applejack asked, turning to Big Mac solemnly.

“No,” Twilight sighed, poking her nose out of her book. Ever since Rainbow Dash had pulled here away from the glass sphere, whatever it was called, to ‘relax’ or whatever, she’d been completely on edge. Nervously tapping her hooves and humming a tune in the middle of a room, giving one word answers. Her slightly dull and disheveled mane hung loosely around her head, unbrushed and tangled.  “I will.”

Everyone glanced up and silence befell the room. “Ya sure, Twilight? Ah can just as easil-“

“Yeah. Let me do it.”

Fluttershy, frozen, stood by the stairs with an ear cocked toward the conversation as Twilight descended. She inhaled deeply, the scent of old oak filling her nostrils. She leaned against Big Mac and listened in.

“Hey, uh, Pinkie.”

“My name is Pinkamena.”

“Sorry. Pinkamena. Listen, are you okay? I’m okay to talk about Braeburn.”

“That’s not it.”

A long pause. “It’s not?”

“No. I loved him. I did. A lot. And he loved me.”

“Then…” Fluttershy heard Twilight’s voice go up at least an octave in anticipation of Pinkamena’s reply.

“I don’t know, Twilight.” Pinkamena looked up. “I miss Chaos. I miss… I miss Braeburn, too.”

“I know. He loved you.”

“I know that. He was good. Something… Isn’t right.”

Fluttershy blinked. What could she mean by that? Luckily, Twilight immediately voiced her thoughts. “What do you mean?”

“Something’s not right.” Fluttershy heard the sound of hoofsteps. “I can’t… I don’t know what it is. It’s something, though.” She heard Pinkamena shudder audibly.  “And it’s wrong.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Well. Uh, Pinkie-“

“Pinkamena.”

“Why do you suddenly want to be called that?”

“It’s my name, isn’t it?”

Dead silence.

“… Yes.” Twilight finally said. “Yes, it is…” She murmured, and Fluttershy watched her creep back up the stairs once again. “What is going on with her?” Twilight snapped, sighing. It was later in the evening, and the sun was just beginning to set. The lantern’s glow and the aftermath of the setting sun cast long shadows on those standing in the room.

“See? I’m worried.” Fluttershy explained, biting her lip.

“I… Yeah. I do see.” Twilight plopped down into a chair and rubbed her eyes deliberately. She inhaled deeply and sighed.  “I… Well. She could just be... Upset.”

“Nahh.” Fluttershy watched Applejack shake her head. “Somethin’s up. We’ll find out soon enough. Everypony should go to bed.”

“W-wait,” Fluttershy interrupted. “What about Pink- uh, Pinkamena? I don’t like her staying all alone…”

“She’ll be okay. She’s still staying in Sugarcube Corner.”

“Twilight, I’m not so sure that’s a-“

“She’ll be fine.”

The place was remarkably empty. The only light came from the long bars of fluorescent bulbs up ahead to illuminate the single mare standing in the near- empty bakery. Everything seemed fake and manufactured. Colours too bright, too reflective. Every white was imposing and suffocating. It was nearly entirely silent.

Nearly.

The only sounds were emanating quietly from the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, where a pink pony with straight hair was pouring wet ingredients into a dry mix. The only sound in the deafening silence was the seemingly earsplitting noise of the eggs plopping on top of the mixture of flour, baking soda, and salt.

A drawer opened. The pony reached mechanically inside, calmly stirring the mix before snatching a bowl of chocolate chips, a soft clanging sound ringing out when she picked up the glass bowl, examining the contents briefly. A series of quiet thumps rang out as the chocolate chips hit the bowl and the semisolid mix.

The mare reached for the wooden spoon again, now covered in the mix with a thin oily residue seeping between the gaps in the wood. She inhaled softly, stirring it once again. The dead silence returned for but a moment, until there was a click, and a whirring noise. Air conditioning. She looked up slowly, her expression devoid of any emotion or life.

She deliberately moved over to the thermostat on the wall, clicking a small dial into the ‘off’ position. She was met with instant gratification and the booming silence once again. She moved back over to the immaculate counter with two bowls, one whisk, and one wooden spoon, all aligned perfectly, at right angles.

The baker turned rigidly to the counter, taking her right hoof, and dipping it straight into the mix. She dragged it through, slow and deliberate. She took her hoof, bringing it to her mouth and sucking off the dough, licking off even the smallest bits of residue and swallowing.

Braeburn’s favourite.

Once her hoof was clean, she dipped it immediately back into the dough. Braeburn had loved doing this. She distinctly remembered the first time he had come to Ponyville she had made cookies with him. He had eaten most of the cookie dough before she could put it in the oven.

The only sounds echoing through the mare’s ears was the sound of her, crunching down on a somewhat soft chocolate chip. The vibration chattered through her jawbone and into her inner ear, where her brain transferred it to electric synapses and explained what the specific noise was.

The mare chomping down on a somewhat soft chocolate chip.

She was tasting none of it. The whole experience was merely memories with Braeburn.  Re-experiencing them. She looked up, across the counter, and was faced with a picture of her and the stallion, making faces at the camera while his yellow hoof reached out to take a picture. The image was blurry and distorted, but it was framed. Pinkie had asked him to frame it. She loved the chaos of it.

Chaos.

She stopped for a moment, to think. Her face remained emotionless. She was not smiling. But, she was thinking. She discarded the thought in the appropriate mental bin and turned, dragging her hoof once again through what was left of the mix.

Apples.

Apples, apples, apples. Braeburn loved apples. His favourites were the red ones. His cutie mark was a red apple. Applejack’s cutie mark was of red apples, too. MacIntosh Apple was red, too. Fluttershy and MacIntosh Apple were in love. Fluttershy’s mane was pink. The mare baker herself was pink, too.

See?

Everything comes full circle.

But how did she connect back to Braeburn?

She baked. She could make a good apple pie. Braeburn loved apple pie.

Yeah. Everything did come full circle.

Without warning, the mare slammed a hoof down on the edge of the bowl, splattering the dough across her face, body, mane, and the wall behind her. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, and began to chuckle immediately after and smiling.

“EVERYPONY HAS TO PLAY!” She twisted her head and smiled, slamming her hoof down once again. “E-everypony!” She cackled, slamming her hooves around in the batter and rolling it into a ball. She ran it along the walls, smiling and laughing, her eyes huge and her mane hanging lifelessly around her face. She screamed again. “STOP CHEATING! Hahaha… Braeburn, darling? Would you like some cookies?” She turned to the imaginary stallion behind her. “O-of course you would! HERE!” She screamed, throwing the ball of cookie dough at the floor before her face calmly became cold and unaffected once again.

She didn’t turn off the lights. The mare glanced passively around her and walked up the steps of Sugarcube Corner, turning, and flopping down on her bed. It was dark upstairs, but she didn’t turn on a light. Her steps were slow, calm, unhurried. The sounds of the café settling creaked through her pink ears, only occasionally mixing in as she walked down the hallway.

Her head snapped to the side, gaze falling upon a slightly open bedroom door. It was entirely pitch-black inside. She slipped in almost soundlessly, closing the door behind her and sitting down noiselessly on her bed.

She didn’t sleep. Almost as soon as she laid down, she heard the sound of claws scratching against the hardwood floors, and breathing right behind her.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A helpless little pony, at my mercy?”

She knew that voice, but she didn’t bother get up. “Hello.”

“Hello. Listen, I’ve got a bit of a preposition for you, my dear.” The voice chuckled. It was directly behind her.

The mare didn’t reply.

“I ask that you listen to me while I explain to you the knowledge I’ve accrued.” She could practically hear the voice smile. It was male. Distinctly male.

The mare was scared. Somewhere, deep inside her soul, she was terrified. But, if she was feeling it on the surface, she certainly didn’t show it. She felt herself being picked up, but didn’t dare open her eyes for confirming who it was. In spite of the fact that her eyes were closed, an image still flashed by with remarkable clarity. Braeburn, smiling.

“What if I were to tell you none of it was real?” Another image flashed by. Pinkie and him, making faces and tackling each other. “It’s all fake, Pinkamena.” The mare tensed up, snapping her eyes open and bucking the creature that owned the voice in the face.

“Shut up!” She snapped. “How are you here, anyway? We sealed you away.” She barked, getting to her hooves. There was no floor. There were no walls. Just blackness. No sound when she walked. Whatever she was standing on had no texture. A single light shone on Discord and her from directly above.

More images swam by through the blackness. Braeburn. They started to fade, to burn. Discord chuckled. “It was never real at all!” He wiped a jubilant tear from his eye, circling around her. There was something menacing in his yellow and red eyes. “Come, Pinkamena. You don’t believe someone would actually… love you, do you?”

The baker’s blood ran cold and her eyes narrowed. “Braeburn did!” She snapped.

“Braeburn died long ago. Poor Pinkamena.” Discord chuckled, pulling a teacup from nothing. A stream of tea fell from the same area, landing directly into his cup without splashing. “Meant to grow old and decrepit, none to share her life with.” He drew a finger from his griffon hand across her jawline, and she stiffened.

“D-don’t touch me!” She cried out, struggling backward.

“Hah, oh, this is good stuff! Have you considered acting?” He grinned menacingly at her. “Now, now. I’m not going to turn you to stone.” Suddenly, he glared. “I’m not that type of draconequus.” More images of Braeburn flashed by. “It’s all lies, Pinkamena!” He laughed, snapping his fingers to an unheard beat.

“No. It’s not.” She defied, stamping a hoof and glaring up at him. “I love Braeburn, you ugly chimera!” She hissed, chomping down on his lizard leg. Discord barely flinched, picking up the baker.

“Ha. Really. I’m busting a gut here, kid.” Discord rolled his eyes, setting her on the invisible floor. More images of Braeburn flashed by. “Now, as I was saying-“

“You’re lying.”

Discord only chuckled. “Oh, Pinkamena. I am a draconequus of my word.” He bowed histrionically, and more images of Braeburn with Pinkie in Appleoosa began to pop up. She tensed up, feeling tears rise to her eyes.

“No, stop.” She said quietly, staring at her hooves. The chimera chuckled, now hovering just off the ground.

“Hah!” Discord chortled. More gruesome images began to show up, gradually. A newspaper article talking about a fire in a house in Appleoosa. A loose wire hard shorted out, and the sparks had started the flames. She tensed. Flames. Everywhere. Flames… Burning into her skin. Starting with her hair, singing it. Digging into her skin, burning. Aching. She screamed, and the flames disappeared, but the pain stayed. Licking into her skin. Her eyes, her nose. She could smell the singed hair.

She let out a bloodcurdling scream as the images of Braeburn has passed by, rushing and blurring together. The draconequus’ appetite for sadism had yet to be whetted, yet. “It’s lies! All forged. None of it ever happened. Those memories were planted there!”

“NO! NO!” She screamed, throwing her hooves against her ears. Her ears rang, but she could still feel the burning. Her ears stung and there was an alarming wetness leaking from her ears. Red. She continued screaming and bashing her hooves against her ears. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”

“None of it’s real.” The draconequus smiled. “Can’t you tell reality from fallacy, Pinkamena?”

Chapter 11: Deserving of Wings

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 11: Deserving of Wings

It was silly, to think that anything was wrong.

Solar Flare knew that everything was going to be perfectly fine. There was no question. It was just odd.

Spending their second night on the road had been awkwardly silent. No conversations had popped up, not even an argument. In a sense, the Pegasus was desperate for some sort of interaction. Be it an argument about something benign or… well, anything.

They had stopped simply when Clockwork said they had reached the border between Equestria and Dystopia. It was rather easy to tell where Equestria ended and Dystopia began.

Dystopia’s ground, rather than simple grass or dirt, was a coloured checkerboard pattern, multiple different colours, often pastels, blending together and swirling, like some long-forgotten stream had dried up. There existed mountains, though they floated around off the ground, completely separated by several metres of air.  Some were even turned upside-down.

The place was a wasteland. There was no life, anywhere. It all looked burned. The sky was grey, dotted with the very few and occasional odd-looking pink clouds. There were crisp burn marks at seemingly random areas. Some light, and some heavily concentrated, entire charred areas of land. Ashes flew by, kissing the ground and often obscuring the patterns adorning the ground.

They had been puzzled at first. Surely it couldn’t be natural? They had walked over and it evidently had been, there was no evidence of any polymer-based substance or anything unnatural, as far as they knew. The ground had had a strange, smooth texture to it. It didn’t crumble, but they couldn’t skid across it like a tile or hardwood floor. It wasn’t pliable, and it wasn’t fabric.

They couldn’t think of anything to exactly compare the substance to, and after hours of speculation while setting up the tent and blankets, they had given up. They had set up camp just over the border, before Chaos had begun to complain of a vague pain in her stomach. Apple Core had promptly begun to take care of her, claiming she had a temperature and making her lie down.

Clockwork had given her the book he had been carrying for the entire time, and she had flipped through it. When they had woken up in the morning, much of the hair on Candied Chaos’ tail had fallen out, long red and purple hairs scattered across her blanket. Much of the hair on her upper left leg and lower right leg was now missing, short blue and pink hairs dotted across the area. She was shuddering wildly, and they had decided not to travel, and just look around the area for resources.

Solar Flare was now sitting outside the tent, enjoying the loose breeze blowing through her orange and navy mane. She could hear Apple Core fretting over Candied Chaos, using a small amount of her water supply on a wet section of blanket she had ripped from her own, and placing the damp section of fabric on the moaning, sweating filly’s forehead.

It occurred to her to at least attempt to fly, so she expanded her wings and took off on a running start, flapping her wings madly only to meet the ground once again.

Several hours of this ensued before Apple Core finally exited the tent, looking tired with her brow creased. “Solar!” She called softly.

Solar Flare landed, tucking her wings in. “Yeah?”

“Ah dunno what’s wrong. D’ya know?”

“Uh. Probably not. I can take a look, I guess.” Solar Flare shrugged, blinking and rubbing the back of her neck.

“Okay, come in.” Apple Core murmured quietly, turning and going into the tent. Solar Flare, raising an eyebrow, pushed the flap to the side and stepped in. The entire inside of the tent smelled of bile and sweat. She crinkled her nose, shrinking back and shuddering, feeling her stomach flip at the stench. Candied Chaos was lying on a stack of five blankets, curled weakly around a sixth, her head resting on a section of it.

Solar Flare heard her breathing, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Laboured, heavy. Her coat was dull and she was shivering. Even from a metre away, she could still feel the heat emanating from the filly. She was stunned.

“What’s causing this?”

“Ah have no clue…”  Apple Core grimaced, examining her now nearly-hairless two legs and tail. “I can only assume she’s been poisoned… But that doesn’t explain her hair loss.” She lowered her head, closing her eyes.

Cautiously, Solar Flare moved slightly forward, examining the foal’s tail. It seemed inflamed, the skin was peeling off of it. The same was happening to her back leg, but strangely, not her front leg. Her front leg, however, seemed to be chafing at the hoof. Her hoof was oddly thin, and was flaking at a miraculous rate, as though it would fall off entirely at any second.

“Ah have no idea what’s going on.” She admitted, turning to Apple Core and sighing. “Why is she only losing her hair on two legs and her tail?

Apple Core nodded worriedly, once again pressing the damp cloth to Chaos’ forehead. “Ah don’t know what’s wrong.” She fretted for the third time, biting her lip. Out of nowhere, Chaos stood up, scrambling to her hooves and darted outside, leaving Apple Core, blinking in shock.

Solar turned, following the filly with the orange Pegasus following. The earth pony was vomiting several feet away from the tent, sick spewing from her mouth and onto the ground, mostly liquid, but also a small reddish colour. Apple Core gasped. “Are you okay?” She asked, panicking on her hooves.  “Uhm, oh no…” She agonized.

The filly continued heaving, groaning as she did so, and shuddering on her hooves. “What is… What’s wrong with me?” Her blue eyes filled with tears as she turned to the two Pegasi. She was pale underneath her ruffled coat. Suddenly, she paused, closing her mouth and spitting out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. “Wh… What?!”

“C-calm down, okay? Are you feeling better?”

“N-no!” She shuddered, limping back to the tent as fast as she could, looking as though she’d fall over any second.

Apple Core sighed. “Ah just got her to sleep…” She murmured, downcast. Solar Flare smiled weakly, exhaling and putting a hoof on the Apple pony’s back.

It was at that point that Sir Prize showed up behind them. “Hey, how’s Chaos doing?”

“Bad.” Apple Core responded brusquely, gesturing to the pool of watery blood and bile.

Sir Prize scrunched his nose. “Ugh.” A visible shudder rippled underneath his light grey coat.

Apple Core grimaced, inhaling. “Should we… Should we go back or something? What if-“ The colour promptly drained from her face. “What if she…” Her voice fell. “Dies?”

“Please don’t say that.” Solar Flare suddenly snapped and shivered. “Don’t say that. She’s going to be okay. We’ll take some more time.”

Clockwork galloped into view, his saddlebags clearly full. He skidded to a stop in front of them. “Hey, guys. I found a bunch of berries, we should be good.”

Apple Core just looked mournfully at him. “Ah still dunno what’s wrong with her. We need to stay another day…”

Clockwork’s gaze fell, and he sighed. “Okay.” He mumbled. “Alright, that’s fine.” He murmured, walking away and ducking into the tent.

The three remaining ponies exchanged nervous glances. Solar Flare sat down on her haunches. “Well,” She mumbled. “What now?”

Sir Prize shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wish I could do something.”

Apple Core shook her head. “Yeah.”

“You okay?” Sir Prize nervously turned to her.

“Huh?” Apple Core looked up. “… Yeah. Ah just, uhm.”

Solar Flare cocked an eyebrow. “Listen, if you guys want to be alone, I get it. You’re cousins and all that, right? So, I totally won’t be offended.”

“No, no. It’s fine. Ah’m just kinda homesick.” The orange Pegasus laughed sadly. “Ah kinda take things fer granted, Ah guess. Ah just wanna go back to Gala Farm an’ curl up on the couch with Mom and Pops, Ah guess.” She blushed, her eyes were slightly moist. “That’s silly, Ah know.” She blushed.

“No, I kind of am too, I guess.” Solar Flare sighed. “I miss Scootaloo and my parents. I mean, I don’t really miss Cloudsdale. I sort of do, in a weird way, I guess. The people sucked, but I liked the area. In the mornings, when the sun first started to shine, the rainbow would be spilling out all crazy across the clouds. Scoot and I would always go watch the sunrise by this big rainbow fall.”

“Yeah. I miss apple bucking and getting mud on my boots. Mom would be fine with it, but dad always freaked out.” Sir Prize smirked. “Sometimes I did it, just to watch him flip out.” He chortled. “Every Saturday morning he’d try to wake me up to take me to this Coltillion class, and I’d always sleep right through it.” He mumbled. “I never did wanna go.” He smiled weakly. “Mom didn’t think I needed it anyway…”

“Yeah.” Apple Core simpered, then chuckled. “I can see that happening.”

Solar Flare sighed, pausing to think. “I guess, I mean, I dunno, but… I’m sort of homesick.”

She woke slowly. Sunlight filtered through the cloud roof of her home. The filly yawned contentedly. She leapt to her hooves, smiling. She had a performance today. She stumbled into the bathroom. The mirror was smeared and the tile felt frigid against her hooves. She turned on the glaciating water, splashing it against her face and instantly snapped awake, all traces of the bleariness lost from her eyes.

“Flare! You up?” She heard Rainbow Dash call.

“Yeah!” Solar Flare called back, a satisfied smirk plastered onto her face as she took a brush to her disheveled orange and blue mane before hopping down the cloud steps into the kitchen, where a plate of scrambled eggs sat.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t cook worth anything, but Soarin was relatively decent, and therefore took care of any and all food in the house, as Rainbow would simply buy junk food like Donkeyitos. Solar Flare quickly ate the egg before putting on her goggles and hopping out the window, smiling and catching herself on an updraft.

Scootaloo appeared beside her. “Hey, kid.” She grinned.

“Hey!” Flare grinned. “I’m just heading to that airshow.”

“Everyone’s freaking out since you did that triple Rainboom. Dash couldn’t even do a double. All of Cloudsdale’s talking about it!”

“Yeah.” Solar Flare smiled sheepishly. “I am kind of great, aren’t I?”

“You are. Hey, Soarin, Dash, and I are all gonna be in the front row to watch you with your best friend, alright?”

Solar grinned. “Kay!”

Everything paused suddenly. Movement stopped. Not even the breeze moved. She heard a voice come at her from all directions, reverberating from nothing. “Is one who is unable to use their wings truly deserving of them?”

And she was falling. Down, down down. People were laughing at her. She looked down. There was the ground. It came closer. And closer. And closer. Until finally, it was-

Crunch.

She awoke in a hospital bed, whitewashed walls, sheets, clothes. A heart monitor beating rhythmically. Artificial light spotlighting down directly on her, and Rainbow Dash grinning. “Hey, kid. Since you sucked at flying, we cut off your wings.”

It spiraled away, melting into darkness. She was alone, shaking, trembling. Tears were now running freely down her face, and a male voice laughed. “Do you deserve to really have wings, Solar Flare? Shouldn’t someone who knows how to use them have them?”

She shuddered. “I try really h-hard!”

“Oh, please. You slack. I don’t see you waking up every morning and staying until late at night, just practicing. You’re nothing like your mother.” The voice sneered. “Or your father, for that matter.”

“I work hard!”

“No, you don’t.” The sound of snapping fingers. “You joined the Wonderbolts and you lost it by messing up!”

Solar Flare froze, looking down at her hooves. Yellow. “Come on, Spitfire. You remember how it felt? Having them torn off? You’re going to be grounded forever!”

Solar Flare’s stomach lurched. “No…”

“You’ve always been a failure! No one cares about you, you’re a loser.”

“NO! I’m not, damnit! I try really hard!”

“That doesn’t mean you succeed.”

“Stop it! STOP IT! Who are you?”

“An honest friend.” The voice chuckled. “Poor, poor Solar Flare. All alone. I bet you never knew they love Scootaloo more than they love you? Sure, they loved you at first. But you couldn’t fly until you were almost an adolescent. You were a failure from the very beginning.”

She felt hands on her back, on her wings. Her hooves were blue again. A burning, stinging pain erupted on her back, a creeping, warm wetness running down her back and flanks as the pain continued down the base of her wings. Tears sprung to her eyes. Tendons snapped while skin ripped, joints popping out of place and the miniscule, hollow bones in her wings shattering. She screamed, stamping her hooves wildly while her wings were being slowly ripped off her body, blood oozing down her back and tears coursing down her  face.

“There we are! All done!” The burning continued down her back. She turned around, her wings laying neatly beside her.

She woke gasping and flailing madly, sweating. Solar Flare took a deep breath, flapping her wings briefly to ensure that they were still there. They were. It was relatively bright outside. Upon standing up, albeit shakily, she realized Clockwork was up. No surprise there. She sighed, shaking out her mane and stepping over the other ponies. She couldn’t clearly see Candied Chaos, but at least she was sleeping.

Solar Flare exited, ducking into the tent flap and slowly walking over the checkered ground, glancing over to Clockwork. “Uh, hey.” Ever since she had so foolishly asked him if his father was dead, things had been a bit odd.

Clockwork was calmly sitting there, watching the sun rise, with the breeze blowing his purple mane back. “Hi.” He mumbled. Though Solar Flare wouldn’t admit it in polite conversation, she thought he was sort of… cute. He certainly wasn’t bad looking.

She felt the sudden urge to touch his mane. It looked really soft. His eyes were a watery blue. He was an average height and weight. Downwind from him, Solar realized that, oddly enough, he smelled of the ocean shores that Scootaloo had taken her to one time while Soarin and Dash had been competing in some flying competition minors weren’t allowed at.

She inhaled deeply, and found herself blushing and sitting down right next to him. He glanced over briefly, raising an eyebrow. “Need something?”

“No, no.” She blushed, and involuntarily, her wings shot out to her sides. Her face turned bright red. She’d heard of these things before, but it hadn’t actually happened. She stared directly at the ground, at her hooves.

Clockwork looked away, laughing nervously. “Heh, uh, hey!” He mumbled, clearly changing to avoid the elephant in the room. He scratched the back of his neck. “Is Chaos doing any better?”

“I think. She was actually asleep. Not sure what we’re gonna do about that tooth she spat up or anything, but the only thing we can think of is that she was poisoned or something like that.” Solar mumbled. Celestia’s sun had yet to fully rise, so it was still rather cool. One of the low-hanging, pink clouds whizzed by. “Those are so odd.”

Clockwork nodded. “I think it’s kind of weird. This place looks like a wasteland of some kind. I mean, Equestria’s a couple metres away, but… I feel like this place used to be home to a lot of ponies or some kind of creatures, and now… There’s nothing. It’s almost post-apocalyptic. Categorically unnerving. It’s… perplexing. Like the place was detonated. The scorch marks suggest a fire of some kind, and that would support the fact that there’s no life. But it’s kind of…” She watched him shift, the rising sun reflected in his watery eyes. “Daunting.” He nodded decidedly on his choice of adjective. “I mean, this place used to be home to a lot of things, but something huge had to have come through here and just murdered it all.” A breeze rolled by and he shivered visibly. “It’s weird to think we’re preventing the same thing from happening to Equestria.”

Solar’s wings were now folded against her back again. She sighed, feeling the brief early morning breeze go through her mane and breathed in deeply. The scent of the ocean was still heavy in the air. Without thinking, she turned to him. “Hey, has anyone ever told you that you smell like the seashore?” and immediately slapped a hoof over her mouth. “Augh. I’m… Sorry.” She laughed nervously.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. “Er. No. I’ve never heard that one before.” He scratched the back of his neck.

Solar Flare swallowed, shifting on her hooves. “I’m a little silly. Sorry.”

“Hah. No, no, it’s fine. It’s kind of funny, actually.”

“Wha-?”

“It’s funny. Hey, uh, listen. I’m sorry for being… I dunno. Me. When we started this whole deal. I’m still kind of unsure, but… I dunno. I started this off not wanting anything to do with any of you, but you’re becoming more than bearable now.”

Flare blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean,” Clockwork shifted, seeming thoughtful. “I dunno. I just wanted to get it over with and go home. I still want to get it over with, but…” He shook his head. “Anyway, why are you up so early? I figured I’d let you all sleep in.”

“I had kind of a,” She fluttered her wings. “Weird dream, I guess.”

Clockwork turned, cocking an eyebrow. “I did, too… Do you wanna talk about it or something? I guess?”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “I’m fine. That’s odd that we both had nightmares.”

“Ah, so a nightmare?”

“Yeah, I guess. My wings got torn off.” She shrugged and shivered at the memory. It had felt so… real. She shuddered. “It, uh. Yeah, I don’t wanna talk about it.” She quaked again.

Clockwork nodded. “Yeah, I can see why.” He shook his head and sighed. “It’s gonna be a long day again. I found some food yesterday but it was really far off. Not all that tasty, just some really sour berries. Not a whole lot of flavour, kind of hard.” He shrugged. “But sustenance nonetheless, I suppose.” He tapped his hooves, almost nervously.

“Yeah,” Solar smiled. “I guess so, huh?”

A long silence passed. The heat wouldn’t fully set in for about four more hours, so they had some more time to bask in the aftermath of Luna’s cool night. She couldn’t take her scarlet eyes off of him. The way the sun reflected in his eyes. Celestia, he was beautiful. Why hadn’t she noticed this before?

She heard a rustling noise behind them and they turned around simultaneously. “Morning,” Candied Chaos mumbled. They stood there, stunned. She was different. Very different. “Y’know, I actually feel better! I think we can travel today, if you want to.”

Both Clockwork and Solar Flare’s mouths were hanging wide open. “Guys? What’s wrong?”

Clockwork raised a hoof, looking back over to Flare. “A-are you seeing this?”

“Y-yeah…”

The pony was essentially the same. If you could call her a pony. Her body was the same size. Pink coat, blue zebra stripes, antlers. Yellow and green pin-straight mane.

