Author's Note

feel free to check out my patreon for special bonuses, rates are on my blog. sorry for the wait. writer's block is evil. Special thanks to JimmyHook19 for use of their OC, ask them if you want to use it.

Chapter 5 - Now We Play! (or Let the Game Begin!) Turn 2

P.O.V.: Entropy: Entropy's manor:

"Let's watch, shall we Celestia?" The alabaster alicorn turned to see Entropy's cane to levitate to his hand before he slammed it into the floor of Entropy's bedroom, causing a pair of large flat screens to come down from the roof one showing video feed and the other showing nine blips of various colors at various points on a diagram of the manor. Two, one, white and the other green in the room the divine duo were in. Tapping his cane again, Entropy summoned a bowl of popcorn. "Hey, Celestia, you want some popcorn?" When the alicorn nodded he placed the popcorn between them.

P.O.V. shift: Rainbow Dash: Entropy's manor:

"What the buck was that flash? And where am I?" Looking around Rainbow Dash noticed the lack of anyone else first, then she noticed, the banners depicting strange looking creatures, that looked like the monster that had the princess. " what kind of monster is this thing?" Suddenly she heard a loud humming noise followed by the strangest sound in a situation like this, it sounded like carnival music then a voice. "Hello everyone, this is Entropy, the owner, and lord of this madhouse. I would simply like to tell you all a few things; first, welcome, be sure to appreciate the decor, I put a lot of effort into the banners and such. Second, there are going to be a few changes in the rules, as I'm sure you all have noticed, there is no one near you, that is deliberate. The first part of this phase of the game is to find everyone you came in with. The second rule change, well why spoil the surprise. Oh and watch out for the guards. Have fun." As the now revealed Entropy finished with his speech Rainbow set off. As she was walking she heard a thumping noise turning her head, she saw what appeared to be a dragon looking thing except it was made of stone. It had two horns on its head, two arms with claws on each hand and a tail with spikes on the end. As she stared at it, it finally noticed her and let out a head-splitting roar and charged her. As it got closer, Rainbow did the smart thing and ran. It chased her all throughout the castle, until, taking a sharp turn, she ran into someone. Looking down she noticed it was Twilight.

P.O.V. shift: Twilight Sparkle: Entropy's manor: everfree forest

As I walked down the hall, I occasionally called out to my friends. As I called out, I never got a response and I grew increasingly nervous. Turning down the corner, something ran into me at high speed. After being knocked to the ground, I got my bearings back and looked to see what was on top of me. I saw a rainbow mane and blue fur, realizing it was Rainbow Dash I groaned. "Ughhh Rainbow, get off of me. Please." At that, the prismatic hued mare clambered off of me.

"Twilight! We have to move now!

"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" As I asked that, a roar sounded from around the corner, Rainbow froze, but before I could question what that sound was, the sound of loud stomping could be heard. Suddenly Rainbow jumped up. "Oh crap, Twilight, run it found us!"

"Wait what found us Rainbow? Why are you so scared?" I asked. My answer came in the form of an animated stone gargoyle walking around the corner. It was in the shape of a dragon-like creature, but it had ram's horns that curled back on the top of its head. Seeing us, it roared before leaping towards us, partially closing the distance by at least ten feet. It had claws the size of my foreleg and stood at the impressive height of eight feet at the shoulder, it's realistic looking wings were an amazing 14 feet from tip to tip. As I was analyzing it, it took the opportunity to run at Rainbow and I, instinctively I ran in terror; fleeing down the hallway, Rainbow a good few feet ahead of me. My hopes of escape were dashed when a second gargoyle landed five feet in front of us. I immediately charged up a powerful bolt of magic only for it to fail when I launched the spell. I stared dumbly at the gargoyles when suddenly I heard a booming voice call out: "You shall not harm the elements, knaves." Looking to where the voice came from I saw Princess Luna charging the gargoyles. before they could react she plunged her horn in the back of one of them and it stopped moving, seeming to return to a statue, it's mouth frozen open in a silent roar.

