Chapter 1 - There's a new Age coming, and it's just around the bend...
Chapter 1
“There’s a new Age coming, and it’s just around the bend”
Today was a perfect day. An inspiring day. Celestia’s sun was shining high in the sky. Birds were singing. The flowers looked brighter and more vibrant than normal. The air smelled sweeter. Everypony couldn’t help but have a smile on their face. It was like all of Equestria had gotten itself cleaned up and everypony could agree they were feeling mighty fine. Today is so perfect it’s almost supernatural, everypony thought in passing. It was a weird thought too, thinking something was supernatural while living in a world where magic was as commonplace as the air itself. In light of a perfect day like today, nopony wanted to burden themself with seemingly unwarranted worries. Everything was so perfectly pleasant that everypony ignored that the perfection itself was strange.
If one were wise to the ways of the ancient core magicks, and powerful enough to sense their sway, one could discern that something big was coming. If one were to, say, look elsewhere in the world, they would find it weird that everywhere else seemed absolutely normal. They would find it strange that on this particular day, for seemingly no reason, Equestria shined like a polished jewel amongst dull glass. Yes, a wise person would see something was off. A wise person would notice the oddity, the strangeness, maybe even the chaotic influence on such a marvelous happenstance. Deep in a giant and ancient volcano the great dragon king nodded to himself, yes something big was going to happen.
In Canterlot, day court had been concluded uncharacteristically early. It was too beautiful outside and even the nobles thought such a wondrous day shouldn’t be wasted. In fact, the hour long court session had mostly been talk of country clubs and beach property leading up to a vote that unanimously declared today a holiday and canceled all further court proceedings. It was also decided that if tomorrow should bring another such perfect day, court shall be canceled again as well.
This of course meant a much needed and earned reprieve for Princess Celestia. After bidding everyone a pleasant morning and giving out the odd ‘You’re welome’ to various ponies thanking her for such a perfect day, she teleported back to her private chambers. Switching out of her formal toga-like dress, she decided to change into a simple pair of sky blue capris and a nice cream colored sunshirt. To have the morning off was rare. In fact, she could hardly remember the last time she had a morning off, it had to have been centuries ago at least.
Giving herself a once over in the mirror to make sure everything was in order, the princess of the day smiled, admiring her full figure. She had been told that her figure was the envy of all mares, but personally she felt she could stand to lose a few pounds off her hips. ‘I’ll do so tomorrowor maybe a week from now’ she thought to herself. “By the sun, I’m immortal!” She exclaimed out loud to her reflection. “I’ll just wait until they develop diet cake and lose weight then!”
Her eyes lit up at the thought of cake, she had something special she had been saving and today was the perfect day for it. Without another thought, the princess teleported directly to the private royal suite of the castle’s large dining hall. There, waiting for her, was a work of pure art.
Celestia stared at her cake lovingly. It was a 3 layer cake covered expertly with marshmallow cream icing, each layer of the cake having a different berry flavor; strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry. The cake had been decorated beautifully with fresh strawberries cut to look like small flowers. It was beautiful. It was so very beautiful, and it was all hers. She carefully cut herself a slice, using all her concentration to move the slice to a plate without disrupting the perfectly spread icing. She picked up her special cake fork, silver plated and engraved with her initials, and brought a small bite to her mouth. Her eyes watered in joy, her heart fluttered, her world was complete. This was by far the best dessert she’d had this morning! She giggled to herself, quickly finishing her slice and cutting another. The perfect cake for the most perfect day!
In the back of her mind she thought that things were going far to well, that something bad was just around the corner. It was odd, after all, for her not to receive news of something suddenly going wrong. Especially weird with Discord (as reformed as he claimed to be) running around. She suppressed these thoughts, deciding that it was better to enjoy this moment of peace, than worry about an unknown future. She nodded to herself sagely and mentally praised herself for such good advice as she cut another slice. After all, it was so much easier to live in the moment when the moment had cake. Besides, if need be, she’ll just summon the Elements to stop any issue that arises.