But now, her front right leg had been replaced with the leg and paw of a lion. Her back left leg replaced with a scaly green lizard leg. The tooth she had lost previously was now an overgrown fang, too large for her mouth and poking out almost comically. Her tail was a red dragon tail with white feathers at the end.

` Both Clockwork and Solar Flare were stunned into silence. “What? “ Candied Chaos asked, furrowing her brow, clearly confused. She looked down at her lion paw and screamed. “Wh-what in Equestria?” She looked at her back leg and her tail as well, then crossed her eyes, spotting her large, single fang. “What? What?! What happened? How did this happen?” She was now running around madly in circles. “Oh, Celestia! What’s going on? Is this why I was sick? I was… I was transforming?” She swallowed, and the remaining three ponies came out of the tent, groaning and rubbing their eyes with their hooves.

“Whasrong?” Sir Prize groaned, then staring at Candied Chaos. “What the-?”

“Exactly my thoughts!” Clockwork chimed nervously. “O-okay, hang on. We can figure that out. I think I saw something like this… Something like this in, uh… This book!” He ran back into the tent, coming out with a book in his mouth and flitting through the pages with his magic. “Here!” He called, motioning for them to come over. “Okay, found it. Draconequus.”

He scanned his hoof down the page. “It says… It’s a creature made up of many different animals, often with a slender body. It’s the only creature that can survive that way, but is reproductively compatible with most other species. The most famous one is… Discord.”

The entire mood within the group dropped into silence. “Discord?” Candied Chaos blinked. “I’ve never heard of him.”

Clockwork nodded, flipping to another page. In shock, he looked up at Candied Chaos, then back down at the page with the illustration of the well-known draconequus. It was obvious to Solar Flare as well. They looked shockingly, disturbingly similar. “He tried to destroy Ponyville until all of our parents stopped him.” He mumbled. “He wanted to turn it into his own little personal funhouse.” Clockwork shivered. “And gleefully wanted to ruin the lives of everypony who stood in his way. The ultimate embodiment of disharmony and chaos.”

“That’s all fine and dandy!” Gem snapped. “But why in Equestria does Candied Chaos look like him?”

Clockwork paused, the  colour drained from his face. “Chaos,” He started slowly. “I don’t think you’re an earth pony.”

“HAHAHA! Oh, Twilight! Twilight!” Soarin watched Rainbow beckon over the lavender unicorn. “You have to check this out! My kid totally has a crush on your kid!” Rainbow poked the glass sphere with a hoof. “This is hilarious!” Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow.

They watched Clockwork glance over at Solar Flare. “Need something?”

Solar Flare’s wings shot out immediately to her sides. Soarin stared in shock, and Rainbow erupted into laughter, falling over. Behind him, he heard Scootaloo chuckle. Soarin leered at Rainbow. “Come on, Soarin! It’s just a crush.”

Twilight smirked. “Huh.” She mumbled, the smirk fading almost as quickly as it had come. “Funny.”

“Yeah, it’s a crush.” Soarin grumbled, on the verge of snarling. Who was this kid, anyway? He felt himself tense up, then relax. Just a crush. He inhaled. Jussttt a crush. Scootaloo came up behind him, nuzzling his neck.

“Come on, it’s just her first crush. It won’t go anywhere. It’s just cute.” Scootaloo smiled, and the young adult pony turned back to the orb, chuckling while Flare and Clockwork awkwardly carried on a conversation.

“Well, actually,” Soarin paused. “I’m kind of worried about Chaos.”

“Oh.” Rainbow’s face fell. “Yeah. It’s weird, though. I had weird dreams all night. She shuddered. The other three ponies in the room, Soarin, Scootaloo, and Twilight, all blinked and nodded, in a chorus of agreement. Evidently, they all had as well.

“Wait. You guys, too?” She blinked, shivering. “That’s weird,” Rainbow nodded. “Fluttershy found Pinkie freaking out in Sugarcube Corner last night. She was having some intense nightmares, I guess. Fluttershy had gone to check up on her and heard her screaming bloody murder and bashing her head in with her hooves. Blood everywhere, she was crying. The whole shebang.” She shuddered for a moment. “So Fluttershy’s over at Sugarcube Corner to keep an eye on her.”

It was only Twilight and the members of Soarin’s family who were used to waking up this early. Soarin and Rainbow for practice, and Scootaloo to take care of Flare and make sure she got off to that wretched, poorly-constructed flight school.

“Which somehow reminds me,” Rainbow turned to Scootaloo. “Listen, Soarin and I have an airshow day after tomorrow.” The Pegasus mare elaborated. “We need you to keep an eye on them,” She cocked her head toward the glass ball. “And call us if any emergencies should occur. But we’re gonna be gone. Cool?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Cool.”

“Yeah, so,” Rainbow sighed. “Pinkie’s gonna be staying at Sugarcube Corner for a few days with Fluttershy. She said she might take her back to Gala farm or at least the Apple place. Since, y’know, she’s family now. But she got all worried since her hair’s gone flat. She keeps babbling about how something’s missing.” She shook her head worriedly. “It’s not like her.” She mumbled. “I’m scared, Soarin.” She turned to the blue stallion, who nodded and rested his blue head on top of hers.

“Yeah.” He murmured, his eyes grazing the floor and walls. “I know, I am, too.” His eyes snapped back to the glass sphere sitting in its strange little stand. For some reason, Clockwork and Solar Flare had gone silent. That was a miracle. He didn’t think that girl ever went silent. He wondered what could possibly make her stop talking.

But a second later, he received his answer. Standing in the blue doorway of the tent was Candied Chaos, with various animal legs, a snake tail, and a large, fang-like tooth.

All of the wind left Soarin’s lungs. She almost looked like-

Rainbow and Twilight exchanged glances, simultaneously breathing, “Discord?”

They pushed their faces up to the orb in shock. “What the-?”

While Clockwork was busy flipping through an encyclopedia, the ponies back in the library were discussing what in Equestria was going on. This explained Chaos’ illness, though each of them was rather relieved that Pinkamena hadn’t been there to see what had happened to her daughter. Soarin swallowed thickly. Rainbow glanced over at Twilight. “Okay,” She inhaled in a vain attempt to calm herself. “Okay, okay, okay…” She murmured multiple times, then became entirely tense under her well-muscled blue coat. “Twilight,” She began tentatively. “You don’t think Discord…”

Twilight glanced over. “I don’t think Discord what?” She cocked her head. It was obvious she hadn’t slept in days.

“Had his way with her or anything? That’s… That’s not normal.” She gestured to the glass orb, looking concerned.

Twilight bit her lip.

~XXX~

^-^ Happy Christmas, everyone.

All I want for Christmas is comments, comments, comments!

Chapter 12: The True Dystopia

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 12: The True Dystopia

Thank you, Starshine_Swirl for the fanart!

She hadn’t wanted to come. She had insisted she was fine.

Twilight had to be sure. The earth pony wasn’t exactly complacent, but Twilight Sparkle had somehow managed to accompany Pinkamena to Canterlot to see the Princess. The Princess was the only person Twilight knew for sure knew exactly what was going on with Pinkamena Diane Pie. It was a last-ditch attempt. Her nightmares didn’t stop. She only knew they involved Discord, and the pink earth pony would awaken trying to bash her ears into her skull.

Twilight shuddered at the thought. Now, she was leading Pinkamena down the cobblestone road through Canterlot gardens. The grass was peeking through from between the grey stones, struggling to grow under Celestia’s bright summer sun. The rays from the sun poked through the hedges lining either side, casting a very slight green glow on the flowers on either side of the cobblestone path.

Pinkamena was dragging her hooves around audibly. The top half of her head was bandaged. Fluttershy had confirmed she wasn’t trying to hurt herself; she had more or less been thrashing around in her nightmare without realizing what she had been doing, bashing her hooves against her ears in a vain attempt to make whatever had been taunting her stop. But, between that and her normal behavior, the earth pony had managed to tear Twilight’s focus off of Clockwork’s safety and entrust him (In spite of the fact that she was powerless, anyway.) in the care of her friends in the library.

She hoped he was going to be okay. She knew that he could handle himself. He was smart, and he was resourceful. And, yet… She couldn’t help but worry about him. Why Soarin’s main concern when it came to his daughter right now was the fact that she was crushing on Clockwork eluded her. There are far more important things to worry about. Like, if they get back alive.

With the recent events regarding Candied Chaos now somewhat resembling a draconequus, Twilight hadn’t allowed Pinkamena to see the sphere to avoid her panicking even further. She was hoping that the Princess could explain her transformation when they sent the pink mare off to take a walk or something of the sort.

Twilight’s main concern now was that Discord had assaulted Pinkie in some way several years ago to result in Candied Chaos. It certainly would explain a lot, as the filly never had resembled Braeburn Apple at any point in time.  She sighed at the memory of Braeburn’s death. Pinkamena hadn’t even gotten to a state like this. What could shake her up this badly?

Twilight Sparkle also felt rather bad for Candied Chaos, if her father actually was Discord and she was the product of, well, rape. Twilight shuddered at the thought. If she found out that her parents were all lies, or if Clockwork was the outcome of something so malicious… She felt herself shiver from the core.

This was also part of the reason Twilight Sparkle was so desperate to get Pinkamena to at least talk to the Princess. If that had gone on, the Princess could do something. Right? Discord was already imprisoned, but surely if he had hurt Pinkamena, they could do something else so that he really got the idea. They could find a worse punishment, of course. Send him to the sun or something.

‘If I had the Harnis, I’d send him to a fire dimension.’ She growled in her head, imagining Whooves dropping him off, calling, “Toodloo!  Cheerio!” In Discord’s wake while he burned, crying and screaming and flailing for some kind of relief while his fur singed. Immediately, she was filled with a sense of grim satisfaction and a sense of longing.

She still missed him.

It was pathetic, sad, wretched, miserable, morose, lugubrious, lamentable, harrowing, and disconsolate. And, yet, it was true.

In a sense, she understood where Solar Flare was coming from when she nervously chattered in front of Clockwork. He looked just like his father. Big, deep blue eyes, reminiscent of a summer sky in the middle of noon. His hair resembled hers more, but it had retained the soft texture the Doctor’s had had. She recalled just after Whooves had appeared in her library, he had asked for food. An apple, specifically. He loved apples, evidently.

She had send Spike to go get the apple, still befuddled as to the strange stallion standing in the middle of her library. When he had taken a bite, he had spit it out nearly immediately. “Augh, Celestia!” He had groaned. “No, never mind, I do not like apples! Those are rubbish! I hate apples! Ah, I like… I like carrots! Carrots are my favourite! You have carrots?”

“You just said you liked ap-“

“No, no!” The Doctor had insisted. “I don’t like apples, never mind. I want a carrot!”

She had begrudgingly sent Spike to get him a carrot, which he also spat out in shock.

"What's wrong with you? Twilight had asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're a unicorn, why can't you magic me up decent food?"

They went through at least fifteen different foods, from daisies to cupcakes. Finally, finally, he had snatched something random from her cabinet, food and wrappers littering her counters and half-eaten snacks filling her trashcan to the brim.

For some peculiar reason, the stallion had his fill of cheese sticks dipped in yoghurt. The mere suggestion made her shudder. She didn’t know everything about the Time Ponies, but she knew now it had something to do with that.

She shook her head of the memory, frowning. He was gone, now. No point in busying herself with the quandaries of the past. She was now leading Pinkamena into the castle. The guards nodded in her general direction in recognition as she nudged the massive door open, bringing the baker straight into the throne room, where Celestia sat at the end of the room. Twilight saw Celestia smile.

“Hello, my faithful student.” Celestia stood up. “I did receive your letter.” She nodded to Twilight, beckoning over the two ponies.

Pinkamena followed without a word, staring blankly at her hooves, just as she always did. Celestia bowed her head. “Hello, Pinkamena Diane.” She smiled, and Pinkie looked up slowly, her expression flat. “Your friends are concerned for you.” Celestia continued. “And wanted me to speak with you to make sure everything is okay. You’ve been having night terrors, correct? I have to make sure it’s nothing magic-related, and then we may solve your problem. Is that okay?”

Twilight never failed to be amazed by the tenderness Celestia used to speak to someone who was emotionally damaged. She anxiously watched Pinkie’s dead eyes turn up to stare at Celestia and murmur, “Okay.”

Celestia nodded to her guards, who promptly lined up and exited, and then she turned her pink eyes back on Pinkie. “Is there anything in particular you’d like for me to call you, Miss Pie?”

“Pinkamena is fine.” Twilight heard the pink mare mumble.

“Okay.” Celestia smiled tenderly and smiled briefly at Twilight. “So, is there anything in particular you want to talk about? Braeburn Apple?”

When she saw Pinkamena’s eyes immediately go moist, Twilight blinked in surprise. She couldn’t even remember Pinkie crying at his funeral. It was a celebration of a great life and a great pony to her. “There is nothing in particular.” Pinkamena replied vacantly.

“Okay, that’s fine, too. Tell me, Pinkamena, do you miss Braeburn?”

“… He was a good pony and I loved him.”

“Yes, we all do. But, do you miss him?”

“Of course I do.”

“Initially, when you began to feel a sense of unease, what caused it?”

Pinkamena paused, staring blankly at the floor and slowly looking up. “I have no idea.”

“There must have been something.”

“Something’s missing. There’s a puzzle piece gone.”

“So you feel something’s missing from your life?”

“No.” Pinkamena responded immediately, making Twilight jump. “The universe. Something’s missing from…” She gazed vacuously into the distance at nothing in particular. “Everything.” She murmured. She was speaking softer than Fluttershy.

“I understand you had a nightmare.” The Princess murmured, her eyes scanning over the bandages on the baker’s head.

“Yes.”

“Would you like to speak about it?”

“It was very real.”

“Okay. Was anypony else there?”

“Just Discord.”

“Really?” Celestia seemed somewhat genuinely surprised. “What was he doing?”

A visible shiver ran throughout the length of Pinkamena’s body and she swallowed. “Trying to… Trying to convince me it wasn’t real.”

“Convince you what wasn’t real?” Celestia cooed softly, as though she were speaking to a child.

“Braeburn. That we never got married or fell in love.

Celestia furrowed her brow. “Okay.” She inhaled, relaxing slightly. “Twilight, you mentioned there was something else you had to discuss, did you not?” She asked, swinging her head toward Twilight Sparkle.

“Yes,” Twilight bit her lip tentatively, using her horn to cast a scrying spell. An image of Candied Chaos in her current form popped up. Pinkie’s eyes grew massive and the colour drained from her face. The same happened to Celestia. “We were watching the orb you gave us, Princess. Candied Chaos got very sick out of nowhere, and after a day, she looked like this and said she felt better.”

“Had they entered Dystopia?!” Celestia snapped, snarling.

Twilight was taken aback by the Princess’ sudden rage. “Yes. Once they entered, she said she didn’t feel well, so they took a day off for her to get better, and this happened.” She swallowed. “No doubt, Chaos now bears a striking resemblance to Discord the draconequus in some respects. We got worried that…” She bit her lip. “That Pinkie- I-I mean, Pinkamena,” She mumbled, nodding. “Was perhaps, uhm…”

“Violated.” Celestia finished flatly. “And that Candied Chaos is perhaps, the foal of Discord and not Braeburn Apple?”

Pinkie sat, eyes huge, scanning the ground, her pupils moving at thousands of miles an hour, face frozen in a form of stagnant repulsion. Her breaths were arduous.

“Yes.” Twilight answered mournfully. “Unfortunately.”

“Well, Pinkamena,” Celestia addressed tenderly, looking over at the party pony and swallowing briefly. “Please tell us if we are correct. No one is going to blame you.”

Pinkie looked up slowly, trembling, squeaking an answer. Twilight had never heard Fluttershy speak so quietly.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.” Celestia murmured, resting an elegant jeweled hoof on Pinkamena’s dull pink one.

“Yes.” Pinkie whispered, swallowing. Celestia nodded.

“Okay. Twilight and I are going to discuss the best course of action right now. Would you like to take a walk in the garden?”

Pinkie barely nodded, stiffly walking up as she stared at the ground and nudged the door to the outside open, leaving Twilight with Celestia in a state of shock. “Princess,” She murmured, unsure of what to say and not even considering the words coming from her mouth. “I know when I first moved to Ponyville you wanted me to make friends and learn as much about friendship as I could. I now understand that it was more out of personal concern for me and less a studying thing. I made those friends. We had a falling out. Now we’re coming back together once we realize that almost nothing has changed. Our foals are friends, or acquaintances, at least, more or less. I learned about what it means to love someone more than you love yourself, then to lose them, and what it is to be a mother and how no one writes books or manuals on these things. You can’t study it. You just have to guess through. But what am I supposed to do here?” She looked up slowly, creasing her eyebrows. “Pinkie Pie is the one who cheers us up. She acts like a total dope, but she’s much more intelligent than she lets off. She’s the happy one. She makes us smile. Even if it hadn’t been her. If It’d been Applejack, what would I say? Why didn’t she tell us?

“I mean, I wish it had been me, by far. Pinkie’s happiness touches so many ponies every day. But, as a friend, what do I do? I can sit there and listen, but I can’t make it all better. She doesn’t want to talk about it. What do I do? Watch her wallow in her own misery? It took me forever to get her to come out here. I’m still not sure that Discord is even the underlying reason she’s really like this. It may still be on some stupid hunch she has.” Twilight reasoned with a sigh. “I don’t know what to do.”

Celestia had her head bowed; hanging on every word Twilight spoke. “Twilight Sparkle, I think that you have grown into a wonderful mother and friend. You are correct in saying no one writes books or manuals on how to be either of those.” The sun goddess murmured thoughtfully. “And yet, we are born with instincts. In cases like this, there’s no right answer. You have to go with your instincts and what you think is best and follow through. This is why all friendships are different. Everypony is different. It is what makes friendship special. There’s no right answer.” Celestia smiled sadly. “As for Pinkie Pie, have her stay with your friend Fluttershy during the night. She does well, aside from that incident at the Gala.”

Twilight smiled weakly and nodded, before Celestia blinked. “Ah! Twilight, I also have these.” The solar alicorn leaned over and picked up a stack of envelopes. “The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up.” Celestia smiled, handing the stack to Twilight, who, purely out of habit from years of organizing books, counted ten. “These are for you, your friends, and Spike, Soarin, MacIntosh, and Prince Blueblood.”

The lavender Unicorn nodded. “Thank you.” She murmured. “So what do we do now? About Pinkie?”

Celestia paused. “I have to think about this a bit. If I kill Discord entirely, as opposed to turning him to stone, there will be a severe imbalance in the world. Right now, Twilight, be a good friend.” She bowed her head, resting her magnificent, fluted horn on top of Twilight’s head. “You’ll know what to do.”

Twilight smiled, nodding and turning to leave. She pushed the royal door open and exited into the garden.

Unfortunately, she had failed to notice the faint glowing of Celestia’s horn whenever Pinkamena had been speaking.

She realized Pinkie had actually walked around and yawned. They were in no rush to get back. She took the time to admire the breeze. As Ponyville was at sea level and Canterlot was elevated, Canterlot had a thinner atmosphere and was far less humid than Ponyville was, it even received a nice breeze in spite of the fact that they were in the boiling late summer. Luckily, Twilight knew that they would be transitioning into fall soon enough.

She was aware, by the foals’ various laments, that the desert they had previously been traveling through was sweltering. Though she felt lucky to be in Ponyville where there was at least water available, she mostly felt concern for them. They were adolescents. Their bodies would get dehydrated easily.

She rounded a corner where she knew she’d find the statue of Discord, though she was initially thrown off. The statue’s pose was different than she remembered. Her brow creased. As opposed to fear and horror, he looked… desperate. Mournful.

She blinked it off. Perhaps she’d only imagined it. What surprised her more was the pink baker pony laying at its feet, curled up and in a peaceful slumber, judging by the small smile she was wearing. Twilight tilted her head. Why would Pinkie ever want to sleep here, of all places?

In general, it was a strange thing to do. But, Discord had tried to ruin the lives of everypony in Equestria. On top of that, Pinkamena had just admitted the horrors that had happened. Why would this even cross her mind?

Twilight paused, sitting down to look at the pink mare. According to Fluttershy, she had barely been sleeping, if at all, for fear of more nightmares. Wouldn’t the statue just make it worse? Twilight paused. She had been having strange dreams as well, though upon waking, she wouldn’t remember them. Evidently, most of the foals had been experiencing it as well. Almost everypony was. This would unsettle her more.

An idea crossed her mind. “Hey,” Twilight chuckled. “So, I may be going crazy, I mean, I’m talking to a statue, but I just want to let you know that I loathe you more than anything else that has ever walked the earth.” She turned, staring directly into his grey eyes. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this.” She snarled. Her chuckle had dissolved several seconds ago. “You. Are. Disgusting. I want you to burn eternally.” She growled. “I hope you understand that to the fullest extent of which I can express my utter ABHORRENCE of you.” With that, she gathered saliva into her mouth and spit at the statue’s feet.

Feeling marginally better, Twilight settled down on her haunches to look at Pinkie’s expression. What could she be dreaming about? She shivered to even imagine the details of her dream to make her damage her head like so.

The pink pony sighed contentedly, curling up into a ball under Discord’s gaze. Twilight, feeling entirely unnerved by Discord’s constant stare, decided to wake Pinkamena up so that they could go. She stood up and quietly walked over, gently poking Pinkamena in the back.

“Hey,” Twilight whispered, nudging her quietly. “Listen, we have to go soon.” She mumbled.

The pony opened her eyes. The smile she had had on her lips just moments ago dissipated into her neutral, blank expression as she got to her feet, looking nervously up at the statue and stepping behind Twilight.

“Alright,” Twilight Sparkle sighed, carrying the invitations. “Let’s go.”

“Pssst… Psst!” Sir Prize had been trying to get Solar Flare’s attention for the past hour, now. “Solar Flare!” He finally hissed, trying not to get the attention of anypony but his target. It was evening. They’d be stopping in just a few hours.

The weather in Dystopia had been significantly less intense than the Equestrian deserts. It was the same badlands as they had been traveling through. It looked like it had been once-occupied, but they’d yet to come across any ruins, so it was rather difficult to say who this land had belonged to. Not even Clockwork had any speculation on the matter. If asked, he would just shrug and say he couldn’t tell without seeing architecture. So far, either it had all been mashed into the dust and ash that covered the ground, or they simply hadn’t come across it yet. The sun was blotted out by the perpetual greyness of the ash, leaving them in a strange twilight phase during the day.

Candied Chaos had been odd since Clockwork had suggested the possibility that she was half-draconequus. Her new legs and tail had rendered her slightly awkward when she walked, though at this point, she seemed fine. She was nearly silent, teetering around the edges of the group and not really socializing.

Solar Flare finally turned around after Sir Prize had smacked her in the back. “What?” She asked, rolling her eyes and falling back in step with him.

“Apple Core told me you like Clockwork.” He smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

He watched the colour drain from the Pegasus’ faces, and snickered. “So it is true.”

“What? No!” Flare barked. “I would never, I mean, he’s just an acquaintance and it’s not that he’s not nice and all but I do-“ She shifted and smiled, snapping her mouth shut when everypony, including the purple-maned unicorn was looking at her. Clockwork had an eyebrow cocked in genuine confusion.

Solar Flare lowered her voice to a mutter, leaning into Sir Prize, who was smirking in coy satisfaction. “Shut up, it’s not true.”

“It is.”

“No, it’s really not. I really don’t feel like talking about this with you right now.” Solar Flare retorted, clearly nervous and stamping her hooves in distaste.

“I could talk to him, for you, y’know.” Sir Prize smirked, and Solar Flare stared back at him in a mixture of shock and what seemed like horror.

“About what?” Solar Flare stared, eyes wide. “What could you possibly talk to him about? There’s nothing to talk about!”

“To go out with you, duh.” Sir Prize rolled his eyes, and watched the colour drain from her face as she laughed nervously and a bit too loudly for his liking, or too seem natural.

“G-go out with m-me? We don’t even have our cutie marks!” She snapped. It took Sir Prize a moment to recognize this. Why was that? They were all adolescent ponies, even if their ages varied slightly, they all fell into that category. So, why was that the case? Most ponies had their cutie marks at slightly younger than this, so they were each abnormally late. He shook his head clear of the musings and smirked.

“Suit yourseeeelfff.” He grinned, trotting ahead of her and kicking up small portions of the grey and white ash in her direction.

Solar Flare coughed, staring at him while he got ahead and shook her head. Sir Prize heard Apple Core came up behind her, mumbling. “Pay him no mind.”

“Why’d you tell him? Why do you think that?” Solar Flare fretted, staring at her. “It’s not true, I swear!” She stamped a hoof in protest as she walked.

Sir Prize was about to swing his head around to retort, when Clockwork suddenly stopped. He swung his head around. “What’s up?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow and going up beside the unicorn.

“There’s a city…” He murmured, squinting on the horizon. “Guys! There’s a city up there!” Clockwork called, only briefly glancing behind him. Everypony stopped. “I can’t tell if it’s ruins or a living city, but…” He squinted further. “Yeah, there’s something.”

Sir Prize blinked, leaning forward as though it would help and squinting as well. The misty outline of… something, lay on the horizon. He rubbed his eyes, it was no more than a foggy blur on the edge of his vision. As a matter of fact, he wondered if his eyes were simply playing tricks on him.

As Clockwork had seen it as well, he must be right.

“It’s a few miles off,” Clockwork turned to the group. “But we should be there in a couple hours!” He turned back.

Aside from Apple Core and Solar Flare bickering about nonsense, Sir Prize walked calmly beside Clockwork. It crossed his mind to ask him about Flare, but he shrugged it off, thinking better of it, and watched Candied Chaos walk several feet away, isolated. He felt bad. Did this perhaps mean that they weren’t blood relatives after all?

Hours passed. A thick fog began to encompass the ground, starting off as a thin whiteness Sir Prize assumed that it was simply an illusion of the sorts. As they walked, however, the mist grew thicker, concentrated around their hooves, moistening the white coat that covered his legs.

The blur gradually became more meticulous, and larger, as the group approached until Sir Prize could make out some of the details.

From the gaps in the mist, they could see the twisted buildings of a once-magnificent city. Some floated, mid-air, some appeared to be melting, only to reform themselves in new ways and resume dripping towards the ground. Cracks in the earth revealed giant gears and cogs beneath the surface, as though the planet had once been some immense mechanical ball. The overgrown streets flowed like rivers, undulating and oscillating with every tiny vibration the foal’s hooves made, shuddering like a cobblestone tide. The constant cloud coverage and ashy winds did not allow much sunlight to get through, casting a creeping darkness over the entire city.

The breath had left Sir Prize entirely, but he finally managed to gasp out, “What… is this place?” Looking to his sides, pillars spiraled boundlessly into the wide, dull sky.

He heard Clockwork swallow audibly and turned to his left. The colt was sitting back on his haunches, gaping as though a tide of winds had come through and blown him back. “I-I’ve only… read about places like this.” He murmured, slowly getting to his hooves and circling. His expression was that of astonishment and incredulity. “It’s…” He managed to sigh out. He was breathless. “I think we were right in thinking that this was a wasteland, guys. We’re looking at the capital of a city. Not of ponies. This isn’t…” He bit his lip, circling the large white pillar to Sir Prize’s right. “This isn’t pony architecture. This is something else entirely. It looks like it dates back to the Victrotian era, but… This isn’t like anything I’ve certainly ever seen or heard of.”

“Let’s explore!” Apple Core suggested.

Then, Prize heard Gem speak for the first time in several days.  “It looks dragon, sort of.”

The unicorn colt turned around, surprised. The hybrid was examining a building that was floating at a twenty degree angle.