P.O.V. shift: Princess Luna: east atrium

As I walked down the hallway I was in, I heard the screams of two ponies I knew very well; spurred into action by Twilight and Rainbow dash's screams I charged down the rest of the hallway to see a pair of animated gargoyles attacking the elements of magic & loyalty, looking over the gargoyle closer to me, I saw what I was looking for in the middle of its back, a purple glowing gem, the animation core, I attempted to blast it with magic, but for some reason it failed, so with no time to waste I simply charged the beast, fortunately for me, my target noticed me too late and I managed to destroy its core with my horn causing it to freeze. unfortunately for me, the second noticed me before I could destroy its animation core. It backhanded me, which sent me flying. My flight across the room ended abruptly when I hit the wall of the hallway. staggering to my feet, I saw the gargoyle walk menacingly towards me before it charged me. As it got ever closer, I waited until the last moment before jumping to the right, and in the split second of confusion, I turned my head and slashed the core on the creatures back.

P.O.V. Shift: Lieutenant Jimmy Hook: west wing entry hallway

As I walked down the hallway, still blinking blurriness out of my eyes, I heard screaming, roaring, thundering stomping, and finally silence. I charged down the hallway, my black, purple and red mane fluttering in the wind, my spear held firmly at my side, in the special notch all guards had in their armor. As I turned, I saw two strange statues, and three ponies, one statue frozen only feet away from attacking the elements of loyalty and magic, and the second frozen only inches from the wall, next to a panting princess luna. As I approached my princess I dropped into a bow.

"Princess Luna, I should have been here sooner to help you, please forgive me," I said with a humble tone.

P.O.V. Shift Princess Luna: west wing main hallway

"Rise Lieutenant, you are not at fault, the vile monster that built this bastion of evil is truly the one to blame, this creature is clearly far more intelligent than I gave it credit for, it has obviously soaked every inch of this place in enchantments, wards, and charms, to sperate and weaken his enemies. But we must not falter, we will overcome this monster and then free our sister." Twilight looked around at everyone before speaking.

"Uhm, Princess? Maybe Entropy isn't evil." seeing Luna's face sour, Twilight quickly clarified. "I mean Celestia clearly looked happy, and this place doesn't really feel like a 'bastion of evil' as you put it." Princess Luna just huffed and looked at Twilight before replying.

"Twilight, you of all ponies should know, there are a plethora of spells that affect the mind, plus who says there aren't hidden torture chambers and dungeons in this house, do you know every inch of this place Twilight? Come we have no time for arguing among ourselves, we must find the rest of the elements before taking the fight to this 'Entropy'." As she finished her speech, Princess Luna trotted off up the hallway and not wanting to be left behind, Twilight, and the rest quickly followed.

P.O.V. Shift: Celestia: Entropy's room

"Your sister is a smart one Cellie, and strong too. Don't worry, by the way, anyone who gets captured by the gargoyles and other guards or by one of the traps, doesn't get hurt, they get taken to the captured room, it's got food, juice and a screen showing all the other players still in the game, they'll wait there until one side or the other wins ok?" Entropy's words filled me with relief. I trusted him when he said that no one would be hurt. For some reason, I felt happy that I knew that I could trust him to take care of the ponies involved in this 'game'. I must also admit that this was a fun diversion from the tedium of court and daily routine of my life. I wonder if I could get away with inviting Entropy to the Grand Galloping Gala and watching the resulting chaos. I think that would be the first Gala I enjoyed in a while. Realizing that I had been staring at him this entire time, I quickly turned back towards the screens, with a slight blush on my face, luckily he didn't see it, hopefully.

P.O.V. Shift: Entropy: Entropy's room:

As I finished my assurance of the safety of her ponies, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a slight blush on Celestia's cheeks, causing a slight blush to appear on mine, I turned back towards the screen, noticing that pinkie was walking down the hallway with a smile on her face, no surprise there, but what was interesting was that Applejack and Captian Blood Moon were close to meeting each other. And then the two of them would be within spitting distance of Pinkie Pie. Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to have met up at some point and were walking together.