Speaking of the Elements of Harmony; Rainbow Dash had the weather team move out some extra fluffy clouds and now the whole team (Dash included of course) were napping on them over their small town of Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie was aiding the Cakes in flipping their menu, tossing the old stale recipes in exchange for new exciting creations. This meant creating and tasting many confectionary treats and the party pony couldn’t be happier.
Fluttershy’s animals were helping her plant a new garden just behind her small forest shack. After that task was done, she was going to head over to Rarity’s.
Granny Smith had a feeling that the apples in the east orchard should wait a few days to ripen extra sweet before being bucked; so the Apple siblings were relaxing on their porch with some fresh cold apple juice imagining all the things they could make with extra sweet apples.
Rarity had completed all her orders the prior night and, after telling her sister to stay out of the shop and play outside before she wrecked something, thought it’d the perfect day to sip some ice tea and sunbathe. Maybe she’ll even take a trip to the spa, and invite the other girls along!
Twilight was relaxing as well; sitting in her new favorite reading chair, wearing her favorite pajamas, reading her third book of the morning in her castle’s very large library. Oh, how she loved this library. While it wasn’t as big as the Canterlot royal archives, it was almost ten times bigger than Pokey Oaks. Sure while she sometimes missed her old treehouse, this library more than made up for it.
She stopped reading and looked around at the two floors of bookshelves. It was so beautiful, almost half of them stocked and organized. Boxes were stacked neatly in front of various shelves, new books for the new princess straight from Celestia herself. The sun shone through the window, giving warm rays of light directly to the reading tables and large comfy reading chairs situated over in the cozy reading corners. This place was a paradise, and it was all hers. She hugged her book to her chest and gave a happy sigh. Today was just a perfect day. It was a perfectly peaceful day.
It was too perfectly peaceful. It was too quiet and nice. Nothing was going wrong and no monsters were attacking. While twilight didn’t want to jinx her good fortune, something in the back of her mind kept nagging at her. It felt like this was just the calm before a storm. She tried to suppress the thoughts, remembering her prior lessons on letting her worry and overactive imagination get away from her. The last thing she needed was another panic attack over nothing. Regardless that she was now an alicorn, this level of stress wouldn’t be healthy for anypony. Still, the less she tried to think about it and focus on her book the more the thought wormed around in her head. What if something bad was happening somewhere right now? What if some ancient evil had been awoken and it was making its way to ponyville this very second? Twilight took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. Nothing was wrong. Nothing bad was happening. It’s just an amazingly peaceful day. The princess of friendship snuggled more into her chair, closing her eyes and enjoying the rays of light coming through the windows. She really needed a day like this.
“Good morning Spike” she said cheerfully as her younger brother sleepily walked into the large room. Spike had grown a lot over the years. When they had first come to ponyville he was barely as high as Twilight’s waist. Now he was a few inches taller than her if you didn’t include the crest of scales on his head. The changes to the young drake weren’t just in height, his forearms and legs had thickened out with muscle and new larger harder scales covered his forearms giving him a much tougher look. His hands and feet had developed, giving his claws a wide grip. His tail had lengthened and developed a long diamond shaped spike at the end. He was really growing into himself, looking like a propper eighteen year old.
“It’s such a beautiful day” said Twilight, putting a bookmark in her current book and placing it on the small table next to her. She looked over at the drake and smiled as he yawned and stretched “Come on Spike, we have a lot to do today” she exclaimed. Spike groaned and continued to stretch, scratching at an odd scale, his tail flexing behind him. Twilight always found it amusing, he was like a cat when he first wakes up.
“So” Spike finally said, a smile on his face as the sun’s rays warmed him up “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Just my oatmeal and coffee as always; thank you Spike” the purple alicorn replied with a smile “I had been reading some cook books in the kitchen and making a list of inventory, so the table’s kind of messy. If you could put those books back for me I’d really appreciate it. I’m going to go take a shower, okay?”
Spike nodded with a smirk on his lips and a small eye roll as he started the same morning routine as always; breakfast, shower, and then the day’s to-do. Even though they lived in a castle now, things haven’t changed much for him. Mainly because Twilight didn’t use most of the new crystalline structure that was the Castle of Friendship.