“Yes, but it’s not! There are some similarities, but it’s certainly closer to dragon than any pony architecture I’ve ever seen…” Clockwork mumbled. “It doesn’t explain this fog.” He muttered, holding up a damp foreleg and shaking the gathered droplets of water on his leg. “Or the ground; or the drastic weather change depending on which side of the border you’re standing on, for that matter. Naturally, it shouldn’t be this obvious to tell the difference of the border.” He mumbled, both puzzled and intrigued. He walked slightly ahead, and then Sir Prize heard him gasp and swallow audibly.

“Everypony, there’s a castle here.” He beckoned them over, and Sir Prize was shocked to see a crumbling marble mammoth of a building emerge from the fog, with a single spire swirling into the sky. “Okay,” Clockwork began shakily. “Everypony needs to remember we don’t know what we’re dealing with, here. What’s in here, what knowledge could be held within, and who, or what, is gonna be in there. So be carefu-“

“OKAY!” Apple Core squealed, flapping her wings and soaring in, only a foot from the ground. There was no door, only a large gaping hole. It looked as though something had torn through.

It was definitely a castle of some sort. The dust from the shredded, faded red carpet drifted up with each step, tickling his sinuses as he walked through the area. It looked like a disheveled throne room of sorts. The floor was a checkerboard pattern, though plain black and white. This was more like modern tile as opposed to the mysterious ground material outside.

It seemed as though something had come through and sucked the colour out of the entire building. He heard Clockwork gasp. “Books!” He announced jubilantly, pulling out a bookcase and yanking out various books with his hooves.

“Why don’t you use your horn?” Sir Prize suggested, pulling out the books and laying them out for Clockwork. This action was met with severe disappointment.

“This is in another language.” Clockwork said flatly, flipping through one and sighing. “Damnit! I should have known.” Sir Prize’s question was left unanswered, but it allowed it to roll off his shoulder. In spite of his earlier lamentations, Clockwork still grabbed an official-looking tome and stuffed it into his purple saddlebag.

“Let’s scope out the place. Stay close to me, guys. There could be traps.” Clockwork called.

Apple Core blinked, cocking her head. “Why’re you the boss of us?” She asked curiously.

Sir Prize snorted. “Just, come on, AC.” He rolled his eyes, though still trotted slightly ahead of the group. Clockwork couldn’t show him up or anything.

It wasn’t that he had to win all the time. No, it wasn’t that.

He just couldn’t fail. So, that left one viable option. Win. Win, win, win, win. No matter what the cost. He didn’t really find any problem with it, though he understood how somepony might.

Clockwork and Sir Prize led them down a staircase to the left of what seemed to have once been a throne that seemed to go underground. It was more of a tunnel, spiraling patterns painted along the walls and loosening more and more the further you went down until it ended in straight lines.

If the dust was thick in the throne room, it was profusely impenetrable here. Simply walking in and placing their hooves on the rug had sent up massive plumes of the stuff. Everypony coughed violently, their bodies shuddering with spasms in attempts to clear their lungs. Sir Prize heard Candied Chaos sneeze.

He felt his hoof land on something slightly raised, and the loud noise of some sort of… grinding noise, like stone rubbing against stone reverberated as the walls of the room lurched and shuddered with the unseen force.

Sir Prize heard several screams from the fillies and a grunt from Gem as the dust filled the room. He held his hoof in front of his face. He couldn’t even see its rough outline through the grey-brown haze. His stomach pitched.

As the dust settled, he realized Clockwork had gone from next to him. Momentarily confused, he turned to his other side, seeing the colt shuddering in fear underneath a small end table. His glanced caught the gaze of the four other ponies, who were gazing in shock in front of him. Brow creasing in confusion, he swung his head to the direction he had been facing.

Nonchalantly standing there was a creature he had vaguely remembered, but the only emotion he was experiencing was fear. He flashed back to his nightmare several nights ago. Taunting him that he wasn’t good enough. Grating.

He shuttered, and realization came to him when he heard Clockwork scream, “Di-Discord!”

It flooded back to him. The creature from the book. He took several hoof steps backward, tripping over the dull carpet, crying out and blocking his face.

“Now, now, my little ponies, though I’m sure you’re wailing in fear-“ He paused. “Particularly you, Clockwork.” He interjected, and then continued as Clockwork whimpered in the mention of his name. “I suppose I should spoil my fun since I’ll not be there to witness it, and tell you that this is just a magical record of me.”

Upon further examination, Sir Prize realized that the chimera was, in fact, somewhat transparent and relaxed slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he still saw Clockwork shaking even more violently then before. The unicorn watched Discord hold out an eagle hand, an ornate ivory pipe materializing in his palm. He stroked a similarly produced match on the tip of his scaly tale that sickening resembled Chaos’. Disconcertingly, the tip of the match became coated in frost.

Nonetheless, he watched Discord light the pipe all the same and take a puff on it. A series of bubbles were produced, dropping to the floor immediately like weights and imploding into nothingness upon themselves.

“Now, hopefully you’re all getting this, or the entire world is going to be lost in a boring existence of perpetual symmetricality.” Discord murmured absentmindedly whilst examining his nails. “I’m unsure where to start. An odd experience for me, as you may or may not know.” He hesitated, puffing once more on his impromptu pipe. “I’ll start by saying that I created all of you, more or less. Princess Celestia? Yeah? She despises that. She hates you six as much as she hates me, if not more. Now, now,” He stopped, holding his hands up defensively. “I know, I know, I’m telling you your matriarch, the one who defended you or whatever and that you’ve heard so many stories about and the one who’s so fantastic despises you.” The chimera floated into the air, putting on a pair of shades he had summoned out of nothing and laying on an invisible hammock.

“But, let me finish. You are my own little personal creation for keeping Equestria in balance. I suppose I’ll call you the Elements of Turmoil.” He mused, then turned and smiled. “Now, now.” The prince of chaos chuckled. “I’m not about to tell you I took your parents ribs and fused them together or something. They took care of that. I simply added my own little touches to your personalities to create, ah, well.” He paused. “We may as well make it official. The Elements of Turmoil.” He shrugged. “Clockwork, you’re the Element of Fear. If that wasn’t obvious enough. Apple Core, the Element of Rebellion. Gem, you’re the Element of Spite. Sir Prize, you are the Element of Ambition. Solar Flare, the Element of Failure.” He explained to no one in particular.

“And, Candied Chaos. You’re one of my personal favourites. Peculiarity. Now, I don’t have long, because I have to get back. It’s in my greatest hopes that you never see this, but I had to take every precaution I could. If you’re watching this, I can tell you with almost utmost certainty that you’re walking directly into Celestia’s hooves, where she’ll proceed to mince you nicely and throw you into her big pot of superiority complex. I can only tell you what I’m assuming. Princess Luna? On the moon. Me? Turned to stone. Celestia? Drawing power from the both of us so that she can turn all of Equestria into whatever she seems fit. You? Walking into a trap hundreds of miles away from Equestria, where she’ll do whatever she pleases after she destroys you. Equestria? Being prepped to have all variety eliminated. Harmony is almost synonymous with tedious. Variety is simply a form of chaos.

“I could not stop her myself.” Sir Prize saw Discord cringe. “I’m not powerful enough. Of all the paths or traps she could send you down, I can only hope it was not this one. I suppose the only thing I can tell you is the truth. You won’t believe me, but I may as well. I know you all have the attention spans equivalent in length to the time Applejack spent in school, so I’ll be quick. You are in a region called Discordia. The home of the draconequi, of which, I am the last. I was royalty here, believe it or not. They don’t call me the Prince of Chaos for nothing, kids.” He rolled his eyes. “Five-thousand  years or so ago, some dragons came through and killed most of us. There were sixteen left. Me, and fifteen others. I took them to the closest empire I knew that was nearby. As you could guess, it was Equestria. I went to Celestia and Luna, asking that we have a small section of territory to rebuild on. Land that was fertile.

“She gave it to us, just a little plot. Nothing special. But, we made do with what we had. I spent a lot of time in Canterlot. Specifically, in the castle. I spent a lot of time with Celestia. We go way back. Anyway, I fell in love with her and decided to confess my love. She kind of freaked the Hell out, insulted me a couple of times, and ran off.” Discord paused, smirking as he took another puff of his pipe. “Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy. I came back home, and…” His yellow and red eyes darkened significantly. “They were all dead. Killed by Celestia and Luna. Murdered in cold blood.

“So, she turned me to stone. I sat there for five thousand years before I broke free when those three fillies came along. What were their names? Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom?” Discord paused and smiled. “You know the rest, I’m sure.” He shrugged.

“I’m sure you’ve been having nightmares. Sorry about that. It’s a side effect. While I’m in stone, the only thing I can do is give everypony dreams. It’s the only time worlds follow my logic. Entire universes bend to my will and understanding. In truth, it’s the only thing that kept variety in Ponyville. There were no dreams, before I came along. I’m doing it to prolong the normality in Ponyville for as long as I can.

“I can only hope that you believe me, and will turn back.” He nonchalantly puffed on his pipe. “If you don’t, I know Celestia’s been messing with your memories.” He snapped his head in another direction. “Chaos, if you’ve been in Discordia for a day or so, I’m sure your blood has shown itself and made itself prominent. This is an enchantment we put on this area thousands of years ago, to make draconequi stronger. Unfortunately, I’m sure it’s shown its side effects on you.” He paused hesitantly. “Never forget that, no matter what falsifications have been planted in your mind… I’m your father. And I still care about you and Pinkie Pie. I… I love you.”

With that, the shudders inside the walls of the room stopped, and Discord’s translucent form flicked into nonexistence. Clockwork had stopped shaking, but everypony in the room was still. Sir Prize finally, after gathering himself somewhat, murmured, “He’s lying.”

Candied Chaos slowly looked up. “He’s lying. I’m not one of… One of those things! I’m not ‘peculiar!’ I’m an earth pony! He’s not my father!” She barked, snapping her head toward the door. “I don’t believe any of this. He’s not related to me, I’m not half-draconewhatever-the-hell-that-is!” She gritted her teeth, stomping out. “It’s a trick and an illusion or something!”

Apple Core agonized after her, mumbling quiet swears under her breath, and Gem stomped out, leaving Solar Flare, Clockwork, and Sir Prize. Solar Flare slowly stood up. “F-Failure? Am I… Am I this way…” she flapped her wings slowly. “Be-Because he made me this way?” Rage flooded her eyes as tears streamed down her face, and she darted out of the room, sobbing loudly.

Sir Prize and Clockwork were left in utter shock. They turned to each other in silence, exchanging glances before Clockwork seemed to gather himself and crawled out from under the end table. “I, for one, don’t believe him. There may be a grain of truth to his lies, but… Discord is the master of blurring reality with fantasy.” He shook his head. “It’s… It’s probably night, now. We’ll have to stay here.” He inhaled deeply. “I think we all need some rest. As of right now, we’re still going to continue with the mission Princess Celestia laid out for us.” He nodded to Sir Prize, who blinked and tipped his head in acknowledgement.

The two colts left together, now entering the throne room as the spirals up the sides of the tunnel grew tighter. Candied Chaos was sitting in the corner, insipidly staring at the floor, with Apple Core making a feeble attempt to comfort the disconcerted earth pony, and potential hybrid.

“Guys!” Clockwork called. “Get out your blankets.” He mumbled, as the ponies were scattered around the room. “We’re staying in here tonight. It’s too dark outside.” He murmured, leaning his head out of the giant hole that was a doorway. It was raining.

“But-“ He heard Gem snap, and Sir Prize watched Clockwork hold up a hoof.

“It’s raining anyway.” He cut off the hybrid harshly.

Sir Prize leaned out as well, sticking out an ashen foreleg and bringing it back to discover it was covered in a brown substance. Blinking, he tentatively tasted it. “Chocolate… milk?” He mused for a moment before sighing and planting his hoof back on the ground. His father would be ashamed that he was walking around with a dirty leg, though that didn’t concern Sir Prize all that much. He had nothing to wash it with.

He took his blanket out of his saddlebag so that he was near enough to Apple Core and Candied Chaos to hear their conversation as he gave up, lying down and succumbing to his body’s demands of a restful night of sleep.

He heard Apple Core mutter something about Candied Chaos having a fever and ask, “Clockwork, d’ya still have those berries?”

“Yes,” Clockwork mumbled. The sound of fidgeting and rustling.

“Ah think these are the same kind yer book talked about, the ones that can cure fevers. Here, eat these.” Apple Core mumbled.

Several seconds passed, and Sir Prize heard a collective gasp. He opened his eyes. First, he wondered what was wrong, and then his eyes fell upon Apple Core’s flank.

In almost stunning clarity, there sat a red Rod of Caduceus.

He decided to attempt to lighten the mood further, turning to Solar Flare. “So, we don’t even have our cutie marks yet, eh?”

Chapter 15: Harmonising

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 15: Harmonising

Mornings.

“Aaand it’s time to get up! Come on, now! It’s a new day!”

The filly felt covers being torn off of her, and she groaned. “Five more minutes.” She hissed as the curtains were opened, allowing the bright sunlight to filter in from the smeared window, falling directly onto her eyes.

“Uh-uh! No can do, Candy Apple! Get ‘em up, move ‘em out, let ‘em ride! It’s a shiny new day! Back in Appleoosa-“ The stallion speaking reared up. “I used to get up at four ‘o clock, sharp! Come on, momma’s got breakfast a-cookin’ and the world sure as hay ain’t gonna wait for ya to get outta bed!”

Candy Apple looked up, groaning and sighing. “Okayyy.” She had had the strangest dream. Braeburn had died and Discord was her real father, and she had been rather wild-looking and neon. Her name had been Candied Chaos. She shook her head, the vividness of the dream beginning to fade already. She finally got to her hooves after yawning loudly and rubbing her bleary eyes, looking over at the stallion that had awoken her, Braeburn Apple.

He insisted on wearing his hat inside, for reasons Candy Apple couldn’t begin to fathom. The talkative apple pony jumped in front of her. “You up? You sure? Completely sure? You gotta be sure, ‘cuz sometimes, ya get up and you think you’re up but then an hour later you get tired, and all th-“

“Yeah. I’m up.”

“Okay! We’ll be downstairs! Remember to look nice, you don’t want to be the new weird kid at school, so you have to represent Appleoosa-“ He paused to rear up again. “Well! Okay, so we’ll just wait for you an-“

“Dad.”

“Yes?”

“I got it.” Candy Apple had, by this point, herded him so he stood just outside her door, which she promptly shut. The earth pony sighed in relief, walking over to her dresser. They had recently moved to Ponyville from Appleoosa, and it was positively nervewracking. She didn’t know anyone. She had seen no buffalo anywhere!

Evidently, her second cousins and a good portion of the Apple Family lived in the area. She had only met Auntie Applejack and Uncle MacIntosh once, but she had been much younger and neither of them had had foals yet.

For some reason, the memories of her dream still adhered, standing with vivid clarity. She shivered, trying to shake it again as she looked in the mirror. Definitely not half draconequus. She looked like a female version of her father. Her mane hung down loosely around her head, disheveled. She reached for a brush, clearing it slightly out of her eyes, a muted grey-blue.

She turned her head around, reaching for her tail on her hind legs. It was long enough that she could reach it with ease, and she ran the brush through a couple of times. Candy Apple sighed, tying a red bow into her mane and looking back into the mirror, uncomfortable.

“Come on.” She murmured to herself desperately. “Come on, I can do this.” She lowered her head, face sliding onto her dresser, and groaned. “I can’t do this…” She dragged her nose across the hard, wooden tabletop and groaned, finally sitting up. “I guess I have to.” She mumbled, getting to her hooves and walking over to the door, frowning deeply.

She opened the door. The smell of apple pancakes and frosting drifted through the house, and the filly inhaled. “Oookay.” Candy Apple sighed in an attempt to remedy her pounding heart and coursing blood. She shook her coat thoroughly and began to trot down the stairs, closing her eyes.

“GOOD MORNING!” Pinkie Pie cut in front of her, giggling madly. “Did you have good dreams? I bet you had good dreams! I always have good dreams. One time, I had a dream that you turned into a cat, but we had enough cereal so it was okay! But then, this big Ursa Minor crashed through the window! Except, it wasn’t an Ursa Minor, it was a PARASPRITE!”

“Yeah. I had this really weird, vivid one.” Candy Apple mumbled, shaking her head. “You married Discord, but Princess Celestia turned him to stone and ruined our memories, making you think Dad died.”

Braeburn spat out his coffee, splattering it across the table and wall. “Whaa-?” His bright green eyes turned to Candy Apple. “That was, uh, matter-of-fact!”

“Yeah. It was weird.” She muttered, eyes on the ground, walking over to him. He nuzzled her head gently.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, Sugarcube!” He laughed, almost nervously. Candy Apple smiled.

“I know that!” She huffed, rolling her eyes as she did so. “Anyway,” She pulled her head back and sat down, gathering herself a plate of food. “It was just a dream.” She mumbled. The details were finally beginning to fail, but the stubborn ones persisted. She sat down across the table from Braeburn and cut into the pancakes, doused with pink frosting. The filly rolled her eyes. The usual.

Candy took the fork into her mouth. The frosting was buttercream. Butter, milk, and powdered sugar, respectively, very thin. More of an icing, really, or a glaze. The pancakes themselves were thick and fluffy, hunks of cooked apples lingering throughout. She swallowed, and her stomach growled, alerting her of how hungry she really was.

Immediately, the filly began eating much faster, slicing up the pancakes in a grid-like fashion and devouring them similarly, mechanically. She became aware of Braeburn staring at her intently across the table. Candy Apple glanced up, mouth full. “Whas wong?” She muffled through the pancakes before swallowing loudly. Ick. Too much too fast, it was now slowly traveling down her system. She winced.

“Nothing. You’re just growing up.” Braeburn smiled.

“NOOOOOO! GROWING UP IS OPTIONALLLLLLLLLLLL!” Pinkie Pie cried from the corner. “It’s getting old that’s mandatory! Don’t you know that, Burny?” She asked, grinning and cuddling Braeburn. Braeburn smiled.

“S’pose I do.”

Burny. For some reason, that had struck a nerve with her. It sounded, so… familiar. A nickname, of some sort. The second portion of a name… Where had she heard it?

Cordy.

The earth pony groaned internally. Not the dream again. She almost never remembered her dreams. Cordy, that was the nickname Pinkie Pie had given Discord. She shuddered at the thought of having the chimera for a father. Was a hybrid like that even possible?

She shrugged. No matter. Discord was stone, and he had been for quite some time now. He would be for the rest of eternity.

The filly noticed she had been eating absentmindedly all the while, and her fork had been scraping against her plate, the screeching noise hanging deadly in the air.

“Oh, hay!” Braeburn swore, glancing at the clock. “Candy Apple, you’re gonna be late!” He announced, nudging her out the door.

“Have a fantabulous day!” Pinkie called from the kitchen as Braeburn kissed Candy Apple on the forehead.

“Do good, ‘kay?”

“Gotcha. I’ll be back this afternoon!” The filly called, her head still turned toward Sugarcube Corner as Braeburn nodded and headed back inside. Turning her eyes in front of her, she smiled, continuing on with her normal, average life.

Solar Flare’s hooves landed on the gleaming, well-waxed tile. The Pegasus looked up, examining the high, arched ceiling above her, constructed of glass and allowing the night sky to filter delicately through. Lit chandeliers hung daintily from the golden support beams high above her head. The tile beneath her feet was an almost reflective gold. She recognized this place as a ballroom in the palace, but with multiple changes.

Glancing into the tile, she saw that she was dressed to the nines. A flowing gold skirt covered her blank flanks, tying with a large bow at her waist, and a silver tiara with several amethysts was placed on her head, her mane, now shimmering with every small movement, curled loosely to the side. Her coat twinkled strikingly in the light from the chandeliers. She expanded her wings and flapped them gently. Not a hint of dullness. Her coat was brightly-coloured and prettier than she had certainly ever seen it.

Nopony else was in the room. She continued staring at herself in the reflection of the gold tile, smiling. She had never looked so beautiful. She widened her grin, finding two rows of perfectly straight, unperturbed, bleach-white teeth. The Pegasus batted her eyelashes dramatically. Full and long, she felt as though she needed to be on a mascara commercial of some sort, despite the fact that she didn’t appear to be wearing make-up.

Her body was still well-muscled, but leaner. More feminine and curvaceous. Her tail, generally cut short, was longer, from what she could tell, also curled, though not in the large, obnoxious barrel curls she recalled Miss Rarity having. She raised a hoof to her mane. She had never felt anything so soft. The only thing that compared was perhaps the down feathers of a young Pegasus foal or bird. She shivered. She was perfect.

She was slightly taller, and her hooves were perfectly manicured. She was beautiful. It was odd to think of herself that way. She looked beautiful. She hadn’t, by any means, cared about her appearance when she was younger, having been, more or less, a tomboy.

But… This! Her coat was an outlandishly bright hue of blue. She shivered, allowing it to ripple and shimmer. She stepped forward, walking in circles, and began to laugh. There was no one else in the room that she could see.

She felt one of her forehooves skid. Oh no. She began to fly forward as she tripped, but, to her bewilderment, she fell immediately back upright, as though someone had pulled her up from her tumble. She blinked, but shrugged it off and slid her hooves on the tile again. It was recently waxed, and an even more brilliant shimmering gold than her dress, which flowed like a liquid from her waist, pouring over her flanks and legs, rustling gently with every step.

She felt herself beginning to tumble again. She gasped, flying forward again, until she was pulled back again, as though were wearing some sort of seatbelt. Solar Flare cocked her head. Maybe she couldn’t trip. She was always so clumsy, though. A thought occurred to her, and she immediately spread her wings, bit her lip, and got to a running start, flapping them.

With almost no effort at all, she rocketed from the ground, several meters into the air. In the midst of shock and glee, found herself laughing. What in the world? She was zipping around the room with no effort at all. Really, she had to do little more than think to propel herself forward. It was just like she had always dreamed! She whizzed to the very top of the arched ceiling, grinning. This was so much fun! She continued her circles around the room.

This wasn’t nearly enough. She needed to be outdoors. As soon as she landed, still grinning like a massive fool, a soft melody began to reverberate through the ballroom. It sounded almost… sad. She shook it off, feeling an urge to dance. She’d never really danced before, not like this. She paused, getting up on her back legs and beginning to twirl, taking small, delicate steps, sure she would fall.

She didn’t. She pranced and spun and twirled elegantly, traveling across the room in time with the tempo as the music swelled, filling her ears. She leaped quietly, her dress expanding out beneath her as she played her body in time. Where the music was coming from was of no concern to Solar Flare.

She stepped in time with it, playing by ear. She knew that everything she was doing had some kind of fancy French name, but she had no clue what they were in particular. She continued dancing until she noticed somepony standing in the doorway. His coat was brown, his mane was purple, and his eyes were large, deep and blue. “You look really pretty.” He said.

“Thanks.” Solar Flare mumbled, feeling herself go red. Here she had been, dancing in front of him like an idiot.

He slowly walked to the middle of the floor, where she was standing alone, and he rested his chin on top of her head. She blinked. “Hey,” He murmured softly. She could feel his warm breath going through her mane. “I’m sorry. For what I said earlier. I was just confused.”

“What do you mean?” Flare asked, finding herself surprisingly calm as she shut her eyes and the music continued to play from an unknown source. It seemed to come from all directions in the room.

“I mean that I like you, too. I just didn’t know it.”

Her mouth fell open. She slowly looked up at him with large eyes. “R-really?”

“Really.” She looked back at him as he looked down, meeting her eyes as he brought his lips to meet hers.  A jovial shudder ran from her core to the rest of her body.

She’d done it.

She hadn’t failed.

He was sitting on the couch in the Ponyville Library. He was alone. The unicorn made an attempt to scan the room again for any presence.

Clockwork frowned. How odd. His mother was usually home. He got to his hooves and turned around, finding himself face-to-face with Discord. He shot back. “What are you doing here?” He snarled, narrowing his eyes.

Discord laughed, patting the colt’s head. “I do believe a better question, my friend, is, what are YOU doing here?”

“I live here!”

“No, you don’t.”

Clockwork groaned. He was tired of Discord’s nonsense, but he inhaled deeply. “Okay. Where are we, then?”

Discord grinned. “Oh, I am so glad you asked!” He exclaimed jubilantly, hopping into the air and hovering there for a moment, snapping his fingers. Clockwork’s surroundings melted instantly, leaving nothing but inky blackness on all sides, but somehow Discord and him were still illuminated. “We’re in your mind!”

Clockwork, though thrown off by Discord’s previous parlour trick, kept his defencive stance, allowing his eyebrows to settle over his eyes. “What are you babbling on about?”

“Do I have to hold your hoof through this entire thing?” The draconequus rolled his eyes, floating in circles around the young stallion, producing, from nowhere, a pair of gaudy red sunglasses and a floppy blue hat. “Listen, kiddo. I don’t have a lot of patience for you. Too much like your mother. But, I have a feeling you’ll be… accommodating, if I can convince you of the truth of the matter.”

“You expect me to listen to you?” Clockwork glared at the chimera.

“No, I don’t. This is a last resort, and considering you’re lying in a catatonic state at the bottom of a sinkhole next to your little girlfriend, you don’t have anything much better to do, now do you?”

“What are you talking about? I was just in the library!”

“How did you get to the library?”

Clockwork paused, at a loss for words. How had he gotten there?

“I told you.” Discord muttered. “You’ve been journeying through Discordia for the past week.” The chimera explained matter-of-factly, fiddling with his sunglasses.

Clockwork stared blankly black, before he mentally hit a brick wall. His mouth hung open. “That’s right! We were falling, and then…”

“And then you were all knocked unconscious by the impact, and a certain alicorn is trying to harmonise you to get you onto her side.” Discord muttered, gesturing to his left side. “Tell me,” He smirked. “Don’t you find it odd that you aren’t—“ The chimera pressed his face up against Clockwork’s. “Scared?”

He expected to shiver, or wince, or something. But, nothing. He blinked. “Hunh.” He murmured thoughtfully. “Why’s that, then? I thought I was the Element of Fear or whatever.” He pondered, staring at his hooves and sitting back on his haunches. The blackness extended under his hooves, as though they were standing on some invisible platform. It had no identifiable texture. It wasn’t smooth, wasn’t rough. Almost like a magnetic field…

“You are.” Discord confirmed, a teapot with a green and pink floral design appearing in his hand. “Celestia is giving you all these visions and holding you here. You’re essentially in a coma. Celestia’s trying to change you all to work into her little plan.”

“Why are you here, then?” Clockwork asked, more curious than anything else, though touches of anger still floating along on his voice.

“Well, I’m specifically with you, because I only have enough power left to come into your mind. You don’t have anything too disturbing in here, do you?” Discord leaned in, angling his brow as he poured a white, grainy substance, (Presumably sugar.) out of his teapot. He then proceeded to conjure a sugar bowl and spoon, then spooned tea from the bowl and spoon into the cup. “In short,” The chimera bit the inside of his cheek. “I’m here because you need me as much as I need you. Wait. No, you need me far more than I need you. I mean, if Celestia wins, I’m going to die, but that’s nothing in comparison t-“

“Okay, okay, hold on.” Clockwork cut in. “Aren’t you and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna immortal?”

“Good question! We may be immortal as far as age goes, but when it comes to flesh wounds, we can kick the bucket just as fast!” Discord enlightened the unicorn, patting him on the head. Clockwork recoiled and hissed. “Eaugh,” The lion paw drew back. “You wound me, Clockwork!” A frown grew on his face. “What cruelty! Though, I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…”

“Don’t talk about my mother!” The Element of Fear growled.

“Ohohoho!” Discord grinned wickedly. “A momma’s boy, are we?”

“No! Augh, can we- can we just get back to what we were talking about so you can explain it?”

“Oh, now, now. I thought you hated me.”

“I do, I really, really, really do. With every fibre of my being, to be precise.”

“You’re being rather nice about it.” Discord pointed out, daintily sipping his tea.