P.O.V. Shift: Applejack: south atrium:

As I walked down the hallway, I kept feeling like I was being watched. I continued to walk when suddenly I heard what sounded like someone or something moving towards me. hiding behind the corner they would have to turn down. I prepared to give whoever was coming down the corner a right good thrashing. But before I could they jumped around the corner and realizing that it was Luna's guard captain I relaxed.

"Woah, there, Cap'n, I ain't-a threat, I'm a friend." The Captain seeing who it was visibly relaxed.

"Hello, Applejack, sorry about the scare, but you can't be too careful in the enemy's stronghold can you?" I just smiled when I heard a familiar voice humming before a bright pink mane and coat bounced around the far end of the hallway. Counting down in my head, I saw Pinkie's eyes widen before she ran in a blur up to me and gave me a bone crushing hug, before switching into a rapid rant about how excited she was to see me. hearing two groups of hoofsteps, I saw the Princess, Twilight, and Rainbow come down the left hallway and, Rarity and Fluttershy enter the atrium from the right one. As all three groups noticed each other, we quickly fell into happy greetings and hugs, before Princess Luna cleared her throat loud enough to be heard by the entire group.

P.O.V. Shift: Princess Luna: Entropy's mansion: central atrium:

As the assorted Ponies greeted each other, I waited a moment before clearing my throat and addressing the elements and guards in the room.

"We have made it to the threshold of our enemies sanctum sanctorum, we must now just make our way into his chamber and free my sister, but first I would like to thank all of you for your bravery..." I was suddenly interrupted by a slow, sarcastic, clapping, looking towards the source, I saw my enemy and my sister standing at the top of a staircase, wasting no time I called to the elements.

"Now girls the elements, use them on the creature." Not noticing the small smirk on Entropy's face, I looked on as the girls charged up the elements of harmony, Equestria's most powerful weapon, only for the beam, upon reaching the element of magic, to fade away. The whole room looked at the elements in shock, all, except Entropy, who simply laughed.

"Aw, man, you should see your faces, you all look so confused. Well, now, that I've had my fun, allow me to explain. You see the reason the elements didn't work is simple." At that, he tapped his cane into the floor and another element of magic appeared in the air over his shoulder. " The element of magic you have is simply a well-crafted fake." Everyone's jaw, except Celestia's for some reason dropped. chuckling at our expressions, he started down the stairs with Celestia following him. " But worry not you won the game, so you get both prizes, the return of both the beautiful Princess Celestia and the real element of magic."

As we all loaded into the chariots, I stood next to my sister who for some reason was talking to Entropy, I wasn't really paying attention until I heard Celestia invite him to the grand galloping gala.

"What!! Celestia, you can't be serious." She just smiled.

"Of course I am Luna, if Entropy would like to come, he is more than welcome to." Before I could protest more Entropy spoke up.

"I would love to come to the gala, Cellie, when is it?" shocked, all I could do was stare dumbly as Celestia giggled. " I will send you an invite with the date on it, my friend. Maybe I could see you for tea before then though?" I thought I couldn't be more shocked, but hearing that proved me wrong.

"I would love that. Say in three days?" Celestia smiled.

"see you then Entropy." As we boarded the chariots and headed back for canterlot I regained my faculties before exploding.

"What are you thinking Celestia?!! He's evil, he's Discord's replacement, and that demon could only pick someone as evil as him to replace him." Celestia turned to me with a fire in her eyes that immediately took the wind from my sails.

"I'll have you know Luna, we talked long and hard about his views of his powers, and while he is the new god of chaos, he aims to use his powers for balance and peace, rather than mayhem and destruction." I lowered my head with a sad look on my face, Celestia then wrapped a wing around me before speaking again. " I know you were worried, but we have an opportunity to make a powerful new friend or a powerful new enemy, I don't know about you dear sister, but I would rather Entropy be a friend." Seeing the wisdom in her words, I wrapped my wings around my sister and resolved to spread the magic of friendship to entropy. As canterlot approached, I planned to make Entropy's first Gala, the best in centuries.