“Can we just get back to the topic at hand?” Clockwork growled, preparing to tear his mane out.

“Ah, yes, yes. Now,” Discord grinned maliciously. “Essentially, dear Celestia is making an attempt to reverse each of the additions I made to you, what gives you your faults. What makes you the Elements of Turmoil. You know, that. Suddenly,” He flashed a devilish, malicious grin. “You’re no longer afraid. Solar Flare isn’t failing. Gem isn’t angry. Candied Chaos is normal. Sir Prize is an underachiever, and Apple Core is obedient. She’s giving you each these… dreams. Simulations, of life as it were, if you didn’t have your respective element, or what you wish you had.”

Clockwork raised a befuddled eyebrow. “So why are you here? Or is this part of the projection?”

“Definitely not a part of the projection.” Discord smirked, snapping the fingers on his griffon hand. The library materialized around them. Clockwork could feel the hardwood beneath his hooves. “For some reason, I could get in, though. I think Celestia let me, because she knew it’d be no good. Or something of the sort. Teasing me, and all that.”

Clockwork blinked, glancing around him. “So, I’m not going to listen to you anyway, but I’ll humour you. What is it you came to tell me to do?”

“Me? Ohohoho! YOU think I think there’s a difference to be made at this point?” Discord grinned. “While we’ve been sitting here, chatting for no more than ten minutes, it’s been a week out in the real world. You’re still lying in a hole, entirely unconscious.” He laughed. “No, there’s no hope for Equestria any longer.” He mused.

“What? No, we’re saving Equestria!” Clockwork protested, stamping a hoof angrily.

Discord glanced back at Clockwork, a look of pity flashing over his face. “No, not anymore.”

“I don’t believe you, anyway! You’re tricking me!”

“I wish I could tell you that’s the truth.” Discord rolled his eyes, patting the unicorn colt on the head. Clockwork glared at him all the while.

“It is! You lie about anything and everything! It’s who you are, right? Blending reality and fallacy?”

Discord smirked. “Yes. You could say that.”

“Okay, fine, then. So you’re trying to convince me that Celestia trapped us in a comatose state, we’re just having dreams that we’re normal, and she’s trying to make us normal, and meanwhile, she’s destroying all of Equestria?” Clockwork snorted, rolling his blue eyes and trotting away to the steps of the library. “Nice shot, buddy. I’m not buying it. I know this is another one of your stupid nightmares. Well, guess what, Mister Creepy? I’m not afraid of you!” The brown and purple unicorn brought his face inches from Discord’s, and gathered a wad of saliva in his mouth.

He spat at the chimera’s feet. Discord stood there blankly for a moment, seeming in genuine shock, giving Clockwork a second of momentary pride. Then, he burst out laughing, holding his clenching stomach muscles as he hovered half a metre off the library’s floor. His chortles echoing unnaturally through the wooden room, filling Clockwork’s ears from all directions and sides. “H-ha-haha! Y-you actually think-“ Discord paused to let out another loud snigger. “You ponies are so silly!” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Do you think, quite honestly, that that would harm or damage me or something?” He rolled his red and yellow eyes.

Clockwork was just beginning to feel the hair on the back of his neck stand back in irritation and anger, when Discord put a single finger to the unicorn’s lips. “Now, now. No need to get so riled up. You may not be terrified and hiding from me in the corner, but that doesn’t make you any more menacing than you were to begin with. You weren’t very menacing at all, by the way.” Clockwork struggled as the draconequus easily picked him up, placing the unicorn under his underarm. He hissed.

“Put me down!” Clockwork protested, desperately trying to land a hoof in Discord’s side.

“Eaugh, fine, fine. You’re even worse than your mother, wow.” The chimera placed him back on the ground, huffing to himself. “Well,” Discord paused. “I supposed I should take my leave. I want to save some of my energy for the end of Equestria as we know it, now, don’t I?” He winked at Clockwork, who furrowed his brow.

“Why are you so calm about this?”

“Sometimes, there’s really nothing you can do about a situation. It lies in the hands of fate.” Discord stated matter-of-factly, patting the unicorn’s head for the umpteenth time. Clockwork contorted his face in irritation, sliding his head up and attempting to snap down on Discord’s finger. Discord snapped it back immediately.

“Well, well, well. You are definitely Twilight Sparkle’s son.” A smile graced his lips for the briefest of moments before dissolving immediately. “Well, kiddo. I think Celestia’ll wake you up before she decides to either kill you or turn you into a mindless zombie. Whatever the case, it was a pleasure knowing you. I think. I still haven’t quite made my decision yet.”

“Yeah, okay.” Clockwork huffed. “I’m gonna go try to save Equestria, now. You, leave. Stop telling me lies.”

“How hurtful. I assure you, I am a draconequus of my word.”

“Right.” Clockwork replied dryly, leaving Discord to the door. “Leave, and hopefully I’ll wake up from this dream state you stuck me in.”

“Alright, I’ll go. I’ll warn you, though. I daresay you’re in for quite the surprise when, if you return home.”

Clockwork cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, alright. Listen, just go.”

“Very well.” Discord turned to the door, moseying through before turning around one last time and poking his head in through the doorway. “Ah, Clockwork?”

“Yes?!” Clockwork snapped.

“Seeing isn’t necessarily believing.”

He slammed the door in the chimera’s face

~XXX~

New temporary story art while I await the commission with Aneera! Hooray. Happy New Year, everyone.

--RadaVonVon

Chapter 16: Grey

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 16: Grey

Overcast. It was overcast.

As summer transitioned into fall, Ponyville was thrust into a myriad of different weather patterns, each reminiscent of a different season. Heavy rain, icy breezes, and the occasional day where the humidity level was so high that nopony dared leave their homes.

On those particular days, the heat permeated the homes of the Ponyville residents, including the library, sending never-ending waves of heat and a disgusting wetness straight to those who despised it most.

An overcast day, though. That was some of Big MacIntosh’s favourite weather. Though, he’d never admit it, it was the kind of weather that made him think and consider things from all angles. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the type of weather an apple farmer would typically wish for, so he generally, like many other things, kept this information to himself, or sometimes, Fluttershy.

MacIntosh was often mistaken for being a stupid pony, or little more than a quiet country stallion, one who knew only how to do work. In truth, this was the opposite. MacIntosh Apple may not have been book-smart like Twilight Sparkle, but he was certainly not emotionally dull. As a matter of fact, he had become perceptive enough to know a pony’s emotions by merely looking at them.

Being so introverted did have its advantages. Sometimes, everypony was so worried about themselves that they never learned anything from others.

It had been three days since they had watched the foals fall into a huge crater. They had managed to get out after a struggle, and had continued to aimlessly wander down the road. For whatever reason, they had silently resolved to barely speak to each other as the time had moved forward with them, and they had continued down the road, lacking any particular destination and hoping that they would simply come across something identifiable.

Mac sighed, sitting just outside the Ponyville library, his trademark sprig of wheat hanging from the side of his mouth. He chewed it thoughtfully, examining the greyness of the sky that seemed to reflect on the rest of the residents in Ponyville. He got to his hooves and walked inside. “Looks like a storm’s brewin’.” He informed everypony else with a passive nod.

“You sure?” He watched the brown pony from Buckingham that Twilight had introduce to them cross the room and stick his head out the door. Mac watched each of the mares, save for Twilight Sparkle, glare at him. Even Fluttershy had an irritated eyebrow raised.

Though MacIntosh certainly didn’t know the full situation, he was aware that the stallion, his name was Doctor Whooves, had been together with Twilight a number of years ago, and, according to Twilight and him, had been captured by Diamond Dogs and disappeared for quite a while.

Whooves sighed, glancing back at the group silently and narrowing his eyes. “I ask simply because it’s been cloudy for quite some time now, mind you. It hasn’t rained yet.” A stinging harshness was carried along by his words.

Twilight finally intervened. “Maybe.” She snapped, glaring at the other five mares, and walked over to Doctor Whooves, kissing him briefly. This restored their expressions back to weak smiles.

Mac watched AJ fume in the corner. She was far from happy about the Doctor’s return, as displayed by her previous rant to Big MacIntosh. He had stood there, near-silently, only giving the occasional “Eeyup.” In response, agreeing with whatever his sister had said.

She was so hotheaded, sometimes. Determined she could change things she was entirely unable to. MacIntosh calmly watched as Blueblood crossed the room, attempting to placate her by means of the soft murmurs Mac could barely hear from his position.

To his surprise, Applejack entirely ignored the upper-crust unicorn, and snapped, stepping forward. “Twi?” She called, a reigned in anger traveling along her voice.

Twilight looked over. “What?” She responded serenely, a wistful smile plastered upon her face.

“Can Ah talk to you for a minute?” AJ hissed. Big Mac raised an eyebrow, ready to intervene. It was rare she ever looked this angry. When she had, he’d generally received a kick to the face. They didn’t need any more drama in the group, everypony was too worried about their foals as it was

Mac watched Twilight flinch, and hoped she wouldn’t oblige. Though, of course, the Unicorn blinked and nodded while Applejack led her upstairs. Big Mac inhaled slightly when he was sure he was out of Applejack’s earshot. “Careful, everypony.” He mumbled, just as an angry, indiscernible shout rang through the group, distinctly from Applejack.

“Calm down,” He heard Twilight say weakly.

“Have you no self-respect, Twilight Sparkle?!”

“Applejack, listen-“

“Nuh-uh! Listen, Ah’ve had to deal with yer mopin’ an’ moanin’ an’ groanin’ ‘bout this feller an’ now ya wanna tell me he’s just back an’ er’rythin’s fine an’ dandy?”

“Applejack, please, just listen to me.”

“No! You listen ta me, Twi! This guy’s bad news! Ya better drop ‘im!”

As the conversation was taking place above their heads, Big Mac’s eyes wandered to the brown stallion, sitting on his haunches and staring at his hooves. He raised an eyebrow. “Ya alright?”

The brown pony was startled to his hooves. “Oh. Yes, yes.” He sighed, getting to his hooves. The Blueblood guy, Applejack’s husband also appeared sympathetic and was approaching.

“Ah; Her bark is bigger than her bite.” The white unicorn assured with a smile. “Don’t worry.” He paused momentarily. “So, Buckingham? My parents are from Buckingham.”

Finally, Pinkamena looked over. The filly’s hair had refused to return to its previous, afro-like state by any means. She turned around, slowly getting to her hooves and approaching the Doctor, sending an irate glare directly toward him. “I know why Applejack is so mad.”

The earth pony looked up slowly, desperately to Pinkie. “Why?”

“If Braeburn came back, saying he was just captured or something, I’d be mad.”

“But, what if he did his best to come back?” Whooves immediately asked, furrowing his brow.

Pinkamena paused. “Well, then I might understand that, but other ponies don’t. Applejack is really loyal, and she doesn’t like to think that you hurt Twilight. Nopony else likes it either. I know that if Braeburn came back, she’d do the same thing.”

Whooves flinched at the mention of hurting Twilight. “I… I never meant to.” He murmured. “I just, I come back, and then there’s this colt, and… I’m not ready for this! I never planned to have kids or anything. I don’t know how to be a father, I don’t think I even want to be one.”

“No one is.” Big Mac interjected.

“Mhm.” Fluttershy confirmed quietly. He recalled her being angry about the earth pony, but now he saw nothing more than pity on the Pegasus’ face. “MacIntosh,” She gestured quietly, still speaking in her low voice. “he fainted when I told him he was gonna be a dad.”

A slight blush crept along his cheeks, and he remained silent.

“Yes, but I wasn’t here for that! Clockwork’s an adolescent! People don’t exactly, you know, write volumes on this! I have a teenage son, and I’ve been gone up until now. What’s he going to think of me, huh?” The Doctor’s voice gradually grew in volume and what bordered on terror as he spoke. “What am I supposed to do?” He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the group around him. “I’m sure he despises me!” Whooves hung his head. “You know, I never meant to hurt anypony. Especially Twilight.”

MacIntosh paused sympathetically. The stallion seemed honest enough. “AJ’s kinda hardheaded. Don’t concern yerself too much with her opinion.”

“Well, I think she’s right!” Rainbow Dash had been absentmindedly pacing the room at a hover. “I think she’s right for being mad at you. After all, how do we know you’re telling the truth?”

“Hey—yeah!” Spike called, lowering his eyebrows. “Twilight’s so dumbstruck with you. I haven’t liked you ever since you showed up.”

“You very well know it was an accident!” Whooves retorted, glowering at the dragon. “What followed was purely chance.”

“Oh, okay! So now you’re going to blame the fact that she fell in love with you on chance and pass it up like it’s nothing at all?” Spike snapped, lumbering toward Whooves with steam escaping his nostrils. “I should roast you right here!” He let out a roar.

“I’d like to see you try, you oversized lizard.” Whooves challenged, leaping to his hooves and pressing himself up against Spike’s scaly purple face. Spike growled in response, showing off his massive fangs.

“Guys!” Soarin approached. “Chill out, please. The guy’s been nice so far, cut him some slack! You too, RD!” He glared up at Rainbow, still aimlessly circling the area, and only shrugging in response.

Scootaloo nodded. “You ponies need to chill.” She sighed. “Listen, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are gonna be coming by. I got a letter from them today.”

“Applebloom?” Big MacIntosh turned to his sister’s friend. “Why’s she coming to town?” Last he’d heard, she’d run off to Appleoosa to help build and design homes for new settlers, and Sweetie Belle had come along to sing in the saloon.

“They took a vacation or something.” Scootaloo shrugged. “Who knows?

Rarity gasped, darting over. “Really? Oh, truly? Fantastic!” She exclaimed farcically, clapping her hooves together. “I haven’t seen her since she left.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Scootaloo muttered.

Big MacIntosh turned back to Doctor Whooves, sighing, just as Soarin landed between Spike and the Doctor. “Listen, the both of you.” He snapped, glancing between them. “If Whooves wanted to hurt Twilight, he would have never come back. It was clearly unintentional. Now, I’d like to avoid any fights. If both of you would step back and chill the buck out, that’d make the rest of us very, very happy.”

Spike grunted, obliging. “Fine, fine.” He hissed, his forked tongue slipping out of his mouth. “You’re suspicious, though, dude. There’s something about you…” He cocked his head briefly before going back across the room and sitting next to Rarity, looking irritated, steam still exhuming from his nostrils. Rarity gently patted his head with an ivory hoof, flashing the remainder of the group an apologetic smile.

Big MacIntosh finally noticed Applejack, standing in the doorway next to Twilight, glowering at him, Whooves, Blueblood, and Soarin. She seemed like she was going to open her mouth to say something, but Twilight interrupted her. “So,” Twilight murmured, staring at her hooves quietly. “Is that really what you want, you guys?”  A visible shudder wracked her body and she looked up suddenly, her dark eyes staring at Spike. “All this time?” She laughed dryly. “All this time, you never wanted me to be happy, did you?”

Her eyes were moist, and though MacIntosh wasn’t the object of her resentment, he still flinched. Spike did not turn around, continuing to stare at the window at the grey sky. “I didn’t want you to get hurt, Twi. You’re like my older sister. I knew he was bad news the minute he showed up here!” Spike raised a claw and pointed at the ground. He was standing in the same area the Harnis had first appeared.

“What? Do you not trust me?” Twilight spat, poison dripping from her words. “Am I so incompetent, Spike, that I can’t take care of myself? At least I’m not chasing after affluent fashion designer who thinks she’s got it all figured out!”

Spike snapped his head around. “I married her!” He barked.

“Hah!” Twilight let out a short, loud laugh, then returned to her previous, disconsolate and infuriated expression. She lowered her eyes. “Funny how you had to go outside your own species.”

Silence rang throughout the room, and steam exhumed from Spike’s nostrils. Rarity sat in shocked muteness, eyes wide and face pale, taking small, shallow breaths. She turned around slowly, her brow furrowed.

Then, the dragon exploded. He let out a roar, barreling toward Twilight, who leaped forward with equal fury and through a hoof into his face. The air was now thick with smoke. Though Spike was extraordinarily angry, it was clear he had no intention of scorching Twilight in any way. Nevertheless, he still didn’t know his own strength, and everypony was struggling to pull them off of each other.

Spike slashed a massive hand against Twilight’s stomach, spraying blood across the floor. She howled, yanking away from Rainbow Dash and Soarin’s grip, spitting on Spike and bucking him in the face. Spike screamed, knocked to one side, with Rarity, Applejack, and Soarin trying to pull him away. Big Mac threw himself between the two. “Now,” He huffed, glaring at the both of them. “Ahr we all adults here? Or do we have to treat you like foals?”

Rarity stared blankly at Twilight. “Is that what you think, Twilight?” She stared at her hooves then. Twilight was still being restrained by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Soarin, Doctor Whooves, and Blueblood. “Is that… Do you really hate the idea all that much? I thought you loved Spike. I thought you loved me. I thought you wanted us to be happy.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Spike immediately broke free of the grip of the ponies restraining him. He had clearly just been playing along to avoid hurting anypony seriously.

“Rarity, she didn’t mean it.” Spike rumbled, approaching her delicately.

“No, Spike. I think she did.” Rarity murmured quietly. “Do you think I don’t know that the lifestyle I chose is unorthodox? Every day, Gem gets teased. We didn’t mean for this to happen this way. We didn’t even intend to have a colt, we thought we’d adopt if we ever did.”

“Oh, please.” Twilight snarled. Blood was pouring from her belly, onto the floor. “It isn’t possible without magical intervention. We both know it.”

“We didn’t do anything!” Rarity threw her hooves into the air. “And we love him! What, is something wrong with that? Loving your son, no matter what he may look like? I don’t care about that any more, Twilight. Maybe it’s time you grew up and stopped living in a fairy tale.” Rarity chuckled darkly. “I thought you’d grown up. I felt bad for you. This,” She gestured to Doctor Whooves. “Is what you waited for all those years? You’ve read too many of those dusty old books. You’re living in a fairy tale!

“Maybe I wanted to be great! And maybe I failed. But at least my son has a father. That’s more than you can claim!”

Twilight sat there, stunned. Everypony released their restraints on her. “… Get out.” She whispered.

“Ah, I’m sorry; what was that?” Rarity hissed. “I’d like to hear you repeat that, and be very, very careful about the next words to come out of your mouth.”

“Did I stutter? Get out. If you want to go play Beauty and the Beast, then play it. But do it somewhere else, and let me get on with my life. I’ve certainly wasted enough of it.”

“You’re right. You have.” Rarity flipped her hair over her hear, raising her chin. “Fine.” She turned on heel, going to the door. “Come on, Spike.” She called with alarming finality. “We can stay at the Boutique.”

Spike was clearly hesitant. His eyes wandered to Twilight’s wound, and the blood on the floor, but Twilight clearly wasn’t letting up, and after a nervous glance between the two unicorns, he finally followed Rarity out.

Twilight finally relaxed, though she looked, somehow, melancholy. She stared at the ground and Whooves rested a sympathetic hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, love,” He murmured. “I certainly don’t want you burning bridges. Friends are important. You should go apologize.”

“Why do I need to apologize?” Twilight growled. “Besides that, why are you so scared of what Clockwork is going to think of you? I’m capable of raising my son!”

“I never said you weren’t, darling.” Whooves mumbled into her mane, resting his head on top of hers. “You know I’d never say that. I’m scared because I don’t know if I’m capable. I don’t know what I’m doing, Twi.” He chuckled humorlessly.

Twilight sighed, smiling weakly and nuzzling the side of his face. “I love you. You keep me sane, you know that, right?”

“I love you, too. And I suppose I do, to an extent. We should get those slashes cleaned up. I’m sure they were an accident. The last time I saw that little dragon, he was just a baby.” He smiled, waving an anxious Fluttershy away with a small shrug. MacIntosh smiled briefly and felt Fluttershy resting against him once again. He glanced to his side and smirked.

“Ya doin’ ahlright?”

“Mhm.” Fluttershy murmured contentedly. “I love you.” She whispered. Mac felt her warm breath against his neck and ear.

“Ah love you, too.” Big Mac turned to the rest of them. AJ was steaming in the corner. He sighed. “Hold on.” He whispered, kissing Fluttershy briefly. “Ah’ll be back. Ah hope.” He gulped, walking past Whooves and Twilight, grabbing Applejack’s hoof. “We need ta talk.”

Applejack grunted in response, following after MacIntosh, still glowering. Once they were upstairs, she stared at him. “Yeah? What’cha want?”

“I need’ja ta lay off. Ya may not like this feller, but for Celestia’s sake, Ah haven’t seen Miss Twilight so happy in years.”

Applejack loosened up, her green eyes softening. “Ah know, Ah know, Mac.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Ah just…” She looked down at her hooves. “Ah don’t think she should be so darned passive ‘bout this!”

Big Mac lowered his eyebrows. “Listen, AJ,” He mumbled. “He feels real bad. Ah don’t think he’s gonna hurt ‘er. Leave ‘im alone. Let her and Miss Rarity an’ Spike there ta make up. Awwright?”

“Fahn.” Applejack grunted, turning and leaving, growling to herself. MacIntosh rolled his eyes and followed her downstairs, finding Twilight sitting at the table with a cup of tea, sitting next to Doctor Whooves, who was flashing her a toothy grin.

Prince Blueblood raised an eyebrow at Big MacIntosh. The earth pony watched Blueblood turn in his direction, cock an eyebrow and mouth, ‘You’re good.’ With his eyes wide in shock before turning to nuzzle Applejack, who shrugged him off, snarling and huffing to herself.

MacIntosh watched Soarin look up at Rainbow Dash, still pacing while she hovered around the room. “Dashie, it’s time you got some sleep.”

“I’ve said it before, I can say it again. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“Come on, RD.”

“No.”

“You’re coming to bed.” Soarin insisted, stamping a hoof before flapping into the air, grabbing her, and dragging her back down to earth with a couple of quick, if awkward, maneuvers.

After an exhausted, easy struggle on the ground, Soarin finally pinned down Rainbow, and flipped off of her, grabbing her by the hoof. “You’re going to bed.”

“Night, Scootaloo…” Rainbow suddenly mumbled. She had dark, navy circles under her magenta eyes. She obliged as Soarin led her away.

“Night, Rainbow.” Scootaloo called, laughing slightly, with her head cocked at the two blue Pegasi. Soarin nodded at her, a quick confirming nod passing between them. Pinkie Pie still hadn’t really moved. She’d taken to sitting silently in a room and melding away, anypony would forget she was even there.

Conveniently enough, there was a knock on the door just as Rainbow and Soarin disappeared upstairs. Twilight motioned as though she was going to get up, but Whooves rested a hoof on hers, shaking his head. “You need to relax.” He murmured to her. MacIntosh took this as a sign that he should get it, being the gentlecolt he was, got to his hooves and crossed the room, opening the door.

Immediately, he was tackled by a blur of yellow and red. “Big brother! Why’re you here?” MacIntosh felt a kiss on his cheek and grinned, picking up Applebloom. “Nothin’ ya need to concern yerself with.”

Applejack had trotted over, and was now nuzzling her little sister affectionately. “Well, hey there, sis. Yer my size now!” She exclaimed, examining Applebloom, who was now blushing.

“Yeah, Ah s’pose Ah grew.” She smiled. Her cutie mark was a red apple, adorned with a flower, similar to the ones that blossomed in the spring on the crab apple trees.

Sweetie Belle mocked glaring at her. “Puh-leez!” She rolled her eyes. “You’re huge. Hey, wh- SCOOTALOO!” Her cry rang throughout the library as the earth pony and unicorn turned to the orange Pegasus, who was promptly tackled.

“Oh my gosh, you guys!”

MacIntosh and Applejack exchanged glances. They were going to talk forever. He did take a moment to look at Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark. He’d never seen it. A heart with a music note over it. Fitting, he supposed. He shrugged as their conversation dissolved into a cadence in his ears. Scootaloo would explain what happened with Rarity, and he’d catch up with Applebloom and her architectural job later. No doubt they’d have to talk about Braeburn at some point. He shook his head in memory of his cousin, clearing any trace of melancholy from his mind.

He glanced out the windows again as Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo’s conversation dulled even further. Everything was grey outside. Lifeless.

Why was it he got the feeling that it was somehow leaking into everything else? He felt as though the colour inside the library had just become duller as well. The earth pony glanced around for any sign that anypony else had noticed the change, but received no gratification. He shrugged it off as his imagination. Just as he was turning away, he saw Pinkie Pie shift and furrow her brow.

Fluttershy looked up quietly. She had been keeping an eye on Pinkamena for the past several days or so. “Is everything okay?” The light yellow Pegasus murmured, approaching the pink pony.

“It’s weird.” Was Pinkamena’s only reply, she wrinkled her nose.

“What’s weird?”

“It’s like a twitch, but different.”

“You’re getting a twitch?”

“No. It’s like one, though.” Pinkamena frowned, furrowing her brow and glancing around the room, everypony looking at her. “It has something to do… With…” Horror flashed across her face. “Discord. Discord. It has something to do with Discord.”

“O-oh.” Fluttershy blinked, staring at Pinkamena in dread. “Maybe… Pinkie, I mean, uh, Pinkamena, I think you should go to bed.” Fluttershy slapped a hoof over her mouth in an attempt to medicate her Freudian slip.

“No.” The party pony muttered. “I’m okay, I don’t want to have nightmares.”

“I’ll stay with you.” Fluttershy whispered softly, standing in front of Pinkamena, a concerned grimace covering her face, with part of her hair over her eyes.

“No, I really don’t feel tired. It’s just… Something’s still wrong. It’s still about Discord.” Pinkamena whispered, looking over her shoulder at the clearly concerned Fluttershy.

Big MacIntosh could swear he felt the colours in the room dull once again, as if the grey clouds had made their way into the room itself. Pinkamena paused. “There it is again. I don’t know what it is.”

“Maybe you really need some rest.” Fluttershy murmured, guiding Pinkamena up the stairs.

“Ah feel it, too.” MacIntosh stopped her, raising a hoof. “Ah dunno what it is, either. Everything seems… grey.”

I can’t sit idly.

No, I can’t move at all.

I’m on reserve power.

I’m actually very lucky, driving a pony to believe something that they’d never ordinarily think, however true it may be, is a lot like pushing somepony off the cliff to madness. Everyone’s teetering there, slowly. All they need is a little push. You can’t force them. You start by giving them an idea. That idea takes root and sprouts. It becomes nourished by little insecurities, doubts, and the like.

Until, finally, it’s so ingrained there, in the place you planted it, where it is undoubtedly true, and certainly, fearfully, true.

My meddling in Gem's conception has certainly paid off. There should be just enough chaos to last.

It’s a waiting game, now. But, I’m used to waiting. I’ve done it for five thousand years. I can wait another few days.

Your move, Celestia.

~XXX~

Super Ponybeat reference. Yeah. You totally shouldn’t listen to its ultimate sexiness here.

Chapter 17: Eclipsing

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 17: Eclipsing

When the screaming started, they knew they had to get help.

Applejack had been ranting to Big MacIntosh again about Doctor Whooves and Twilight. It seemed that they always had their tongues down each other’s throats nowadays. They were sitting on the couch, practically on top of each other, and Applejack had been unable to get a word in edgewise.

The colour was gone. She wasn’t sure where it had gone, but Applejack only knew that it was gone. Colour was no longer in Equestria, but it wasn’t worth questioning. It was the little things. All of the cereals tasted the same. Every building was cookie cutter, with few or little adornments.

Grass, and once beautiful garden landscapes had been replaced with trimmed grass, each blade precisely the same length and growing in the same direction. Much of the world seemed like this now, though. It wasn’t worth questioning. Too much trouble.

MacIntosh seemed so unsettled, he was always glancing over his shoulder nervously, as though someone was going to come along and stab him in the back, a rather puzzling attitude in general for him.

“You alright, Mac?” She finally asked, staring at him and cocking one of her eyebrow.

“Yeah. Ah’m just fine…” He mumbled, a faraway look in his eye as he wandered off. Just then, the screaming started.

Ear-piercing, shrill cries and sobs for help, bloody murder, stopping only to catch breath permeated the walls of the room. AJ barreled downstairs. “WHAT? WHAT’S WRONG?”

Pinkamena was on the floor, screaming, wailing, and sobbing, thrashing in a seizure-like manner. She was forming no coherent sentences, just screaming and thrashing and pounding, keeping everypony away from her. Twilight finally had run down the stairs, and restrained the earth pony using her magic. The pink pony continued to scream and attempt to flail until Twilight had finally muffled her.

They had gone to Canterlot on emergency. They didn’t know what else to do. Pinkie had simply continued to scream nonsensically, crying and wailing. She was able to walk on her own, but Twilight continued using her magic to keep the screams issuing from the party pony at least slightly muffled. In her desperation, she had sent Sweetie Belle across the road to the Boutique to get Rarity and Spike; an urgent letter needed to be sent to the princess.

The two, in spite of all of their previous misgivings with Twilight from the other day, had obliged without a second thought. Friends fight all the time, but they weren’t about to let anypony get hurt seriously because of some misgivings that would eventually pass. Spike had sent the letter Twilight had written to the Princess, warning them that they were coming.

After a full two minutes of waiting, they had decided they couldn’t wait any longer, something was seriously wrong with Pinkamena. Twilight had entrusted restraining Pinkamena to Rarity and had teleported the group just outside Canterlot castle, where they stood now.

“Come on!” Twilight beckoned, flinching as she yanked the door open, everypony hurrying inside, hoping that Princess Celestia would be able to identify whatever was wrong with the hysterical mare.

“Princess!” Applejack shouted, tripping over her own hooves as she stumbled into the castle. She hadn’t been here since the gala. She was the last to enter, slamming the large door behind her. Though everypony was silent, nothing could have prepared her for what she would see when she looked up.

The colour had gone from everything. Everything except the Princess. She sat there, her ivory coat gleaming fabulously, unchanged. But her eyes. Her eyes were a deep, red-orange, reflecting and fracturing light, giving off a gemlike quality. They glittered with every blink. Her eyelashes were wide and long, extending beautifully from her eyelids.

She was larger than usual, giving off an imposing vibe that didn’t seem much like Celestia. Her shoes were golden, ornamented with a single ruby on each foot, matching her breastplate. A golden helmet sat on her head with a fiery crest burning and smoldering just on top of it. Her cutie mark seemed to emanate a warm glow.

Above all, the predominant change in the Princess’ appearance was her mane. It was, quite literally, composed of flame. Flares shot from its basis of nowhere. It didn’t give off the appearance of hair. It was plasmatic, and Applejack could hear crackling and burning though there was nothing to burn. Near the base of where her mane was growing, was a white-hot flame that guided down to a bluish-purplish, then a yellow and red colour. Tentacles of flame spired out to lick the outside air as though gasping for more oxygen to burn.

The group sat in stunned silence as the Princess, if it was even still her, smiled serenely. “Hello, my little ponies.” Her voice boomed, echoing through the throne room. She leaned over them imposingly, her sizzling mane still traveling on an unseen breeze. She smiled.

Her teeth, as opposed to being square or rounded equine teeth, carried a malicious sharpness, and Applejack briefly wondered if they were sharper than Spike’s. Pinkie’s muffled hollering was still audible.

“P-princess!” Twilight gasped out, taking a step forward to leave Whooves in shocked silence behind her. “What happened to you?”

“Ah, Twilight. Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. My most faithful student.” Celestia smiled again, the corners of her mouth creeping upward, and Applejack winced. “I suppose I’m going to have to walk you through this, aren’t I?” She stood up slowly. None of her guards made any moves. The alicorn circled around the group, Pinkamena still struggling.

“Princess!” Twilight seemed to catch up with what was at hand, as opposed to her earlier silence. “Pinkie needs help! It’s an emergency.”

“Oh, there’s plenty of time for that.” Celestia snapped, causing them to jump. “Why the rush, Twilight Sparkle?”

Rarity’s magical grip on Pinkie broke for several seconds. The party pony snarled. “It’s YOU! You’re the one that’s doing this!”

Silence.

Rarity made no attempt to hush Pinkamena. The pink, straight-haired pony was no longer speaking, only glaring at Celestia, who clucked her tongue slowly and deliberately, whilst shaking her head. “I suppose I should explain to you what Discord did not.” She paused, still circling around them slowly. Her shoed hooves clicked against the tile. “But, what fun is there in explaining everything when you have no recollection?” Celestia tapped  Pinkamena briefly on the head.

“What did you do?” Pinkamena demanded. Celestia only smiled, lowering her horn. A shockwave blew through the room, electrical pulses shivering throughout in the aftermath..

The floodgates opened as truth washed over Applejack in waves. Braeburn had died. He had died alone. He had no children. Pinkamena had married and had a daughter.

Discord.

Shock rang throughout her body as memories of the draconequus came back to her. The way Pinkie Pie would always look at him, a strange sense of adoration glimmering in her blue eyes. The way, sometimes, He would rest a paw on her head and mess up her mane, just to frustrate her.

Guilt weighed her down, and everypony around her sat, stunned. All except for Pinkamena. “WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!” She roared. “What did you do?” She cried out, running straight for Celestia with tears running down her face. She bonked, almost comically, into Celestia’s shoe. The solar goddess glanced down with disdain, as though she had just stepped on a bug, as Pinkamena lay quietly on the floor, her hair’s texture unchanged.

“Now, now, everypony.” Celestia smiled. “No need to be alarmed. I’m merely cleaning up Equestria. Chaos is a bad thing, harmony is a good thing, right? Besides,” Her smile faded. “I wouldn’t want to have to hurt anypony. Discord has had this coming for a long time, now. You don’t know everything.”

Pinkamena sat alone, quivering on the ground. Fluttershy moved forward to go help her, but was met with a wall of fire between her and Pinkamena. The yellow Pegasus let out a fearful cry, shrinking back with her face under her mane. Big MacIntosh lunged forward, pulling her back and getting in front of her.

“No, no. She’s an anarchist.” Celestia murmured lightheartedly, in spite of the dark weight that her words carried. “We don’t help her.”

It was then that the true horror of the situation they were in hit Applejack. Celestia was… Was evil? Was she evil? Or was this one of Discord’s tricks? She could hear Pinkie’s frightful wail from the side of the room and shivered.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all educated on the history of the draconequi, now. But, I know Discord let out a few details.” Celestia smirked knowingly; her intricately adorned hooves still walking circles around them as the group, save for Pinkamena, huddled closer together. “First off, you may wonder why there are no other alicorns in Equestria. He murdered them all. He tried to proclaim his undying love for me. I told him I wasn’t interested. So,” The alicorn flinched. “So he killed them.” She finished with alarming finality. “To get back at me. It was a lover’s quarrel. So, I finished what he started. I killed the rest of them.” She shrugged. “He didn’t know how to be a ruler.” She passively examined a front hoof. “Though, I do suppose I’m partially to blame. As I sent the dragons to destroy Discordia in the first place. Spite does have its funny little ways of getting around, doesn’t it?”

The ponies were blown away by her reveal, staring blankly at her. Finally, Twilight stepped forward, dumbfounded, and choked out, “W-why would you tell us this?” She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Simple,” Celestia stared sadly at Twilight. “Because I’m going to have to get rid of you, if I want to have a perfect world. Discord has corrupted you all too much. Each of you, and your foals, are going to have to be executed. The chimera’s reaching the end of his rope, anyway.” She grinned madly.

“What about P-princess Luna?” Rainbow stepped forward, turning her nose up. Figures, she’d be the first one to strike a rebellion.

“Where she belongs. On the moon.” Celestia snarled suddenly, stamping a hoof. The sound echoed through the chamber, reverberating through their bodies and giving the area a haunting chill. “But, this time, she won’t be coming back. Now,” She turned to Pinkamena. “The anarchist first, I suppose. You.” She laughed darkly. “You… How does it feel? You’re responsible. Maybe, if you’d never freed Discord, your friends wouldn’t be about to die.”

“I don’t regret it.” Pinkamena leapt to her hooves. “Fine! Do whatever you want! I… You’ll get… bad things! Bad things will happen to you.”

Celestia only chuckled, a red hot power charging at the tip of her horn. Everypony tensed, unsure of what to do, their breath caught in their throats. Applejack clenched onto Blueblood, tears springing to her eyes as the power at the tip of Celestia’s horn grew. Heat seemed to emanate from her, and she reared her head back to strike.

A flash of burning, white-hot energy exploded throughout the room, sending everypony screaming. Applejack smelled flesh burning and hair singing as she was blown back by the blast. The light began to fade away, and her green eyes scanned through the smoke and dust to assess the damage. Pinkamena was shielding herself with her hooves, and Celestia looked puzzled. Then Applejack’s eyes rested on the limp body of the draconequus that lay just in front of a certain pink pony, splayed across the ground. His coat was singed, the feathers on the tip of his tail nonexistent. Scorch marks dotted the floor, as well as his body.

Applejack heard a gasp behind her and craned her neck to see over her shoulder. There, in plain daylight, stood the six foals.

Everything exploded.

A crack ran up the ceiling, sending a small shower of dusty plaster raining down upon them as it dissipated into the already smoggy air. Solar Flare could only watch Celestia’s horn slowly light up in anger as beams of energy burst straight from it, bright, scorching beams that burned anything and everything they came in contact with.

She wasn’t sure quite how she had gotten here from the ballroom with Clockwork, but she was here. And she had heard everything that was said by Celestia.

Discord had been right.

She gasped as she both heard and felt another shudder sound from the internal support system of the castle. The beams and rafters screamed in protest as they began to bow. Tapestries and flags bearing the royal Equestrian crest lit up with flame, reaching up and craning to touch the ceiling with the red-hot plasma tentacles.

An alarming groaning noise sounded above her. She shrieked, running just out of the way as the six foals scrambled. She thought something glittered on her flank, but it was unimportant. She continued running, her hooves slapping against the tile as pillars began to fall and crack, withering away at the slightest touch.

Celestia stood calmly at her throne, watching the chaos before her erupt as the building crashed down around them. Between the gaps in the stony shrapnel and debris, the Pegasus saw Discord lift his head weakly, exchanging a furious glare with Celestia.

Solar Flare felt a hoof shove her out of the way of a falling hunk of stone as she barreled toward the door, reaching forward and attempting, in vain, to yank it open. Celestia’s laugh resounded deadly through the chamber. “No, no, no.” She heard the alicorn say. The door was locked.

They were trapped, struggling to find an exit before the entire building’s support system collapsed, while Princess Celestia stood there quietly and calmly.

Solar Flare noticed a pink blob lying next to the body of the potentially dead Discord. She darted toward Pinkie Pie, hollering. “Come on!” and snatched the pink hoof in hers, dragging the earth pony along after her.

“There’s a back way!” Soarin’s yell was audible from the other side of the chamber. Solar Flare squinted through the dusty air, making her way over large chunks of marble and stone, slick from the thick coating of powder it had accumulated over the past few minutes. She heard Soarin groan.

“It’s locked!” He announced hopelessly.

The entire building shuddered again, and everypony froze as their eyes fell upon a small purple unicorn, her horn glowing profusely, magic spilling out from it and encompassing the entire ceiling. Six lengths of ribbon-like magic were streaming out from her, each one connecting from each of the six foals. She didn’t bother to trace each of them specifically, but she was sure of it. Colour was spilling out around her, resembling heat waves coming off of pavement in the summer, emanating off her as though she was some kind of source. The coloured area around her became more and more wide as she actually physically lifted off of the ground. “I can’t believe this!” She roared. Her voice was odd, as though two ponies were speaking at once. “I trusted you!”

The building had stopped shaking, and hunks of debris had stopped falling from the ceiling. Gaps of light were now filtering in from misshapen holes in the ceiling, illuminating the billows of smoke and dust floating about the room freely. The only movement was from the lavender unicorn herself. A brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark that Solar Flare had never seen before stepped nervously forward.

For a moment, Celestia laughed carelessly, evidently blowing Twilight Sparkle off as some sort of child’s play. She rolled her glimmering eyes, staring blankly back at Twilight. “You’re kidding.”

The lavender unicorn landed, all four of her hooves braced against the ruined floor of the throne room, her eyes beginning to glow. “No.” She hissed. “I’m not.”

A rush of magic surged forward, hitting Celestia directly, head-on. A loud fizzling sound filled Solar Flare’s ears and the room as colours exploded, lighting up the grey world in its entirety and filling her eyes with pure white as they melded together into a single hue.

Standing in Celestia’s place was a pathetically small pony. Smaller than Solar Flare herself, with a white coat, and a pastel pink mane. Two streams of magic were floating out of the lesser alicorn, one, a bright green that surged from her white coat to Discord, who lay brokenly on the ground. There was no sign that he was alive.

Another was dark blue, floating directly upward, as though being dragged by some invisible force, through the clouds and the atmosphere and as far as the eye could see. It seemed to be carrying the very stars themselves on its stream. After several seconds, the flows were both cut off, and the tiny white alicorn was left, standing alone, looking fearful.

Pinkamena’s first reaction was to run across the room, dodging around boulders and hunks of debris and whatever else may have fallen. Her hair was, for whatever reason, straight.

Solar Flare watched with a creeping sense of dread as Pinkie prodded the draconequus, poking him and shaking him, though he did not move, or show any signs that he was going to. Flare immediately glanced behind her at Candied Chaos, who, still, for whatever reason, with her odd draconequus limbs, fang, and tail. The hybrid was frozen in shocked horror, any and all colour or joy drained from her face. Anything else in the room was put to a halt as Chaos slowly drifted across the room, eyes the size of dinner plates with her jaw slack.

A slow, tentative lion paw moved forward to pat Discord. “D-dad?” She choked out, chest and the rest of her body heaving with sobs, but no tears rolling down her face. “We… It’s okay, now. Y-you can… You can wake up.” She whispered in silent room. “You can wake up. It’s not funny.”

A hoof and paw began to shake the draconequus simultaneously. “Dad! Please! Come on. We… it’s gonna be okay now!” Candied Chaos was screaming now, tears rolling down her face and leaving wet splotches on the floor. She wiped her face with her paw. “You can stop! Just stop playing around!” The hybrid’s shoulders began to heave while she rested against Pinkamena, who also had a single tear rolling down her face, but was doing her best to hide it, saying nothing.

“Twilight Sparkle.” The purple unicorn turned around when addressed.

In the half-collapsed, ruined doorway of the castle stood a single alicorn that Solar Flare recognized as Princess Luna. The pony that was once the great Princess Celestia squeaked, running and hiding behind one of Luna’s legs. Luna stared down grimly at her older sister. “I never thought you would do this again.” Luna murmured sadly, cocking her head. “I thought we came to a compromise. You cheated me out of a thousand years, but I forgave you for that, Celestia.” Luna frowned. “There is only so much forgiving that one can do.”

“F-fine, then! What do you intend to do? Twilight won’t let you do anything. Right, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia looked back to the lavender unicorn and flashed a smile, but Twilight only continued to frown back at her, causing Celestia to scowl. “Fine!” She growled. “Do whatever you like! What did you have in mind?” Celestia hissed.

A small, morbid smirk appeared on Luna’s lips as she glanced up into the sky, to the shining yellow orb of a sun above her head. “Oh, I know somewhere just perfect for you.” Her horn glowed briefly, and Celestia disappeared.

Luna’s face turned upward, her eyes turning onto Discord. Any trace of satisfaction that had been there previously had now dissipated into disappointment and worry. Her brow furrowed and her lip quivered as she slowly approached the chimera, bowing her head and resting a hoof on his upper torso before smiling. “He will be fine.” The lunar goddess looked up and smiled.

A moment of silence passed, but it seemed that a breeze rolled through Pinkamena’s hair, and immediately, it curled and puffed and frizzed back up to its lovable state. “REALLY?!” Pinkie gasped, getting to her hooves. “Oh; I know what this calls for! A PARTY!” She squealed, hopping delightedly into the air and running, bounding in circles.

For Candied Chaos, it took several more moments for this to sink in, and she smiled at Luna. Several small words passed between them. In spite of the general shock of the information that they had received in the past several minutes, the moment was, more or less, jubilant, in an awkward way. The brown stallion from before walked up to Twilight, and they shared a kiss, which confused her immediately. She had no time to dwell on it though, before she was barraged by Soarin, kissing her repeatedly on the forehead and cheek. “Oh, hell, I’m so proud of you!” He whispered, hugging her tightly and rocking like that for several moments.

Solar Flare remained tense at first, before succumbing to her father and relaxing in his arms, exhaling. She realized Rainbow had come up at some point as well. “I love you guys.”

“I love you guys, too.” Rainbow murmured, resting her head on Soarin’s shoulder with her muzzle in Solar Flare’s mane.

The moment was somewhat short-lived, however, when Solar Flare heard Twilight’s attempt to get the attention of everypony around her. “Guys!” She yelled. Evidently, she was going to reason everything that had just transpired out later, like the analytical flank she was. “Has anyone seen Clockwork?”

Solar Flare’s blood went cold, she leapt to her hooves. “He’s not here?” She swallowed, looking around anxiously. She flapped her wings desperately for a moment, managing to get a couple of feet of air, and dropped down immediately. However, she had seen everything that she had needed to see. Her eyes rested upon the brown and purple form several meters away, and she immediately dashed through the debris and clawed her way onto a large hunk of stone, potentially the largest in the room, and jumped past several pillars. She came upon him.

He laid there, completely still, eyes closed, face pale, but his expression frozen in some sort of silent agony. He had several random dark red, sticky spots seeping through his sandy brown coat, making it seem almost as though he had been crushed by something.

Solar Flare felt sick. The world spun around her, and she collapsed. “Here.” She croaked out, shutting her eyes. No, no, no.

He didn’t look like Discord. The blood was smeared across the tile. He was cold to the touch. He didn’t look like he was sleeping peacefully like poets and writers always spoke about. He didn’t look like a beautiful angel or any of that crap.

He looked like he was bucking dead. A candle with the flame gone out, unliving. He was still. No muscles twitched beneath his eyelids, and his his chest didn’t palpitate with any kind of heartbeat. He was still. The room spun, and she tried to breathe.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight come over the rise of the mess, and a quiet whisper, a quiet murmur, of, “No…”

Solar Flare sat in agonized silence, her entire body heaving with silent, dry sobs. After several minutes of this, being the only one to sit beside the dead colt, the only thing she could do was brush back his purple mane back from his eyes. It crossed her mind that she’d never get to see his eyes again. They always reminded her so much of the sky in Cloudsdale, where the air was thinner and not so muddled up with pollutants. She was overcome with an urge to go home. To go home, forget any of this happened. To die.

It should have been her. He could do things. He was useful. He was smart, and funny, and good-looking, and knew things. She was a failure. Discord had made sure of that. She should have saved him. She should have pushed him out of the way, or… Or, or something.

She finally let out a small, strangled whimper of a cry. Though she knew it was entirely pointless, she didn’t hesitate to sob out, “P-please… Come back… Come back.” She repeated this multiple times, briny tears running down her face and plopping down onto the tile as those around her merely stared while she sobbed hopelessly. “Come back.” Her eyes burned.

“Please.” She whispered, trying to control her erratic breathing. “Please…” She cried out, uncontrollable sobs wracking her body. “I love you.”

Chapter 18: Endgame

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 18: Endgame

I’d like to let you know that the characters in this story highjacked it and changed the ending I initially had in mind, almost entirely. I didn’t plan on Solar Flare to develop feelings for anyone, and I wasn’t going to have any romance. Damn you, characters and readers! /shakes fist/

“Hey, Spitfire.”

“Hey, Moondancer.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to see someone.”

The unicorn paused at that. “Hunh. That’s a new one.”

The yellow Pegasus chuckled. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

“Who are you here to see? I’ll hook you up.” Moondancer nodded in Spitfire’s direction, grasping a ledger with her magic.

“Name’s Clockwork Sparkle.” Spitfire informed, placing her hooves on the desk and examining the lobby around her. The smell of sterile and sick wafted together. She shuddered, examining the whitewash walls she had grown to know so well in the past.

Moondancer frowned. “Poor kid.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Been swarmed every day since he got here. He woke up once, totally incoherent.”

“I can come another time, if it’s that bad.”

“Nah, I think only his parents and this one filly are here right now. Nice timing.” Moondancer acknowledged whilst scribbling down Spitfire’s information into the ledger, evidently memorized. “How’s life been?”

“Grounded.” Spitfire answered with a morbid chuckle. Moondancer paled and she smirked. “Hey, listen, it’s not that big of a deal. Take a chill pill.” Spitfire smiled, giving her a playful shove.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. Usually people are more sensitive amputations.”

“I’m sure they are.” Spitfire winked. “So, what’s the room number?” She asked, picking up a bouquet in her teeth and cocking her head.

“324.”

“Cool, thanks.” Spitfire grinned before trotting away, winking at Moondancer and hopping into a half-occupied elevator that was nearly closed, though once she jumped in, the doors opened once again for several seconds. A groan resounded through the elevator passengers.

Spitfire shrugged it off, banging the small metal button that proudly declared ‘3’ in massive, raised, white lettering and leaning against the elevator and sighing as two beeps went off. Ponyville Hospital was a high rise, which was odd for the area, but, it had a multitude of floors, going up to 27, total.

The elevator finally creaked to a stop, and Spitfire trotted out casually. Almost nopony recognized her any more, particularly without her Wonderbolts uniform, so she was fine to trot around. She had really come to terms with her ‘disability’, if you could really call it that. She was still capable of walking on clouds, she just needed assistance.

She scanned the hospital rooms, looking down the row of even numbers. 320… 322… 324. This was it. Anxiously, she planted a hoof on the doorknob and listened to the mechanisms inside click rapidly, and swung the door open slowly.

Blinding light was the first thing she noticed. Filtering through some bleach white blinds and casting disorienting brightness on everything within the room. In total, there were four ponies in the room. The first, she recognized as Twilight Sparkle. Though, not the Twilight Sparkle she knew.

Dark circles hung under her eyes. She hadn’t slept in days. Her mane was disheveled and dull, as though the colour had been sapped from it. It was tangled. She looked as though she hadn’t smiled in days, she was frowning so profusely.

The second was a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark. She didn’t recognize him. The third, she knew was Solar Flare. Immediately, the blue Pegasus stood up when she entered. Her condition horrified Spitfire. Her coat was dull and oily, her mane untouched, and her face tear-streaked. Spitfire had never seen her look so terrible.

“Spitfire?” The filly choked out, standing up immediately. Spitfire smiled, walking over and setting the bouquet she had in her mouth onto the dresser.

“Hey, kiddo.” Spitfire murmured, wrapping her forelegs around the filly in a tight hug.

“H-hi.” Solar Flare murmured softly. Spitfire smiled nervously, and then the filly released and returned to a chair in the corner of the room. Then, Spitfire noticed the colt laying, curled up, in the hospital bed. He had what looked like several incisions across his flank, the stitch marks prominent.

Perhaps the most unsettling thing, however, was the odd mark on his forehead. It took her several moments to understand what had happened. Had he taken a blow to the head? Spitfire bit her lip, until she realized that genetics determined he was a unicorn. But, he didn’t have a horn.

It hit her, and she winced. Though she could relate, to an extent… She sighed.

“Yeah. It… It was all we could do.” Twilight spoke. “We had to do a lot,” She murmured, shaking her head. “I’m pretty sure we broke a few laws and ethical codes, but…” She laughed bitterly, then glanced back up at Spitfire. “Will you help him?”

“Yeah.” Spitfire sighed. “Has he been awake at all?”

“No. He hasn’t.”

Spitfire frowned, before walking over to the brown earth pony. His head hung above the foals, he seemed mournful and thoughtful at the same time.

After a moment of long silence, Spitfire heard a shifting noise, like shuffling papers. Spitfire looked up. Clockwork was shifting, waking up. His eyes opened slowly, almost mechanically. “Wherdacelesticord…” He slurred out. Whatever painkillers they had put him on had certainly knocked him out.

“What?” Twilight asked, laughing nervously as she looked down at him.

“Whermi?” He mumbled, staring up at her.

“Where am I?” He finally asked, a little more clearly. Twilight smiled.

“You’re safe.” Twilight murmured. “It’s gonna be alright.”

“What happened to Celestia? And Discord?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Rest, everything’s gonna be fine.” Twilight sighed, and Spitfire watched every muscle under her lavender coat relax.

Solar Flare grinned at him. “Hey.” She murmured sadly.

“Hey.” Clockwork smiled back at her.

A silence passed between the two foals, but was finally interrupted when the brown earth pony cleared his throat. It was evident from his accent that he was from Buckingham. “Uh. Hello.”

A form of horrified recognition passed on Clockwork’s face. “H-hello.” He whispered after a moment, his voice dropping low.

“Clockwork, ah… I’m… I’m the Doctor. I’m... I suppose I'm your father.”

End.

Epilogue

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Epilogue

“Augh! Clockwork! Hurry up. We’re gonna be late for the party.”

“Okay, okay. Just… just let me get to writing this.”

“No, come on.” Twilight groaned.

“Okay, okay. Fine. I’ll write it along the way. Or while we’re there.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Just, for the love of Harmony, hurry it up.”

Clockwork grunted in response, grabbing a quill and paper with his hooves, and beginning to write as he walked.

Dear everypony,

Life is kind of funny sometimes. It really doesn’t matter who you are.

They found thousands of historical records, completely uncensored. Things Luna had written. Princess Celestia, if you can really call her that, was responsible for all of it. When Luna supposedly ‘took over’, was just Celestia, trying to do the same and cause eternal day.

She wasn’t all that bad. She altered everypony’s memories into believing the Nightmare Moon incident had happened, to give Twilight and everypony the confidence they needed to fight against Discord when he showed up initially.

Clockwork paused, trotting alongside Twilight Sparkle while she nudged him along. A blue Pegasus came and flanked his right side, nuzzling his neck for a moment. “Hey,” She smiled at him, then glanced at his forehead and frowned.

Clockwork paused. “Hey.” He answered.

“What’cha doing?” Solar Flare asked, leaning over.

“Writing a letter.”

“To who?”

Clockwork paused, seeming thoughtful. “I don’t know. Whoever comes across it.”

Solar Flare shrugged as Clockwork continued writing.

This brings me to another point. Not everyone is bad or good. Discord made bad decisions, Celestia made bad decisions, I made bad decisions, you make good decisions. That doesn’t mean anyone’s bad or good.

“Hay, it looks like everyone’s already there.” Solar Flare mumbled, raising her head and standing on the tips of her hooves to better see the distant Sugarcube Corner.

“Just wait a second.” Clockwork mumbled, continuing to scribble letters on the sheet of yellowed parchment in front of him.

Sometimes, not everything works out. Relationships with people don’t always work, but you always have to be willing to try something new. Everything is worth a try.

You may think you have it all figured out, and you may think that you’re right and no one else is worth your time. But, if you give it a shot, you may find it’s the opposite. You may need other people to give you a shove in the right direction if you find you’re walking sideways. That’s what friendship is about.

He paused to glance down at Solar Flare’s flank, where sat a lightning bolt. She couldn’t fly quickly, but she was quick enough on the ground. He continued glancing ahead. He darted ahead to hold the door open for her. She smiled and ducked through, with him following and Twilight going in last.

Doctor Whooves was already there. He smiled nervously at Clockwork.

Sometimes, some ponies make mistakes. It’s normal. No one’s perfect.

Not everypony is perfect, and though you may not be good at a lot of things, you’re bound to be good at something. It’s important that you always try hard, though. No matter what.

Discord and Pinkie dancing in the corner caught his eye, but he shrugged it off. He walked back into the kitchen. “Hey, Chaos!”

“Hey, Clockwork~!” Candied Chaos called, pulling a tray of cupcakes from the oven. A tornado sat on her flank. She stood beside Sir Prize, who now had a cutie mark of a golden apple. However these two had been obtained, he wasn’t sure.

You may not always understand a pony until you get to know them, since everypony is different. It’s just normal. You don’t know what they’ve gone through, or what they’re really like.

Sometimes, there’s just one pony who stands out among the rest, and though others may not understand it, it’s often that they’re the only one that makes you happy.

Solar Flare paused, pushing Clockwork up against a wall and raising an eyebrow. “Hey.” She murmured, kissing him briefly. His cheeks reddened.

“Uh. Hey.”

It may not always work, but sometimes, things are worth a try.

I’ve learned a lot, and I can only hope to learn more. I’m becoming forgiving, and I still have so much more to learn about everything in the world. After all, I really am only a foal.

Your faithful and ever learning student,

Clockwork

The unicorn paused, picking up the letter and folding it into thirds. Perhaps he’d drop it somewhere in the library for someone to discover. It gave him an odd sense of closure. He shrugged it off. Someone would come across it and learn something, perhaps.

Solar Flare backed off of him slightly. “I’m glad we’re trying this.” She murmured with a smile. Clockwork laughed, unsure.

“Yeah.” He mumbled. “Yeah, I guess I am, too. I mean, it’s worth a shot…” He saw Soarin glaring at him from the corner of his eye and anxiously scratched the back of his neck.

“It is.” Flare nodded, grinning widely.

Whooves approached him, looking nervous. “Uh, hello.” He mumbled. Clockwork had become accustomed to his accent.

“Hello.” The unicorn mumbled, glancing in a mirror across the room. Sometimes, the absence of his horn still shocked him briefly. The whitish scars on his forehead made up for a portion of this, but it still occasionally made him jump. Through some series of odd events that Whooves and Twilight had refused to explain to him, they had managed to save him from near-death with the removal of his horn.

“Uh, is that… Is she your marefriend? The Pegasus?”

Clockwork scoffed. “I suppose.” He mumbled, refusing to look at the earth pony. His presence was odd, and he was still learning to be forgiving and get accustomed to his appearance. “Nothing serious though, it’s probably not going to last long. We are just foals.”

“Yeah.” The Doctor mumbled, his eyes gazing at nothing in particular in the distance.

Clockwork paused, glancing back briefly at his flank. A quill, with several sparkles surrounding it. It’d appeared the other night, when scribbling out a manuscript of a recording of the history of Discordia, what he’d managed to gather from the uncensored records.

The once-Unicorn smirked, before turning to the Doctor. “So, what’s this blue police barn I keep seeing everywhere?”

Chapter 7: Pictures, Ponies, and Parties!

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 7: Pictures, Ponies, and Parties!

A long silence was all that was heard when Spike entered the room.

“Uh.” He stood there for several moments, standing there awkwardly, scanning the room. “Hello, everypony.” He mumbled nervously, blinking.

“Spike?” Twilight gasped, looking the dragon up and down, examining him as she approached.

“Twilight!” Spike stood, frozen, before relaxing. “Twilight.” He smiled weakly. “It’s just me, everypony.” He couldn’t very clearly see the faces of the ponies around him, his head was spinning for some reason, with everypony staring at him.

After several moments of awkward, frozen silence where people gradually descended back into speaking with each other, having recognized the serpentine purple and green dragon before them as the baby dragon they had once known, minus the dagger like spines of an adult dragon, large fangs, and hardened purple scales where he could feel practically nothing if stabbed with any sort of sharp object.

Rarity and Gem filed in after the event, and Spike awkwardly hung at the edges of the room while Rarity introduced Gem to ponies. He shook his head to clear it, trying to recognize ponies. Many of them were ponies he had seen around town in his youth. It was with great discretion that he realized his claws were shaking, and his wings were quivering.

Where had Twilight gone? Upon looking around, Spike realized she was still right there, next to him. She was pale, and her eyes were wide.  “Spike.” She breathed, looking him up and down. “You’re…”

“A dragon?” He grinned morbidly; showing his knifelike fangs, the largest ones about the size of Twilight’s horn, but a great deal sharper. He watched Twilight wince.

Twilight nodded silently, seemingly at a loss for words. “Spike, I’m sorry.” Twilight murmured, suddenly turning to the side to examine the rest of the party.

“Why?”

Twilight sucked in one of her cheeks, appearing to chew it thoughtfully while she stepped over to the table to grab a cup of punch, glancing down at it darkly. “For leaving. It wasn’t… He wasn’t… He wasn’t worth it. Most if it wasn’t.” She idly twiddled her hooves.

Spike felt emotion build up in his chest, and he exhaled steam after holding his breath for several seconds. A dancing couple nearby glanced over, clearly frightened, and stepped away without making any attempt to cover their actions. “I tried to explain that to you, Twilight.” He sighed, glancing over at what was once something of an older sister to him. “He left, didn’t he?”

The music in the background faded to a dull thumping noise in the background as Twilight idly sipped her punch, fiddling with her mane. “Y-yeah.” She finally said, choking over her words. “He did.”

Spike’s brow furrowed. “A real man, dragon or pony, doesn’t do that.”

“That wasn’t the case, though. I… I don’t know if he left me, or… Or if he… He said he’d be back. He promised he’d be back.” Twilight glanced over at Spike, who shifted uncomfortably. “I… I think I trust him. I think. I want to, Spike.” She looked over at him quietly, and he saw that her eyes were watering.

“Listen, I’m sorry.” Spike sighed. “I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“No, it’s alright.” Twilight smiled despondently. “I did.”

“TWILIGHT! Oof, Twilight!” Rarity called, prancing across the room and grinning. “Oh my goodness, I cannot believe you’re here!”

Twilight snapped back to reality. “Rarity?!” She tackled the other mare, grinning. “I missed you!”

“Ah, careful, darling. The mane, the mane!” Rarity struggled beneath Twilight in a vain attempt to fix her mane.

Once they were back up and dusting themselves off, Rarity smiled, walking to Spike. “Well, after that ordeal, at least everypony will know you.”

Spike nodded, his eyes casting to the side.

“Huh? Is something wrong, darling?” Rarity asked with a suave smile.

Twilight stared. “Wait. You two?” Her mouth was agape with shock.

Rarity looked over to Twilight, chuckling. Spike chortled slightly and swung his great head around. “Yes. I’m very lucky.” He stated proudly, rubbing his head against Rarity’s.

Twilight’s gaze softened. “Yes. You are.” She nodded in agreement, and her gaze fell on a purple, green, and white pony across the room, chatting idly with some sort of brightly coloured zebra pony.

“Wait.” Twilight looked from the pony with dragon wings to Spike and Rarity. Then back to the dragon-pony hybrid, and back to Spike and Rarity, and her face went pale. “WHAT?”

Spike only laughed while Rarity called, “Gem! Will you please come and sit with us for a spell? We have someone to introduce you to.”

Gem seemed exasperated, but he politely walked over to the group, extended a hoof to Twilight Sparkle and systematically muttered, “Hello. My name is Gem. Fine weather we’re having.” and proceeded to glare back at Rarity, who sighed.

“That’s a bit far from… Enthusiastic, dear.”

“Sooooorrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy.” The colt grumbled, sitting down on his haunches in the nearest chair.

“Err, nice to meet you, Gem! I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait.” Gem stared. “THE Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes, I suppose.” Spike watched redness visibly creep onto Twilight’s face as she shot the dragon a glare. He merely shrugged innocently.

“Oh. Well, the way Dad talks about you, I thought you’d be an alicorn or something.” The hybrid grumbled acidulously before sliding off of his seat and slithering off across the room, where no other ponies stood.

Twilight sat there, dumbfounded. “Uh. Well. I also have a-“ She cut herself off when she saw Spike’s expression grow visibly angry. “a son.” She finished quietly. “I’ll go get him.” She murmured and trotted off.

Spike felt Rarity elbow his side.  “Remind me to speak to him about his attitude,” She snapped. Spike nodded, and Rarity continued. “and yours. This doctor fellow may have not been the kindest to Twilight, but Twilight Sparkle is still the same pony.” She insisted.

Spike nodded weakly. “I know. It’s just… He hurt her, Rarity. Just like that Blueblood guy did to you, and… And…”

Rarity smiled sadly at him, placing a hoof on his mouth and shushing him. Spike smiled just as Twilight was leading a colt over to them. “This is Clockwork, guys. Clockwork, please meet Spike and Rarity.”

The colt smiled, bowing his head. “And how do you do?” He asked timidly.

Rarity gasped in excitement. “Oh, a true gentlecorn! You did a fine job, Twilight. I am fine, Monsieur Clockwork! ”

Twilight smiled and dismissed Clockwork as he nodded, shifting awkwardly on his hooves. “And, please, meet some friends. Friendship is magic, you know.” She assured after him. Clockwork nodded obediently, but simply went to another side of the room, hanging out awkwardly, a wallflower.

“Is anyone else here?” Spike rumbled, laying down and flicking his tail in acknowledgement to Twilight as he rested his head on his claws.

“Well, I’m sure Pinkie’s here, but I haven’t seen her. She may be cooking.” Twilight nodded. “I don’t think it’d be much of a problem if we went to the back to see her.”

Rarity nodded. “Of course, darling!” She flashed her friend a smile and walked back with Twilight, Spike leading the two ponies, as he now knew just where the kitchen was after all their years in Ponyville.

When he first entered the kitchen, what he saw took him off guard. There sat Discord, the Prince of Chaos himself, lounging idly as he appeared to be setting out ingredients for something. Some sort of baked goods.

Spike hissed, his forked tongue slipping out of his mouth as he did so, yielding back on his claws. The draconequus evidently hadn’t noticed them until then, glancing up and smirking. “My, my. Look at the little dragon assistant, all grown up, are we?” He chuckled, stooping down and flicking Spike’s nose gently.

Spike let out a strange bark, smoke exhuming from his mouth and nostrils and swirling around his head.

“Now, now. No need to singe me.” Discord chuckled. “Or give me lung cancer.” He mumbled to himself as an afterthought.

“Pinkie!” He called over his shoulder. “Fashionista, Teacher’s Pet, and Dragon are here!”

Spike was suddenly confused. “Wha-?”

A familiar pink pony came bouncing from the upstairs, gasping suddenly at the sight of the three. “Spike! Rarity! Twilight!” She tackled the three. “Oh, yay! I was just cutting some paper when Cordy called me and then I heard him making fun of Spike and I thought maybe I should stop cutting paper, because, ya know, scissors are sharp! So I stopped but then I tried to rip it turned out all messy, cuz I was making a welcome home card for Twilight, so it couldn’t be messy! I mean, tapioca pudding is messy, and who likes tapioca pudding? So I came down here to get some more paper and now you guys are here!” Pinkie chattered ceaselessly

“Pinkie,” Spike began trying to keep her from saying anything else unrelated. “What is… he doing here?” He nodded his head, clearly agitated, to Discord, who was still getting out ingredients: Flour, eggs, sugar…

“Huh?” Pinkie turned around. “What’s who doing here?” Pinkie cocked her head. “All I see is Discord.”

“Yeah! Exactly!”

Rarity chuckled nervously. “Uh, Spike. Do you not remember? I told you about Discord and Pinkie.”

“Wha- Oh.” Spike suddenly blinked. “Yeah. I do.” His eyes narrowed, and he exchanged a glance with Twilight. “Hunh.” He mumbled, scrutinizing Discord, who was absentmindedly floating, examining the room around him, mumbling thoughtfully to himself.

Twilight nodded and shrugged. Rarity nodded, inhaling sharply. “Well,” She began, breaking the awkward silence. “Isn’t this a party?” She smiled.

Pinkie nodded excitedly. “But now that you guys showed up, I have to make cards for you guys, too!” She bounced circles around them, Spike followed her with his eyes, before he gave up, decidedly dizzy.

“Come on, Pinkie!” Twilight groaned. “It’s your party!”

“Wellllllllllllllll,” Pinkie paused thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her hoof.

“I have it back here! Go.” Discord glanced up, smirking.

Pinkie nodded, bouncing back with them. Spike reminded himself not to eat anything that came out of the kitchen now, feeling sick to his stomach. It was probably going to be spiked with some sort of schizophrenia-inducing drug. He shuddered.

As they moved into the main room with the party, it became clear that Fluttershy and Big Mac had entered with Applejack and… Blueblood? They had a colt and filly, but… Blueblood?

Pinkie gasped, dashing over. “Yay! It’s AJ and Fluttershy!” She hugged both of them. “Hi Mac, hi Bluey!”

Blueblood bowed his head and smiled, saying something Spike couldn’t hear. Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy he could see. But… Blueblood? He glanced back to Rarity, who was frozen on her hooves, looking terrified. Her blue eyes were massive.

“Rarity?” Spike asked quietly, tapping her on the back. She suddenly relaxed, taking a deep breath and glancing back at Spike.

“Ah, I-“

“No, I understand.” Spike smiled weakly. “Come on. We might as well… see where this went.”

Rarity nodded slowly, seeming to reanimate and walking up to Blueblood, who immediately froze in horror, looking even more confused than Rarity had been. His eyes passed over Spike, and he turned even more pale, before Applejack chuckled. “Come on, Sugarcube. He don’t bite! Hey, Spike! How you doin’? You’ve grown mighty big.”

Spike nodded as Applejack hugged him fearlessly, something he hadn’t gotten in quite a while. “Rarity, Ah know you an’ Blueblood had some misgivings, but he’s changed a mighty lot, so Ah think he deserves another chance from ya.” Applejack smiled calmly, but there was a slight sweat on her brow. It was clear she just wanted nopony fighting today.

Rarity tentatively stuck out her proffered hoof, and Blueblood accepted it with a calm demeanor, kissing her hoof. “Lady Rarity, it is an honour to meet you once again, and I must apologise for my initial behavior when we met.”

Rarity shifted slowly, nodding and then smiling. Spike noted to ask Applejack how in the world that had happened later on. He turned his eyes on Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy, which both astounded him and did not.

Rarity trotted beside him, hugging Fluttershy, who seemed excited, but had clearly reverted back to her old self, talking very quietly and looking down, with her hair covering her face. Rarity and her chatted while Spike and her had briefly spoken, and he said hello to Big MacIntosh when he felt a tug on his tail.

He whipped around to find a grey unicorn colt tugging on it with his blue magic. Spike raised an eyebrow, violently jerking his tail and chuckling when the colt looked at him and realized he had noticed. “Hi, kid. No worries, I don’t bite, singe, or maim.” He smiled good-naturedly, and the colt relaxed slightly.

“Sir Prize!” Applejack snapped. “This here’s Spike, have some manners for ‘im, he’s a good friend of ours!”

“Sorry, Spike.” The colt blinked, frozen.

Spike only laughed. “No worries. I remember being a kid. So, Sir Prize?”

The colt nodded.

“Hi, Mr. Spike!” A pegasus filly came up behind Sir Prize. “This here’s my cousin, he’s kind of a dummy! Ah’m Apple Core, though! Nice to meet you! You’re a dragon, right? Ah love dragons! Ah love all kinds of animals and dragons and ponies!”

Spike grinned, sitting down on his haunches and flicking his tail back and forth, amused. “Apple Core, hm?”

“Yessir! My ma taught me all about you and Miss Twilight and Miss Rarity and Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Pinkie and Auntie Applejack!”

Spike smiled sweetly, feeling his heart melt when Sir Prize bonked Apple Core on the back of the head. “No, you’re a dummy!”

“No, you are!”

“Nu-uh!”

Watching the cousins go after each other reminded him of playing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders when he had been a baby dragon. He shook his head of memories and smiled.  “Well, Miss Apple Core and Mister Sir Prize, I have people to talk to, but it was nice meeting you!”

As he wandered away, leaving the two away to bicker, Pinkie bounced by him. “Oh, hi, Spike! So, I’m gonna ask Rainbow and Twilight and Rarity and Fluttershy and Applejack and all the foals and everyone they came with to stay after so we can make sure we’re all caught up! I didn’t know you were moving to Ponyville, that makes me really excited, we’re gonna have so much fun! You know what else is fun? Tapioca pudding!”

“But, I thought you said tapioca p-“

“Bye, Spikey-Wikey!”

Spike sighed, shrugging it off and returning to a corner of the room, watching some of the foals interact. So. Him and Rarity. Big MacIntosh and Fluttershy. Blueblood and… Applejack. Twilight and that one jerk. The doctor guy. Pinkie and… Eargh. The only ones that made sense to him was him and Rarity, and Big Mac and Fluttershy. It occurred to him that he had no clue who Rainbow had gotten together with. Though, she had always seemed… off. He blinked, shaking it off.

He watched several ponies he had no interest in come and go, assuming Rainbow would arrive fashionably late.

Oddly enough, he caught a glance of Spitfire. He remembered hearing about Rainbow being a part of the Wonderbolts, though, he hadn’t paid much attention to Spitfire, though something definitely seemed off. He brushed it off as that she wasn’t wearing her Wonderbolts uniform; he was so accustomed to that.

His answer came when his thoughts were interrupted by Bon Bon’s amazed screeching, “It’s the Wonderbolts!”

He glanced up to see Rainbow Dash and Soarin, standing next to each other, just as they had always been, with Scootaloo carrying something and a blue and orange Pegasus filly trotting behind them, looking absolutely exhausted.

Rainbow’s cheeks went red as she snuck off to join the clump of the old Elements of Harmony, and Spike figured he should sneak in. He was somewhat pleasantly surprised that Rainbow had gotten together with a stallion, but not all that shocked. He reminded himself not to judge as he watched Spitfire walk over to Rainbow and tap her gently on the shoulder.

Both Rainbow and Soarin turned around in shock, and Rainbow went pale. Spike stared for a moment, realizing that this was some kind of tearful reunion. He wondered why Spitfire was no longer a part of the Wonderbolts, when he realized what was different about her.

Her wings. She looked like an earth pony now, but he noticed several ugly whitish scars on her back where her wings had been previously. They had been surgically removed.

He felt sick suddenly. He had heard something about one of the Wonderbolts having their wings removed, but… Spitfire? Not Spitfire. He hadn’t even known her that well, but… He swallowed hard. In spite of the fact that he developed his wings once he had become older, the prospect of losing them terrified him. And they weren’t even his career!

As soon as they appeared to be done, and were now chatting, (though Rainbow still seemed slightly teary, but she was collecting herself.) Spike lumbered up to them, and Rainbow stared. “Holy crap, dude. Spike?”

Spike nodded, staring at Rainbow. “Hey.”

Rainbow tackled him, immediately trying to give him a noogie, but finding his scales thick and hard, so she simply leapt to her feet. “Dude, Spike, you’re huge!” She gasped, taking in his slightly-larger-than-a-pony size and stretching it to immense proportions.

“Bigger than I was, I guess.” Spike grinned, flashing off his large incisors for good measure. Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Whoah. So, uh, you know Soarin. Soarin, this is-“

Rainbow turned to the other blue Pegasus to realize he was pale with his eyes huge.

“… Spike. “ Rainbow said flatly, glaring at him. “He’s a friend of mine, ever since he was a baby and I was a filly.”

Soarin looked awkwardly at Rainbow before slowly shifting. “Uh. H-hi, Spike.”

Spike sighed. “No, I get it.  Most ponies just aren’t used to seeing a dragon, you know? They just hear horror stories. S’far as I know, I’m the only one who hangs out with ponies.” He shrugged.

Soarin remained tense but swallowed and smiled.

Scootaloo grinned and high-fived Spike, who tilted his head to see her cutie mark. “A feather? Nicely done.” Spike grinned as Scootaloo put the object he had seen earlier on her orange back. It was now apparent that it was a thick brown book, looking something of a photo album, with little bits of paper sticking out from between the pages.

“Yeah. How you doin’, dude?”

“Good.” Spike smirked, glancing to the terrified filly hiding behind Soarin.

Scootaloo smiled. “Well, after you ran off for a couple years,” her face fell for a moment. “Soarin and Rainbow adopted me. That’s a whole ‘nother story, but this is my sister. Hey, Flare, come on out, he’s not gonna bite. Soarin’s just scared because he’s a chicken!”

“Hey!” Soarin protested.

The filly was shaking on her legs but managed a weak-looking smile. “H-hi, Mr... Uh,” She paused to swallow nervously. “Spike.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Spike, this is Solar Flare.”

Spike nodded politely. “Nice to meet you.”

The filly shot back behind Soarin, and Scootaloo only sighed. “Pinkie said we’d all be hanging after this, so RD thought it’d be cool to bring an old photo album. It’s got anything from when Twilight came to Ponyville, to Appleoosa,” Her face fell slightly in lieu of remembrance of Braeburn’s incident a few years back. The last time they had all seen each other was his funeral.  “And, uh, y’know, all these pics of RD and Tank and stuff.” She shook her head quickly to clear the memory and Spike nodded.

Everyone seemed to slowly return to their own positions in the party room as time continued on. Spike watched ponies come and go, but eventually for every pony that came in, three left. Baked goods were transferred from the kitchen to the tables by Pinkie, and empty trays went back into the kitchen. Spike felt sick every time he watched everypony take something from the tables. It occurred to him to warn them that the draconequus had made them, but that would be immensely rude and hurt Pinkie’s feelings. He shook his head of the idea.

Eventually, all that was left was him, six foals, ten ponies, and the chimera baking in the back. He noted that neither Twilight nor Rarity had eaten any of the cupcakes that had come from the kitchen.

When Pinkie came out, somehow still completely energized, carrying one last tray of cupcakes, she set them on the table and took a deep  breath. “Cordy, go ahead!”

Almost instantaneously, the familiar surroundings of Sugarcube Corner that Spike had grown up with began to melt and morph into something entirely unfamiliar. It looked like some sort of hellish, smaller version of the chaotic Ponyville in the short time Discord had ruled. Multicoloured checker walls on every floor, ceiling, and wall, spilling together in disharmony. It made him cringe. He could hear the chimera snapping and eventually float out the kitchen.

“This is far better.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

Everypony was staring around them. Rainbow finally spoke up. “What happened to this place?”

“I made a few personal touches.” Discord smirked, examining his eagle hand.

“Yeah! It’s our house! But we thought, Oh no! All the ponies in Ponyville won’t like these changes because last time this happens Ponyville was almost destroyed, so we decided to change it however we could because Cordy can use his magic that way!” Pinkie explained exuberantly, bouncing around the others.

“Yes.” Discord explained. “I thought that the oh-so-brave Elements of Harmony could handle it! After all, you did manage to seal me away. I figured if you just got terrified, you could listen to your wonderful Princess’ instructions, and j-“

“That’s enough, Discord.” Twilight held up a hoof, and Discord smirked. “For those of you that don’t know this, Discord and Pinkie fell in love or something. Pinkie freed him, and now he’s under Celestia.”

“I prefer the term, ‘making a sacrifice and tolerating the old hag’.” Discord added.

“Whatever.” Twilight gritted her teeth. “Anyway, the same goes for Spike and Rarity. Spike may be grown, but he’s the same Spike we know and love.”

Spike nodded slowly in the corner, walking over to join Rarity.

Scootaloo slowly stood up. “Uhm. Since most of us are met now, and all… Rainbow thought it’d be a cool idea. I, uh, have an old photo album from a few years ago.” She held it up, setting it on the nearest table. Spike watched Discord lower his shades, (wherever he had gotten them and why he was wearing them was of no interest to him.) and raise an eyebrow before he reached over to a CD player, shrugging and playing some music.

“That’s a great idea, Scootaloo!” Pinkie cheered, entirely immune to the tension Discord had caused that Twilight had simply supplemented by addressing it. “Come on, Everypony!” She called, trotting over to the table. The foals, seeming disinterested, simply stayed in the corner. He shrugged. They were foals. They had no interest in their parents’ memories.

He slowly walked over. The first image that he saw was one of him and Twilight’s arrival in Ponyville, at the party Pinkie had thrown, with Spike, exceptionally smaller, riding on her back.

He heard several small ‘aw’s thrown in, and blushed slightly.

They went through several different pictures. Until they came upon Dash, kissing a picture of Soarin from a magazine.

Rainbow turned bright red, and Scootaloo began to chuckle, until the rest of the room interrupted into laughter and Soarin punched her gently in the shoulder. “Heh,” Rainbow mumbled, clearly embarrassed. “How did that get in there?”

Several more pictures, posed at sights around Ponyville. Several of Spike in stacks of books, multiple ones of Rainbow’s first Sonic Rainboom, however blurry. Multiple Winter Wrap-Ups with Pinkie ruining the photos by jumping around in the background or foreground.

The Summer Solstice festival, and the Grand Galloping Gala. Rarity gasped. “I still have those dresses! I never got rid of them! Oh, we should see if they still fit!”

Everypony murmured in agreement. “Shucks, Rarity. Ya still think Ah can fit into that?” She paused, then chuckled.  “Ah admit, it was mighty comfortable.” Applejack mumbled, turning slightly red, and Blueblood chuckled.

“Of course you could.” He insisted, turning and smiling genuinely at her.

Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad.

They came across a picture of Spike, following Rarity, while completely starry-eyed. Chuckles sounded through the group, and Spike turned red-faced again. “Haha.” He smiled good-naturedly, then turned around. “Who took that!?” He snapped, half-joking.

They came across a picture of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Tank, Angel, and Opalescence from when Rainbow had first gotten Tank.

Pictures of Appleoosa, and the room went silent as they came across a picture of Braeburn, but they simply skipped past them before Applejack said, “He was a good pony.” And took off her hat, holding it to her chest.

Then, there was a picture of Pinkie from her performance in Appleoosa, convincing everyone to share and care, respectively. She wore a somewhat short dress with a large, obstructive feather in her mane and fishnets.

There was an awkward, hilarious silence, before Discord looked over at Pinkie, smirking deviously. “I would have liked to have seen that the other n-“

“OOOOKAY!” Twilight, thankfully, cut him off. Though, it was a bit late. The image was ingrained into the heads of those in proximity.

“Augh!” The brightly coloured filly from earlier groaned. “Thank you, I needed that.” She grumbled, stamping an indignant hoof.

Pinkie paused. “Well, it’s not like Spike and Rarity are normal when they h-“

Spike slapped a claw over her mouth and turned bright red, Rarity had apparently had the same thought, and each of them groaned as well.

Fluttershy sighed nervously. “Uh, can we… Can we just continue, please?” She asked, her face red.

“Please.” Twilight complained, stomping one of her hooves and turning the page onto more shots of Pinkie waving flirtatiously at the camera. Finally, she skipped ahead a large section of pages, and the group laughed nervously.

Now, it was Rainbow and Rarity at the Best Young Flier’s competition, with Rainbow smiling nervously and Rarity grinning with her gaudy lipstick and jewelry.

Then, Rainbow saving her from falling to her death with the Wonderbolts.

They continued laughing and talking about various memories as they perused through the old pictures, until they came across one in particular. Twilight Sparkle smiling, looking as though she were about to burst into laughter, sitting on top of some sort of building that looked like it was in Fillydelphia with Doctor Whooves. Twilight simply flipped right by it, but Spike had seen the colour drain from her face, and placed the tip of his tail comfortingly on her shoulder. She glanced over to him and smiled, as they continued speaking.

When they reached the last picture, Solar Flare and Scootaloo cheering in the stands while Rainbow and Soarin performed some sort of trick, clad in their Wonderbolts uniforms, they somewhat broke apart, meeting each other’s foals.

Spike had met all of them, save for the multicoloured filly from earlier. She seemed to be by herself or with Gem most of the time. “Hey,” He introduced, smiling at her.

“Hi! My name’s Candied Chaos! Nice to meet you, Mr. Spike!” She quickly extended a hoof, shaking his claw violently. He wasn’t too sure why he asked his next question, or why the answer shocked him, as it should have been obvious, but nevertheless, he did.

“So, who are your parents?”

“Discord and Pinkie Pie!”

Spike stood, in absolute shock, staring at her. She was half chimera. Was that even possible? The idea of Pinkie being a mother terrified him slightly. “O-oh.” He said stiffly, blinking and staring blankly at the ground. Discord and… Pinkie? But… That made no sense. The idea almost made him feel sick. He shifted on his feet, deciding to go get something to drink. That would explain her  zebra pattern, her horns… Celestia knows what genes she had inherited? What defects she had?

He slowed down his thoughts before they became too harsh. People had thought and still were thinking the exact thing about Gem, who, aside from his wings and general appearance, was a normal foal in his entirety. He noted that he should be less judgmental if he was going to be moving back to Ponyville like they had planned.

Without a word, Scootaloo moved over to him. “You seem distraught.”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

“Bout what?”

“The draconequus.”

“You mean the one me, Sweetie, and Applebloom accidentally freed?”

“Yeah. Him.” Spike had heard about the ordeal plenty of times, with them begging him not to tell Twilight.

“What? Is it about Pinkie and him?” Scootaloo asked, lowering her tone of voice so as to not be heard.

Spike nodded slowly. “Have you seen that filly with the zebra and the horns and bright mane and tail? The neon coloured one?”

“Yeah. She’s theirs, isn’t she? Her name’s Candied Chaos. Perfectly normal, if you ask me.”

“That isn’t normal, Scoots.” Spike said blankly, feeling as though he was going to be sick once again. “That’s not… He tried to kill Celestia and take over Equestria! I don’t understand why everyone except me and Twilight are so okay with it now. Pinkie set him free, and everyone’s okay with it. As far as we know, he’s plotting our demise.” Spike growled, looking at the draconequus having a conversation with Pinkie across the room.

“Spike, Pinkie may act like it, but there’s no way she’s really that stupid.” Scootaloo sighed, moving away from Spike.

As Spike contemplated what had made Scootaloo run off, he felt an all-too-familiar feeling rise in his chest. Something he hadn’t felt in years.  It rose slowly at first, going up his chest, up his throat, and finally entered his mouth, and, with a loud roar, he let out a green, fiery belch.

Everypony was slightly singed and stared in shock at Spike.  To his own surprise, there sat a letter, no doubt stamped with a purple wax seal that read, ‘C’.

“Guys! It’s from Princess Celestia!”

Chapter 13: The Filly Who Waited

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 13: The Filly Who Waited

It was this time of night that always made Rarity think. She glanced up at the night sky, only slightly darker than the scalding cup of coffee she held between her hooves. It had been quite a while since she was last here. The last time she could recall sitting in the small outcropping of an outside section of the cheap diner, Donny’s, as she recalled it, was the night before she and Spike had moved to Manehattan.

Goodness, it had been longer than she thought. This was long before Gem was born. Augh. She shivered at the memories of endless sleepless nights, toiling away whenever he cried.

Rarity shook her head, but she smiled weakly. He had been worth it. In a sense, she was proud of him. He had a way to go, but… A small smile danced on the edge of her lips. He was intelligent.

She took her thoughts off her family for a moment, knowing she would only stress herself out further. It was an odd hour to be up. Four in the morning. She idly scanned Luna’s night. The bright lights streaming in from the 24 hour diner outshined many of the stars, but the majour ones were still visible.

Most of the early birds wouldn’t be up for another hour, and even some of the most extreme night-owls would be asleep at this time. It was rare for anypony to be up at this particular time. She knew that in an hour, the sun would be glimmering prismatically on the horizon, sending its rays glimmering throughout the sky, as several sleepy business ponies wandered the streets with their ties and briefcases, shivering in the cold aftermath of the ten hour stage of darkness.

Spike was at Twilight’s library, sleeping. He’d been sleeping since three o’ clock in the afternoon. Sometimes, she wanted to scold him for being so lazy. There had been times when he had gone out and bought gargantuan orders of hay fries and fallen asleep on the couch, his face covered in cheese sauce and chili from them. Celestia knew what else he had ordered on those things.

He was adorable, but could be so silly at times.

Rarity’s reason in particular for being up at this particular moment was that Twilight had returned with Pinkamena, the poor girl, carrying a stack of invitations to the Grand Galloping Gala. With the only reason for her bad experience last time far, far behind her, she expected it to at least be a somewhat enjoyable experience.

Earlier in the evening, Rarity had taken it upon herself to go through stacks upon stacks of dusty old boxes and dig out the six old dresses she had packed away so long ago. After calling over the other five, she had tried them on each of them, taking notes on whether or not they needed to be taken out or let in, patches she needed to make.

And only thirty minutes ago, the dresses had come to fruition. They looked just as beautiful, if not more so, than they had all those years ago.

Staying up to watch the foals had become everyone’s priority and taken up most of their time. Thankfully, the foals had resisted Discord’s tricks. How he knew about them after being encase in stone made no sense, but that was unimportant.

What was important was that they finished the job Princess Celestia had asked them to do so that they could come home as soon as possible, and everypony could move on with their lives.

So, here she sat, with her hair bedraggled and a shrug haphazardly thrown over her shoulders while she sipped quietly from her mug. The waitress had given her some nasty looks for just sitting there, drinking coffee, but she’d be sure to tip. After all, she was the Element of Generosity. Aside from that, however, she was no cheapskate and certainly not a cruel pony to leave a waitress who made minimum wage income without any money.

Tentatively, she cast her almond-shaped blue eyes upward. To her shock, she saw a familiar white unicorn stallion. She raised an eyebrow. “Hello.” She sighed politely, smiling faintly.

“Hello. May I sit with you? I’d be honoured to join your company.” Blueblood asked politely, an air of snootiness still floating passively from his voice.

Rarity blinked. “Erm. I suppose.”  She murmured tentatively, sweeping her bangs out of her cobalt eyes. Blueblood smiling, pulling out a chair and flagging down the waitress, a pink earth pony with a blonde mane.

“Could I get a coffee as well, please?”

“Of course.” The waitress grimaced, sighing and walking off.

Blueblood turned to Rarity. “What is a young lady such as yourself doing all alone here?” He asked.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Rarity answered politely. “I’ve been preparing the dresses for my friends to attend the Grand Gala.” She frowned. “What are you doing here? This place only serves, ah, common carnival fare?”

Blueblood frowned. “Can I not apologize enough for my behavior?” He asked, cocking his head and frowning.

“You were very rude.” Rarity snapped. “Then you decided to blatantly come and try to apologize for your actions, as if you did nothing at all. Do you think you’re so available?”

“I’ve done what I can to redeem myself, Miss Rarity.” Rarity watched the stallion’s eyes darken. “I apologize for any offensive behavior you may have been forced to deal with, but I’ve done my best to change. Applejack has taught me that, and the meaning of hard work.” He leaned in, scrutinizing. “And I understand you’re happy, too. I haven’t judged you for your own relationships, so please, don’t judge me for something that happened so many years ago.” He smiled to the waitress as she begrudgingly handed him a mug of coffee.  “Thank you.” He bowed his head. The waitress only glared, grunting and rolling her eyes.

Blueblood turned his eyes back onto Rarity. “I want to apologize. I’m so very sorry. I was spoiled.”

“I’m not in the mood, Blueblood.” Rarity mumbled.

“Are you still angry about that? I’ve done all I can to apologize.”

Rarity sighed, turning to him. “No, I’m not still angry, per se. I’m miffed. Being angry is unladylike.”

“Why does this still miff you, then?” He murmured, resting his hoof on hers.

Rarity snapped her hoof back, lowering her eyes. “Why you little double-dealing, duplicitous-“

“No, no!” Blueblood glared at her. “How dare you even suspect me of…?” He sighed. “Miss Rarity, I understand you have misconceptions. Simply because I try to show some kind of physical connection doesn’t mean the thought of adultery crosses my mind.” He growled,  getting to his hooves. “I’ll be taking my leave, Miss Rarity.” Blueblood sighed. The sun had begun to rise. He turned on his heel, sighing.

Rarity smirked in satisfaction, watching him reenter the library.

He wasn’t totally oblivious. He’d heard the mutters and whispers and rumours floating around. Sir Prize had been constantly aggravating him about it. Considering the fact that the blue Pegasus’ wings had shot out one time when they had simply been idly speaking, it had become something he wasn’t able to ignore.

In truth, this was the first time in his life that books hadn’t told him how to react to this. He wasn’t too sure how to respond, in truth. Thinking about her only made him edgy. He liked her. Whether or not it was in that way…  He scratched his head nervously and sighed, glancing over his shoulder, while everypony was packing up. He still hadn’t confirmed whether or not they were going to listen to Discord’s warning and turn back to Equestria, or continue on with their path that the Princess had instructed them to follow.

He had been on edge about it the entire night. He hadn’t slept, he hadn’t eaten. He sighed, looking at the five ponies expectantly glancing his way.  “I think… I think we should take a vote.” Clockwork grumbled. “I’m not sure when I became the default leader here, but somehow I did. I’d like to take a vote.” He mumbled, sitting on his haunches. “All in favour of listening to Discord, please raise a hoof.”

Anxiously, he scanned the group. No one raised their hooves. “So, I can assume that all of us want to continue?” He asked, and a resounding murmur of agreement came from the group. The excitement of Apple Core receiving her cutie mark had faded in lieu of the realization of the seriousness of the situation they were now in.

“Let’s go, then.” Clockwork mumbled, turning on his heel and cocking his head toward the door. The sky was still grey and the grounds and none of the surroundings had shown any signs of the rain from the previous night, though he could see that Sir Prize’s white leg was still covered in the sticky residue of the chocolate milk.

The haze was still settled along the ground of the city. They had to avoid the cobblestone paths that flowed like some sort of liquid, and traveled on the purely checkered areas they had been following thus far.

The city was large, but there was a clear path running directly through it and, in spite of the fact that Clockwork would have liked to have stayed longer to study the draconequus architecture, he had complied and they had gotten through as quickly as possible.

The thick fog still hadn’t lifted, and it was significantly humid, though cool, and dampness began to build up on their skins and penetrate through their coats. He had learned to recognize Solar Flare’s gait. She approached behind him. “Hi,” She murmured.

“Hello.” Clockwork murmured, trying to look around him to see something through the fog. His brow furrowed. He couldn’t see any mountains, just the greyish fog endlessly pooling and swimming around them. He realized even Solar Flare, standing right beside him, was partially hidden.

“Uh, listen.” He heard her mutter quietly. Clockwork nodded absentmindedly. He half hoped that she would just go away. He knew this wouldn’t be the case, though.

“Yes?” He murmured under his breath, not bothering to look at her.

“Uhm,” When he finally looked to his right to see that her face was red, he sighed. “Just, uh, don’t listen to whatever else anypony says, okay?”

“Yeah,” Clockwork mumbled through his teeth, raising an eyebrow. “Okay.”

Solar Flare walked awkwardly beside him for the next several minutes, staring at her hooves and the moist ground they were traveling on. He heard her swallow audibly.

After several more moments, the fog was impenetrable. Clockwork stopped when he was barely able to make out Solar Flare’s outline a foot away from him. “Guys, it’s really thick here.” He muttered nervously. “We need a light or something. Anyone have any matches or anything?

There was no answer. A long, piercing silence echoed through Clockwork’s ears, and he only frowned, flitting his ears around the general area in an attempt to pick something up.

After a moment, he heard a loud belch and a massive flash of bright green, heat momentarily passing over the length of his body. Whipping around in shock and smelling singed hair, he realized the fog had been cleared.

Gem looked shocked, and he opened his wide mouth with small fang-like incisors, much unlike a pony and not unlike a dragon, and released a massive stream of green flames again bursting from his mouth, plasma and heat rolling forth from his mouth and rotating in a bulky, swirling supercell of a fire storm, singing the ground and sending it forth, burning through the fog with a path of charred ground in its wake.

Clockwork stared at him, mouth agape. “Y-you… I didn’t know you could do that!”

Gem blinked, looking equally shocked. “I didn’t either!” For once, the hybrid had an emotion that wasn’t angry or upset. He was purely shocked.

Clockwork heard Apple Core gasp, “Gem! Yer cutie mark!”

On the hybrid’s flank sat a smoldering, flickering green flame.

The Grand Galloping Gala was even duller than she had remembered. They had all decided just to sit down at a food table together. Needless to say, they were each nervous wrecks. More or less, they just glanced around awkwardly at each other wondering what their foals were doing.

Last they had seen, they had just left Discord’s castle. They had each seen the message that Discord had left for the foals, and, luckily, had dismissed it just as easily and passively as the foals had as more of his lies. Discord couldn’t possibly actually think that they couldn’t see straight through his façade?

Admittedly, Pinkamena had been shaken up by his comments about being Chaos’ father, but she was going to be fine, according to Fluttershy. She just needed a lot of rest. She had attended the Gala anyway, and sat between Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle, to keep her from doing anything risky. The dresses were the same as they once had been, but renewed.

They were still marvelous, but Pinkamena seemed to look far different. No doubt this was attributed to her straight hair. Though, Twilight could have sworn that her coat was darker, more colourless. Almost as though Discord had cast his spell on her.

Sickeningly, she realized this was somewhat true. A shiver ran down her spine.

Though each of the ponies had food on their plates, none of them touched it. If they were to run into Celestia, they would inform her of Discord’s message. Aside from that, none of them had wanted to come by any means. But, they were invited. It would only be proper to come.

The only one who had been eating or drinking anything was Rainbow Dash, who’d requested a glass of wine. Or two, or three. Now, she was chuckling obnoxiously about the cowlick Soarin had and was trying fix it.

She’d become rather boisterous, laying over the other blue Pegasus. Soarin had defended her by snickering nervously and trying to explain that the competition they’d been at recently had taken a lot out of her. They’d left Scootaloo to watch over the library and the orb.

If there was any trouble, they had warned, she should immediately come to Canterlot without hesitation. It was a little ridiculous. Twilight sometimes felt as though Scootaloo was treated like a foal, in spite of the fact that she was about the age she herself had been upon first traveling to Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash was now obnoxiously licking her hoof and slicking back Soarin’s hair, much to his distaste. No one was judging Rainbow, but she certainly wasn’t representing herself well if the Princess were to approach.

That was the least of their worries, though.

“Aw, hell, RD.” Applejack groaned, finally flagging down a waiter, dressed in a black tie and white collar. “Listen, ya got any hard cider?”

“No, madame. We unfortunately only serve the finest in-“

“What’s that bubbly stuff?” The muted orange earth pony squinted her eyes at the waiter.

“Champagne?”

“Yeah. That. Ah want that.” Applejack mumbled, resting her head on the table. Blueblood glanced over at her and chuckled.

“I’ll have to educate you on the drinks of finer society, dear.” Blueblood laughed, resting his head on top of hers. “Are you feeling quite alright? Aside from what I suppose is obvious?”

“Yes.” Applejack mumbled, smiling weakly. “Ah just wanna go get some sleep. Ah never wanted ta’ come ‘nyway. But it’d be sorta rude otherwise, huh?”

“Yes, unfortunately there are many unnecessary rules on the Canterlotian type of etiquette. I grow weary of it.” He lamented softly, laughing weakly. “But, it has its upsides.”

“Oh, yeah? Get me some hard cider.”

“Of course.” Blueblood flashed the apple pony a smile, flagging down another waiter and whispering something in his ear while making several small hoof gestures.

The waiter nodded and moved off. Within five minutes, both a glass of champagne and another, dark amber substance was in the same type of glass. “Free of charge,” Blueblood sighed passively. “Having a royal title does help, you know.”

Applejack stared at him for a moment and chuckled. “Uh’course, Ah shoulda known.” She murmured, smirking at him and kissing him briefly. “Thanks, Sugarcube.” She murmured and took a hard swig of the ochre liquid, before coughing. “Ah, Celestia! That’s the extra-hard stuff!”

“I can have it taken back?”

“Nah. Just wasn’t what I was expectin’ at a froo froo place like this. This is the kinda stuff only me and MacIntosh could handle. Eh, Mac?”

“Eeyup.” The red stallion murmured. Fluttershy had been drifting off and was now leaning lovingly against his shoulder, her pink mane covering one of her closed eyes as she hummed softly in her sleep and he nuzzled the top of her head.

Rarity leaned over. “Applejack, if you’re uninterested in the champagne, I’d be glad to take it off your hands.” Applejack nodded in acknowledgement toward Rarity, who took it into her hooves and tentatively sipped on it next to Spike.

Spike had, unquestionably, been receiving odd looks the entire night, but he had blown them off and simply stayed within the group. Tonight, nopony cared how they really presented themselves in front of some high-class snoots.

The most important people right now were the foals, the Princess, and the Elements of Harmony themselves. Twilight had dismissed the possibility of the Elements of Turmoil even existing as Discord had said, and therefore dismissed everything that the draconequus had said as complete and total lies, not even a grain of truth.

It was for the best. If he wasn’t lying, then they were warned. But, there was no sense in listening to what the chimera had claimed. He had tried to destroy Ponyville and all of Equestria, and he hadn’t succeeded. What would stop him from trying to do it again, but manipulating innocent foals to do the dirty work for him?

Fluttershy lifted her head groggily, blinking and yawning. Big MacIntosh nuzzled her head. “No worries, I got’cha.” Twilight heard him murmur lovingly. She felt a small pang hit her heart, but suppressed it immediately.

A waiter passed by, clearly noticing the amount of drinks on the table and leaned toward Fluttershy. “Anything for you, miss?”

The canary yellow Pegasus wiped the sleep from her eyes, cooing for a moment. MacIntosh looked up. “She’ll have an apple juice.” He answered for her. Fluttershy nodded gratefully, leaning into the large red stallion once again. He put a foreleg around her.

“Soarin!” Rainbow Dash hiccupped obnoxiously. “H-hey, why haven’t you drank… drunk… dranked… had something to drink?” The rainbow-maned pony asked, her head  sitting in his lap and staring up at him.

“Because I want to make sure we get home safely, Dashie.” Soarin chuckled. “Hey,” He turned his attention to Applejack and Big MacIntosh. “Have you guys made any of those apple pies lately? I love those things!”

“I know!” Rainbow hiccupped vociferously. “He always asks me if we have any,” She slurred. “Ah always tell ‘im we don’t! You dope.” She mumbled, haphazardly waving a blue hoof at the waiter several feet away. “Hey, buddy, uhm,” She coughed. “I’m Rainbow Dash, y’know, like, one of the members of the Wonderbolts and stuff. I really like this red wine stuff in whatever this is. Can I have some more?”

“You’ve had enough, Rainbow.” Soarin warned nervously, resting his hoof on hers.

“C’mon, Soarrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiin!”

“No. Sorry for bothering you.” He smiled good-naturedly at the waiter, who only raised an eyebrow and stumbled off. The stallion pushed Rainbow Dash upright, out of his lap.

“Come onnn, we never cuddle.”

“Not here, not now. You’ve had too much to drink, RD!” Soarin insisted, gently stamping a hoof on the table, sending the champagne glass with the narrow, thin neck shivering with the vibrations he had sent through the table. A small speck of condensation rolled down the glass and put a dark, moist spot in the immaculate tablecloth.

Rarity nodded, reaching a hoof over and placing it on Dash’s. “Please, if the Princess see’s you-“

“Screw the Princess.” Rainbow Dash growled, staring at the tablecloth and earning a few strange glances from not only those at their table but those surrounding the area. “She sent all our kids off on this stupid,” She paused to hiccup. “Thing! She does it on purpose!”

Rarity took a gentle sip from the golden, sparkling liquid in her glass.  “You need some sleep, darling.”

“If anyone’s in need of sleep, Miss Rarity,” Blueblood interjected. “It’s you. You were up rather early, weren’t you?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You remain nothing more than a massive royal pain in my eye-“

“Hey!” Applejack stood up. The cider was taking its hold upon her. “Don’t insult ‘im!” She snapped, glaring at Rarity. “He’s a diff’rent pony! Ah’m the Element of Honesty, Ah of all people should know. You should be generous with your kindness!” The earth pony snapped.

“Yeah, and I’d like a large order of nachos. Could I get some sapphires and emeralds on there, maybe a few topazes for seasoning? Yeah, thanks, dude! You’re the best.” Spike ordered his food, interrupting the building tension in the midst of the group.

He turned back to realize everypony was staring at him and turned slightly red. “Heh, sorry. I just got kind of hungry. I haven’t been able to kind any good gems out here lately, and they offered...” He scratched the back of his neck with his claws.

Twilight groaned, throwing her head against the tablecloth and raising a hoof to flag down somepony, anypony. Thankfully, she heard a female voice behind her ask, “What can I do for you, Madame?

“Maretini. Fast.” She mumbled, stomping the same hoof she had just had raised down on the table. She heard the waitress nod in acknowledgement and then canter away to get her order. Twilight slowly raised her head, sighing as her gaze fell upon the rest of the ponies sitting at the table. “Please don’t fight. I want to get out of here as much as you guys do.”

Her gaze fell upon a half-asleep Fluttershy, curled up next to Big MacIntosh, sucking contentedly on the straw of a green juice pouch with the image of a bright red apple stamped on the front of it.  The violin music floating through the area was just beginning to get on her nerves. She tapped a back leg hanging off the chair nervously against the tile as silence befell the group.

Ponies were leaving their tables to dance a slow dance. Though for of them had their partners, none of them got up to leave. Pinkamena had said nothing the entire time, which concerned her slightly, but Twilight wasn’t about to harass her about it. She could understand, particularly with what she had gone through, that she may want to keep to herself, at least now and until her idea that something was wrong in the universe, (aside from the obvious things Celestia had revealed.)

Her head snapped up when she heard Rarity mumble, “Oh, dear. What’s going on, there?”

Her maretini hadn’t come yet, but she could notice that there was quite a ruckus of assorted guards and several guest ponies either trying to peek over the backs of other ponies to see just exactly what was going on, or looking as though they were pushing something back.

“What’s going on over there?” Spike asked, raising his head as he piled a colossal mound of chips, unidentifiable sauce, and gems into his mouth.

Twilight got to her hooves, slowly walking over to at least try to get a better look. There was a lot of shoving and yelling. She could hear a guard yell, “No list, you don’t get in!”

At this point, she was rather interested. She almost dove into the group, swimming through and getting shoved from side to side. A dark grey Pegasus pony shoved her to the ground, causing her to cry out before getting to her hooves once again. They were forming some kind of barrier to keep something outside. She continued shoving through the groups of ponies, only to get shoved back over and over again.

She sighed, deciding it would clear itself out and turning around to head back to the table, shrugging at those remaining.

But, then, she heard a sickeningly familiar Buckingham accent call, “Twilight? Twilight Sparkle!”

Chapter 14: A Not-So Common Misconception

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 14: A Not-So Common Misconception

“Stop!” A shout rang through the entire dining hall as Twilight slowly turned. Her eyes fell upon the brown earth pony, restrained by the heavily armored unicorn guards. The voice, however, had come from none other than Princess Celestia herself. “He is with me.” She informed them, and they released him. His hoofs touched the ground almost soundlessly.

Twilight Sparkle had never heard a silence like the one currently ringing through the dining hall as she locked eyes with the stallion. He twisted his head painfully. “What’s going on?”

“Why are you here?” Twilight was ashamed at the way her voice cracked as she spoke.

“Can we… Can we talk?” The Doctor asked quietly. It seemed as though some kind of dam was holding back any emotion from his voice. It trembled lightly just beneath the surface, vibrating the surface in the slightest.

She wasn’t sure what kind of logic or reasoning had been lurking behind her next actions. She turned, flipping her direction, and bolted. She heard nothing. The shoes Rarity had made for her hooves were lost somewhere among the dry, gritty dirt and parched, dead grass desperately clinging to life in the Canterlot garden.

It was a dark evening. She didn’t know where she was going. Somewhere along the lines, she thought she heard someone call her name. Maybe it was Fluttershy, or Rarity…

Her hooves continued to pound ceaselessly against the hard-packed earth.

At some point, tears had sprung to her eyes. As if the darkness wasn’t distorting her vision enough already, what she could see began to swim with unshed tears, blurring and garbling to a dark mess of colour.

The cold air left and entered her lungs as she gasped, stopping for breath. As a filly, she had been a bad runner. She recalled her physical education teacher shouting at her to keep running. But, she couldn’t get air in her lungs! They weren’t big enough.

Finally, the lavender unicorn stumbled, face-first, into the grass. Tears had just been steaming from her eyes flowed freely now, and she let out a strangled cry, squeaking and covering her head with her hooves. She tasted her brackish tears, flowing down her face and into her mouth. Down her nose, onto the cracked, thirsting ground. She sniveled loudly, finding her body being wracked by heavy sobs. Twilight buried her face into the ground and her hoofs, feeling as though she had doused her face in a puddle of water.

Every tear she hadn’t shed was bursting forth, now. Every night she had spent alone, every minute more that she waited for him. All of the trust she had put in him to come back just a mere three hundred seconds later. What was he doing here, anyway?

She knew that her hooves were now coated in tears and most likely mucus from her nose, dribbling pathetically and mixing with the lubricant from her eyes as well. The mascara Rarity had recommended was sure to be running down her face. She looked up slowly to examine her surroundings, still bawling like a small child.

Discord. Ironically, now she was lying pitifully at his feet. She laughed, tears still clouding her vision as she wiped them away and sniffled loudly. “A-are you here to make fun of me, too?” She snapped, getting to her hooves before breaking down and settling back on her haunches, a consistent stream of tears issuing down the unicorn’s face.

She’d never cried about this. Never cried for what Clockwork had lost, what she had lost. She hadn’t even shed a tear since he had left. Not a single one. Not even Clockwork’s sappy books had gotten to her, and some of them had been genuinely heartbreaking.

She felt her awareness slipping slowly away from her, somehow entirely calm as she wailed at Discord’s feet.

The first thing she was aware of was a comforting, soft warmth. She burrowed further into it, smiling faintly, only barely conscious.

Gradually, her senses became alive. Smell. She could have sworn she was at the seaside, saltwater washing over her hooves whiles he squished the sand underneath them, a light breeze caressing her flanks and mane, sending small grains of sand into her mane to get stuck for her to dig out later. She inhaled quietly and sighed, further embracing the warmth and calming scent.

Sound. A soft roaring. Perhaps she really was at the ocean? A roaring and a thumping noise. The waves…?

Sight. She saw the redness of light filtering in through closed eyelids. Recognizing that she was awake, she only groaned and moved deeper into the plush, welcoming heat source.

Her eyes snapped open and she jumped to her hooves. “Wha- what the-?” Twilight Sparkle found herself looking down at an all-too familiar brown pony. She watched his eyelids flutter as she sat there in shock. Had she fallen asleep in Canterlot gardens? Why was she here? Had he brought her home? Why was he sleeping in her bed?

He was laying on top of her favourite cosmic sheets, though she distinctly remembered being under them. Judging by his position, his arm had been around her. She shivered. “Oh, hell, no!” She gasped, shoving him out of the bed and growling. “We’re figuring this out right now!” She snarled.

“Hunhwha- OHCELESTIA!”  Doctor Whooves slid from the top of the bed, landing directly onto the wood flooring with an audible, painful-sounding thumb. “Sorry, Twi! I couldn’t find the guest bed.”

“I have all of the guest rooms furnished!” Twilight Sparkle retorted, before blinking. “Wait, okay, what the hell are you doing here?” She scowled. “You left, remember?”

“For five minutes!” Doctor Whooves got to his feet, grabbing the bedding and beginning to make the bed. “Sorry, maybe six or seven!” He mumbled, rolling his eyes and smoothing out the blue comforter with his hooves, then propping up the pillows against the headboard. “And you decided to go off and have this party and make a big deal at the Gala and get all dressed up somehow in that time or something and getting your friend, Fluttershy, to hate me, and I’m sorry if you’re all angry, but for the love of Celestia, I have no idea what I did!”

“You know full well you didn’t leave for five minutes, you inconsiderate, rude, heartbreaking oaf!”

“I did!” Doctor Whooves snapped. “And I saved you from having to get your memory wiped, so we can do,” He paused, leaning forward and kissing her. “This. I went back, there’s this thing called a Companio-“

He was interrupted with a slap to the face from Twilight’s capable hoof. Her face had deepened into a frown as Doctor Whooves, shocked, put one of his hooves to his cheek. “How dare you?” She shuddered. “How DARE you?” She shouted, her voice reaching an unnatural level of shrillness. She inhaled, quivering. “And now you just want to come back, pretend you were actually gone for five minutes?”

The Doctor froze in horror. “Oh.” His eyes turned down, scanning the ground in horror. “Oh dear. Oh dear, oh no…” He swallowed. “Uhm, Twilight. H-how long have I been gone?”

Twilight looked back up at him with dead eyes. “Years, you idiot. You’ve been gone years.”

He froze, every vein in his body glaciating before he swallowed slowly, his eyes wide. “I-I left last night, as I recall.”

“Liar.”

“N-no, Twilight. You don’t… I…” He swallowed. “For me, it was five minutes.” He whispered, face cold and stony.

Twilight looked up at him, the colour draining from her face. “You’re not lying, are you?” She murmured, eyes desperate. She hoped he was kidding. He had run off and cheated with some other mare, right? She only felt a sinking sense of terror when she realized that the stallion didn’t look even marginally older.

“I’m not.” Doctor Whooves whispered. “I… I’m so sorry.” He looked down. “I’m so, so, so sorry, Twilight.” His eyes grew moist, and Twilight shivered. “I never… When I came back, I thought this might be what happened.” He was shaking. “I thought, it crossed my mind, and I eliminated it. It was a silly idea, I thought.”

Twilight swallowed, wincing and staring at him. “I should probably… Tell you something. I’m not sure how to… I mean, I you need to know, but…” Twilight shook her head and looked up nervously from her hooves.

“We have a lot to talk about.” He bowed his head. “I’m so sorry. I understand if you found someone else, or, you gave up, or something.” Whooves laughed. “You probably have a husband, huh?”

Twilight just stared blankly back at him. “I kept…” She shivered. “I kept waiting for you.” She looked at him, smiling awkwardly. The good situation was that when they had first met, Whooves had been somewhat older than Twilight. Now, he was only marginally older. The ponies were still each considered rather young, however. They were far from middle-aged or anything of the sort.

Doctor Whooves blinked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about how time… I just wanted you to…”

“Sh.” Twilight paused. “The accent’s adorable and all, but you’re going to be freaking out in a few minutes.” She mused, placing a hoof over his mouth and proceeded to wince, biting her lip. “AfteryouleftIhadafoalandnamedhimClockworkandnowhe’sinaforeigncountryriskinghislifeforallofEquestria" She paused to inhale sharply. "andIreallyhopethathecomesbacksafebecausehelooksalotlikeyouandIjusthopeyoudon’tfreakout.” She sighed, and then smiled nervously.

The Doctor promptly passed out cold on the floor.

“This. Is. The. Most. Boring. Day. We’ve. Travelled.” Sir Prize groaned, stamping his hooves along the path.

“Dude, quit whining. Seriously. You’re acting like a little filly!” Gem snarled from the other side of the group. Since receiving his cutie mark, he’d been slightly less antisocial.

“Hey!” Solar Flare protested. “Fillies are awesome!”

“Eeyup!” Apple Core bumped hooves with the blue Pegasus nonchalantly.

“Whatever.” Gem snorted, a plume of smoke escaping his nostrils. “Clockwork, we’ve been on the road for five days. I think. Whatever. Shouldn’t we be there, soon?”

“Guh, will everypony hang on for a second?” Clockwork snapped, sitting down and pulling out the map and flipping it upside-down several times before reorienting it and leaning in. “Actually,” He murmured in surprise. “We should be there in a day!” His eyes grew wide and he leaned in, scrutinizing. “Yeah, we’ve got a day.” He sighed in relief, glancing behind him and grinning. “Guys, we should stop.”

“The sun’s just starting to set.” Gem pointed out whilst rolling his eyes.

“Well,” Clockwork sucked in a cheek, chewing on it and pondering it for a moment. “We’ll just have to get up tomorrow, huh? Come on. Let’s celebrate! We’re almost there!”

“Dude, aren’t you like a hard-flank archetype?” Sir Prize asked, blinking at Clockwork.

“Not sure. “ Clockwork shrugged. “For some reason, I get this overwhelming sense that everything is gonna be okay.” He murmured, watching the sun, now a shrouded shade of red; begin to disappear over the distant horizon.

Sir Prize cocked his head but shrugged, pulling the tent out of his saddlebag and beginning to pitch it like every other night. “Need some help?” Clockwork asked, looking over his shoulder at the unicorn.

“Nah.” He heard a murmur escape Prize. Clockwork nodded absentmindedly, eyes trained on the glowing red orb slowly settling over the horizon while the other five pitched the tent. He heard rustling behind him as the tent went up. There was a familiar pattern of hoofsteps. Solar Flare closing in behind him.

“Hi.” She murmured, almost in a whisper, as she settled next to him with her orange and blue tail wrapped around her paws.

“Can I ask you something?” Clockwork mumbled.

“Yeah. Of course.”

He breathed deeply, bowing his head. “I know what’s going on. So just… Be aware of that. What exactly do you see in me that’s all that great?” He turned to her and smiled. “I’m just a bookworm of a unicorn. I sit in the library and I read. I don’t like to make friends, or be with them. I’m pretty rude if I don’t feel like talking to you. I’m not great-looking or anything.” He spoke with calmness that was alarming even to himself. Novels always seemed to speak of being of love with someone because they were funny or smart or charismatic. All the heroes were well-muscled, or funny, or had some deep, dark secret.

Clockwork had no secrets. He had no tragic past, or horrifying secrets. He was just an introverted kid. A normal pony, walking through the world. He hadn’t been deprived of interaction, he simply preferred to be alone. Lately, he’d found he didn’t mind the company of these particular ponies, for the most part. He might even grow to like them.

He was antisocial. He didn’t have a drug problem, and he didn’t need some lively girl with big eyes and short, messy hair to walk into his life and show him what being happy really was by pulling some kind of stunt at a restaurant.

He was very much content with his life, the way it was. If his father were to walk in, he’d find himself distraught and at a loss for what to do. There really wasn’t anything missing. Not like in his novels. He didn’t look outside and see a grey, hopeless world. Equestria was going to be fine once they took care of whatever this was. Everypony was happy with their lives, for the most part.

Celestia had created a Utopian society. Most societies in his books were dystopian, all the residents thinking they were happy, but there was some sort of horror. Stalliont Green was ponies. There was some sort of horrifying secret. There were no secrets in Equestria, Celestia was simply a fair ruler with everypony’s best interest in mind.

Even ponies like Clockwork, who didn’t care for ice skating or shopping or eating dinner with other ponies. He was aware of Solar Flare stammering nervously beside him.

“What? Go ahead.” Clockwork questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking at her.

“Uhm.” He heard Solar Flare gulp. “Listen,” She mumbled quietly, looking at her hooves. “I-I need to tell you something.” She shifted. “I really like you.” Her hoof was tapping nervously. “A-and, I hope that you w-will give me a chance or something, and uh… I’ll be okay if… If, you know, if you don’t want to, but I’m sorry for wasting your time. I know you just said you knew, but… I just had to get that off my chest, first.”

Choosing his words carefully, and keeping his eyes trained on anything but her, he repeated his question. “What do you see in me?”

“I… I don’t know.

His blood went cold. Clockwork finally turned to look into her scarlet eyes, brow furrowed. He opened his mouth nervously and bit his lip. “Listen, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way or anything,” He fidgeted. “Because, uhm.” The unicorn paused. “I’m just… Not…” He cocked his head to the hazy sunset and squinted his eyes. “You’re great. You’re really pretty and nice. So… Know that. But, I just… Can we be friends? None of this interests me. I don’t even know if I like the idea of making friends or… having relationships. I’m sorry. You’re great. I hope you end up with someone nice.” He did his best to smile, but she smiled dejectedly.

“Y-yeah. Th… Thanks.” She murmured, turning to the tent and walking away slowly, her head cocked at an odd angle.

Clockwork sighed, turning his eyes onto the rising sun. Was he a jerk? That briefly crossed his mind. He’d read plenty of novels about the nice, perfect girl gets turned down by the antisocial or alcoholic guy and breaks her heart and then she becomes depressed. He shook his head. He was a nice guy. He was the good guy. He was saving Equestria.

So why couldn’t he shake the nagging feeling that every decision he was making was a bad one. What, was going to destroy this power that was going to destroy Equestria a bad decision, too? He frowned quietly, remembering Discord’s message and shivering. That simply wasn’t the case. No, Celestia had told them, and Celestia was a goddess!

Of course they were right. He glanced back over his shoulder to the tent and poked his head in. “Okay, guys. I let you sleep in. Let’s go.”

Solar Flare looked up at him, eyes moist. He flinched and turned away, taking down the tent as the ponies filed out simultaneously, Solar Flare being the last and not even so much as glancing at him.

Trying to avoid any awkward silences, Clockwork began to trot next to Candied Chaos. “Hey.” He smiled.

“Hey.”

“How are you doing? You’re not speaking much.”

“Freaked out.”

“About what?”

“That draconequus bastard claiming to be my father.”

Clockwork, surprised by the sudden darkness carried along in her voice, raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay? I mean, I get that, but he’s clearly lying.”

“I know. Why does he know so much about my life? He even said I was his favourite little ‘Element of Turmoil’ or whatever.” She shook her head, green and yellow mane splaying across her pink, freckled face.

Clockwork stared at the ground. “He’s… He’s Discord! He probably knows everything about me, too.”

“Yeah.” She scoffed. “I’m sure he does.”

The conversation ended there. No one spoke.

Though the sun rose in Discordia, it wasn’t nearly as prominent in Ponyville. The days were more like the hazy darkness that creeped into development just before the sun set. At any given moment, the sky threatened to go entirely dark and plunge them into night. The mist constantly rising from the ground was ruthless.

He was trying to avoid thinking of Solar Flare. He’d only feel guilty. There was nothing wrong with her. She was perfectly nice and sweet and pretty.

He just didn’t feel anything. A painful wave of guilt washed over him as he thought once again at the way she had desperately looked at him when he had stepped into the tent. He inhaled deeply in a vain attempt to relieve the constant, pounding, shaking feeling in his chest. It felt like it was going to collapse at any moment.

The notion of any sort of relationship with her past being friends made him irrationally nervous. He wasn’t sure why. She was perfectly normal, wasn’t she? And nice. By all means, he should be happy that such a great young mare would feel that way about him. Right?

He felt his stomach drop. No. Not right.

His musings continued, but he entirely avoided the subject of Solar Flare, in spite of the fact that all of his thoughts only continued to lead back to her no matter what he did. Finally, around mid-noon, he pulled out the map.

Well.

This wasn’t what he had been expecting.

The map said they were there. By all means, the foals had arrived. He furrowed his brow, turning to the other five. “Hey, guys,” He called, each of the others standing at attention. “Will someone come take a look at this map? It says we should be here by n-“

He was cut off when the ground began to shudder and groan, opening up beneath them, collapsing. There was nothing beneath his hooves. Just open air and an inky black expanse beneath him as the ground continued to split and he began to fall, hearing the shouts of the other ponies beside him.

He screamed.

Formatting issues. FML.

Submitted to Equestria Daily. Generally, there's some grammatical, formatting, and stylistic issues. So, mostly technical stuff. Chilling over here at ponychan, expect a potential jump in quality, and quite a bit of editing and rewriting.

COMIC-CON ATTENDEES: I'll be going as Pinkamena Diane Pie with my friend, who'll be Rarity. I'll have a blood spattered shirt and stuff, shouldn't he hard to spot. Just wanted to let you guys know ahead of time.

-- RadaVonVon

Chapter 1: Peculiarity

The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 1: Peculiarity

She was the only one that ever treated me like some kind of being that had emotions. That I was a living, breathing creature with thoughts and feelings. She was the first one to treat me this way, anyway. Of course, most would look at me, and find me hideous.

I don’t blame them. I am pretty grotesque. But, surely it doesn’t mean I’m unworthy of the love and affection of another sentient being?

There was the first girl I ever loved. This girl was absolutely beautiful. She was intelligent, kind, smart, funny, and gorgeous. Everything anyone could ask for. She was impeccable, no one was like her.  I got her a bouquet.

When I approached her, the look of dread on her face told me already how she would react. But, like a fool, and convinced I could sway her otherwise, I persisted. I walked up to her, I approached her, I smiled and I gave them to her.

She was stunned, her eyes large as dinner plates and her jaw hanging open as she stared at me. The moment I opened my mouth, intending to break the awkward silence that had taken over the atmosphere. Then I saw her expression melt.

Her face turned into an illustration of pure, utter disgust. She thrust the roses at my feet, making a point to stamp on them once. “No.” She said simply.

In that moment, my heart became shattered. I couldn’t speak. Tears came to my eyes as she turned around to walk away. I managed to choke out a quiet, “B-but… wh-why!?”

She was snickering as suppressed by her long, flowing hair that now partially covered her face. In what mimicked pure rage, she growled. “You’re so… discordant. Messy. Not to mention, hideous. You’re a monster.” With that remark, she turned around and walked away, her head lifted into the air.

I could barely process what had just happened. Thankfully, no one was around, and even if she was still watching, I no longer cared. I broke down in tears. I was in love with her. Couldn’t she see that? Couldn’t she see I’d treat her like the princess, nay, the QUEEN that she was!?

My sadness slowly began to melt away and turn into hate as thoughts rushed through my mind. Discordant? Hideous? I’d show her discordant and hideous. She had called me a monster. She had treated me like one.

And, so, I became one.

I wreaked havoc upon the precious, delicious little hometown of her. I ruined it; I would ruin her. I hated her for what she had done to me; I despised her with every atom and particle of my very being. I would not rest until I had murdered her in cold blood with my own hands.

One day, I found her again. It took a long time. Causing pandemonium everywhere I went, every path I crossed was destroyed or broken into so many tiny fragments that they would be unidentifiable at this point.

And she scorned me again. She called me a monster, again. She called me a devil. I rushed toward her and found myself surrounded. A flash of light, and I could no longer move.

“Hey! Dad’s doing something cool!” A young filly called from the nearby window, her nose pressed up against the glass.

At that, the poofy haired pony swung her head around to glance out the window of Sugar Cube Corner to watch a chimera outside, floating trees around with some kind of unseen magic, and replanting them like some sort of strange, sadistic dental procedure.

“That’s Dad, alright~” The pink party pony glanced down at the smaller, brightly coloured earth pony with equally bright mechanical wings. The smaller pony was decidedly neon, with a bright green and yellow mane, red and purple tail, a red body with blue zebra stripes, dark blue horns twisting out of her head, and freckles dotting her face.

“Come on! We need to finish these before the client comes to pick them up~ All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!~”

The younger pony grinned and continued, “Now you’ve got to take a little something sweet, not sour. A bit of salt, just a pinch!”

The two ponies waltzed around the kitchen, snatching ingredients for cupcakes and throwing them together at record speeds. The ingredients were in unequivocally strange places. A hatch in the ceiling, inside a chair, or in the oven. By the time the cupcakes were actually physically in the oven and they had finished the song, the younger was sweating slightly.

She paused for a moment to examine her surroundings. The house was unambiguously strange, with colourful, checkered, striped, and spotted walls with murals of tornados, cupcakes, and various random items such as chairs, pens, lamps, water bottles. Several of the chairs in the house were hovering upside-down, kept like that by some unseen force. There was a staircase that ran upside-down, toward the ceiling. She plopped down into one of the upside-down chairs.

It was then that the chimera walked in. He seemed to be a long, mishmash of any animal imaginable, attached to a long, thin body. “Pinkie Pie, you’ll never guess what I did to this flower! It’s marve- Ooooh, looks like you finally got up. Disorderly dreams, I hope?” With that, the young pony hybrid made a quick attempt to buck at the creature, unfortunately missing him. He chuckled.

“Ah, try twisting your legs more. Then we can work on doing it upside down.” He grinned toothily.

Pinkie Pie hopped over, examining the flower behind his back. “What? What is it, Discord?~”

Discord slowly pulled what looked like a perfectly blossomed rose, coloured and rippled tie-dye out from behind his back, smirking and handing it to Pinkie, whose face lit up. “AWWWW!”

“It used to be a dandelion. I spiced it up.” He explained briefly.

“Bleh. Romance. I’ll stick to myself for now, thanks.” She grumbled to her parents.

Discord shrugged. “Suit yourrseelff.” He grumbled, grabbing a glass and filling it with water, quickly drinking the glass and throwing the water in the trash.

“I still don’t understand that, Cordy~” Pinkie sang.

“I do!” Candied Chaos barked quickly, doing the same, as Discord adjusted many of the pieces of décor in the house to make them slightly more interesting. A change in pattern, perhaps, or some more things upside down or sideways.

“Understand what?” Discord seemed bewildered, cocking an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie.

“… Never mind. Anyway, we made cupcakes!”

“Of course! I heard the song outside, positively turbulent!”

Pinkie nodded. “Yep!” She murmured, placing the rose in a vase. Discord leaned forward, kissing her briefly.

Chaos made a gagging noise. “Eaugh.”

Discord glanced up. “I’ll remember that when you want to get married to some normal pony.”

Chaos only laughed. “Riiight. Because I find normal ponies SO appealing!”

I was alone. Alone for a long time. Silence. Eventually, tour guides came and went, saying I was some kind of memorial, I represented something. It changed every time. I’ve seen so many fillies and colts that they blur together.

At some point, I became free. I was free. Now to get my revenge. I zipped off to get what I deserved. To give Celestia what she deserved. Representing myself in the stained glass, I spoke to her six little bodyguards. I decided to have some fun with them.

Turn them into the opposite of their elements of harmony. Perfect. That was when I first met her. At first, all I really felt was scorn. She was just another filly. I didn’t care for her any more than I cared for the others. I almost got back at Celestia. I came very, very close to ruining her kingdom.

They came for me. They sealed me away again, and threw me into some dark, damp cave. Intending to keep me there forever. Away from the public, they said. I was evil, they said. I was terrible, they said. I was ugly, they said.

I was a monster, they said.

I would come free again some way, somehow. I’d do it. I really, truly would. And I fully intended to. As I sat there, waiting in the damp, frigid air, I suddenly saw a speck of light and one of the most beautiful sounds, to this day I’ve ever heard. A quiet half hummed, half sung song.

“All you have to do is take a cup of flower, add it to the mix!

Then you gotta add something sweet, not sour—a bit of salt, just a pinch!

Baking these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla!

Add a little more, and you count to four, and you never get your fill-a!

Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty!

Cupcakes, don’t be too hasty!

Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes!”

Outraged, I waited until whatever creature it was came before me. It was the filly. The pink one. The one who liked parties and laughed all the time.

“You should get to bed, wouldn’t want to have normal dreams. Or worse, normal dreams at all…” Discord murmured to his daughter, nudging her neck toward her bedroom. “We can have an EXTRA crazy day tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to.” Candied Chaos grumbled, shuffling her feet and keeping herself. “I’m not tired.”

“You’re being sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” Pinkie Pie paused to take a breath. “oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” Another breathed. “Disobedient! I think I’m getting a twitch!” Pinkie’s tail began to twitch. “If you don’t go to bed RIGHT NOW… The monsters are gonna get you!”

Candied Chaos only glanced over her shoulder and snorted. “Cotton candy clouds would rain chocolate before that happens.”

She watched her parents exchange a glance, and Pinkie began laughing hysterically before straightening and coughing. “Uh, young lady! You, err, should, um, go to bed.”

“Ahh, how I do love turmoil.” Discord mumbled contentedly to himself, though, with an ireful glance from Pinkie, he straightened. “Ah, go to bed.”

“Fine.” She grumbled, turning trotting up the upside-down staircase, though her pace was mockingly slow as she whinnied into her room.

When he was sure that his daughter was gone, Discord turned to Pinkie Pie, chuckling. “At least you didn’t have to sing the song again. I might have to remix it.”

“Which one? I have lots of songs!”

I  was unsure how to react at first. I suppose I couldn’t react either way. Perplexed by her sudden appearance, she stopped before me and set the lantern in front of her. “Hi.” She said quietly. The blue eyed pony hung her head.

“Sorry.” She mumbled, shuffling her feet. “I don’t think you’re really a super bad guy! I think you’re just mad!”

How dare she!? The foal stumbled in here, singing some sort of song about cupcakes and told him she was sorry. Sorry for what? Sorry for turning me into STONE? For damning me to an eternity in the darkness of this horrible cave?

“… I think someone was just mean to you. No one’s really bad on the inside. Even Nightmare Moon wasn’t just bad, she was just jealous…”

Pinkie inched toward the stone figure, rubbing her head against his leg. “I think I’m right. Someone didn’t like a party you threw! Or someone didn’t throw you a party. Should I throw you a party?”

The pink pony glanced up at him, forever frozen in the fearful, terrified pose. Discord desperately wanted to nod. Damn Celestia! Damn her and her arrogance!

Had he been able to move, a tear would have fallen from one of his eyes. He was so desperately in love with her. He had been. He wanted desperately for her to love him. No more did he bother.

“… You should, uh, visit your friends.” Discord suddenly muttered.

Pinkie paused. “Whaa?”

“Your friends. The other elements. Have a crazy party or something. Play some songs backwards, dance on the ceiling.” He mumbled thoughtfully, half to himself.

“… They all moved away, I can’t! I have other friends now. Apple Jack is still in Ponyville! I’m happy with you and Candied Chaos!”

“AppleJack is all the way over in her estate, which happens to be quite bland for my tastes.”

Discord suddenly stopped. “What about Chaos?” He blinked for a minute, “Her life is going to be pretty boring, even for such a damper little town like this, if she doesn’t meet any ponies!”

Pinkie blinked. “She doesn’t have her cutie mark, though! She’ll be made fun of, I knew these three fillies when I was younger who spent all their time trying to find their cutie marks! All the fillies and colts her age have them. You know about the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“She’s half chimera, we have no idea if she ever will get one. Hell, she has chaos in her name. We never know what to expect. That’s what makes every day exciting, I suppose.”

“I…” Pinkie sighed. “I think you’re good!” With that, I would watch, half in interest and half in anticipation, as she began to pull something out of the bag she had brought along. It was a necklace. It wasn’t until she was putting it on that I could fully see what it was that she had around her neck. It was the Element of Laugher.

It took some extra effort for Pinkie to get me back to my chaotic self. A flash of light here, a burst of sparks there, but at one point, her eyes opened, glowing brightly, and the layer of stone around me shattered, leaving nothing but me, darkness swirling around me and beginning to swallow me up.

I woke up a long time later, seemingly hours, with a small pink filly sleeping next to me, the element still around her neck. I must have been out for a while.

I did consider leaving. But, in the end, I decided to stay, at least until she woke up if nothing more than to make sure that she would be okay. Hours passed, until she finally woke up and looked up at me. “You’re okay! And Equestria isn’t all uppy sidey downy!”

Sometime, perhaps, in that moment did I decide that I may be content just like that. To stay with Pinkie Pie. Of course, we talked of the consequences of bringing me back to Ponyville, and we talked of me having to live far, far away. In the end, I did something I would have never considered, and it was all because I realized I wanted to stay with the poofy haired party pony.

I swallowed my pride, bowed before Celestia, and gave her my sincerest apology and promise that I would, never again, cause trouble to Equestria, or I should be smited before her. She looked down upon me with scorn, of course.

I didn’t care. Time passed, Pinkie Pie let me stay with her, and I grew to love Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie’s spontaneity and momentary insanity.

At this point, the original owners of Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, had long since been gone to fulfill their lifelong dreams to create the world’s largest gummy bear, which would stand at over 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide. They had left it to Pinkie.

I grew to love Pinkie Pie. I was happy with her. She was bright, bubbly, and if fizzy is a proper adjective to describe a pony, then she was fizzy. In my eyes, she was positively perfect and I’d have no one else.

My own fear kept me back. What if she was like Celestia and didn’t care for me back? What if she looked at me and thought that I was some ugly fiend, some hideous monster? That I was just another ugly chimera?

The moment was spontaneous. In an attempt to teach me to bake, she looked over, grinned, and mumbled, “I love you, Cordy~!”

That was the first time in my life I’d ever heard those words being said back to me. I’d dreamed of the moment, I’d thought about it. I never thought I’d ever had it. And it was the first time I cried. This was the first, directly kind thing I’d ever had said to me. By a pony, one of Celestia’s subjects!

It took a few months for me to fully grasp where I was in life. Time passed. Going down the roads to go pick up some sugar or candy or flour or whatever odds and ends Pinkie requested, I’d get strange stares, whispers, looks.

It was Discord. The evil chimera that tried to kill Celestia. The evil guy who turned everyone into their opposites. The guy that loves chaos.

But, no. It didn’t matter anymore. I had Pinkie Pie. She loved me. She really did, because I could see it in her eyes. This didn’t stop me from the initial worry that she may be lying because she felt bad for me. But as time passed, I saw the truth.

Pinkie Pie’s friends, of course, were worried. They were downright concerned when I had first come back to Ponyville with her, sheepishly looking around and terrified of the judgmental stares I would receive.

That Sparkle girl, in particular, was suspicious. I overheard her expressing concern to Pinkie. She didn’t like me. Sure, her friendship with Pinkie didn’t really suffer. But she despised me. Oh, did she hate me. I could see it in her eyes. I read her like those books she loved so much.

The apple one, what was her name? … Apple Jack. She was openminded. One day, she pulled me to the side and simply told me, “Ah ahprecciate ya takin’ care of Pinkie, Discord. But don’t ya think that if ya lay a finger on her the other four of us won’t be turnin’ ya back to stone faster than a jackrabbit runs. Ya hear?”

I had smiled, finding it almost funny. “Never, my dear Apple Jack, would the thought cross my mind.”

The farmpony had grinned. “Then ya have mah blessin’.” And removed her hat, pressing it to her chest and nodding, before replacing her hat and turning.

I liked her. She trusted me. The first one of them to trust me, aside from Pinkie Pie herself.

Sparkle hated me, and the feeling was mutual. She tried to be nice to me, though it was awkward. She distrusted me, and I could see the hatred in her eyes. Though she tried hard not to be angry with Pinkie, it seemed almost as though she had a grudge. I wouldn’t blame her. They worked rather hard to seal me away. It wasn’t worth trying to apologize or talk to Twilight Sparkle about.

I rarely talked to Fluttershy, she seemed much too quiet. Though when we did speak, she was courteous to me. That was to be expected, after having to manually reverse her personality. Rarity seemed uncaring though judgmental due to my appearance, constantly insisting I could get a makeover, but Pinkie would push her off and laugh, saying she thought my ‘freakiness’ was cute. Ah, well. Pinkie’s opinion solely mattered.

Rainbow Dash was very suspicious of my relations with Pinkie Pie, at first. Seldom did she speak to me, and it took several weeks before finally, she pushed me to the side, raised an eyebrow, and paused. “… Ya know, Discord…” She grumbled. “I’m stubborn, but I think I was wrong about you… I think maybe you’re an okay guy.”

Unfortunately, the friends began to drift as the years moved on. Neither Pinkie nor I had talked to them since Candied Chaos was born, they moved away, all to different places, scattering across Equestria. From what we had heard, Applejack was still in Sweet Apple Acres, though everyone else had moved to different areas. Including three of the pony’s little sisters. It seemed sad to me.

A group that had so often had so much in common and had loved each other, now broken apart. They moved past their childish dreams and lived their lives. I seemed to be the only one that saw something wrong with the picture, because Pinkie seemed perfectly content.

I just had to wonder if someone was wrong with me.

Everything was far too harmonious in Equestria. But, what could be wrong?

I suppose I’m the only one that hates harmony.

Image credit to irkenvampyer777 from DeviantART.