They didn’t have any royal staff even though Celestia had offered to send some of her own personal castle maids and butlers. She had offered at several different instances, as Spike remembers, but Twilight had turned them down each time. The purple alicorn had said that she was more than content with her number one assistant. While the young dragon felt he could use the help, he was still proud Twilight thought so highly of him.
The workload wasn’t too bad though, they had agreed to lock all the rooms they weren’t using. In reality, they were only using a little over the same living space they had used in the old tree library. There were some differences though. The map/throne room for example, or the much much larger library. Oh, and Spike had his own room and bathroom, having gotten too big to sleep in a basket at the foot of Twilight’s bed.
She had also become increasingly embarrassed about them sharing a room, saying he was far to old and developed and needed to learn to sleep by himself. He knew what she was really talking about, he wasn’t stupid after all, and the deep blush on her face made it all the more obvious. However, Twilight was his sister, first and foremost, and he didn’t view her like that.
Twilight had showered and gotten dressed; putting on her normal blouse and skirt combo. As she walked down the hall to the kitchen she tugged at the straps of her bra under her top. She really needed to buy some new clothes, these were becoming rather...tight. She theorized it had something to do with her ascension causing her body to develop to the size of the average alicorn, Celestia and Luna weren’t by any means small ponies after all. She’ll have to remember to ask Celestia about it.
She continued to make her way through the hallway, walking past the locked doors of the castle’s dining hall. It remained unused unless there was some sort of special occasion. Since the only residents of the castle were her and Spike (and Owlicious of course), they normally just ate in the kitchen proper. Stepping into the large kitchen she smiled as the smell of cinnamon oatmeal and fresh coffee reached her nose. Spike had cleaned the kitchen table and gotten breakfast ready in expert time. She sat at the table and smiled at the drake as he handed her a mug of coffee made just how she loved it; lots of cream with only a touch of sugar. She inhaled the scent of the fresh brew and sipped. It was perfect as always. Spike placed a bowl of hot oatmeal in front of her, and sat down across the table with his own bowl; only his was full of tiny gem shards.
“So what’s on the agenda today, Twi?” He asked, taking a spoonful into his mouth.
“Same as yesterday Spike; classify, organize, and shelve the new books that arrived so we can open the new library as soon as possible.”
“We could always reopen the library now” Spike suggested “I mean, almost half the shelves are already stocked and all”
Twilight gasped and shook her head “I will not open a library with empty shelves! What if somepony needs something and we don’t have it?! What if there’s some crucial bit of knowledge we can’t get to because it’s still boxed up?! No no Spike, the library has to be finished. Preferably sooner than later, I’d like to reopen it by next week.”
Spike nodded and sighed. He didn’t really like all the librarian work or having to move the heavy boxes of books around. It could be worse though, he could be buried under the mountain of paperwork Twilight has to deal with. Now that she was officially a princess she had a lot more to do in aiding the rule of the kingdom as well as being the Element of Magic. She was constantly complaining to him about her new workload, ordinances she had to approve, grievances she had to look into, diplomats she had to meet, meetings she had to attend; it all sounded like a stressful nightmare to him.
Finishing their breakfast in silence, simply enjoying having a meal in each other’s presence, the siblings parted ways to get started on their chores; Spike with the library, and Twilight having to handle some paperwork at the mayor’s office followed by having attend to something over at Rarity’s. Spike had considered asking to go as well, but thought better of it. He had gotten over his crush for the fashionista years ago, but the wound still felt fresh and she still had a way of getting to him. He’d rather try to let his broken heart mend, and begrudgingly got to work.
Opening a box, he pulled out a book and ready the title: An Extensive Study into Aardvarks and Armadillos Vol 1. He sighed, this was going to be a long day.
Discord had gone out of his way to make this day perfect. He normally wouldn’t use his powers to try and spruce things up, but today was special. Today, a friend and coworker had come to spend some time with him, and he had some rather interesting news to share. He also had an interesting proposition for his friend, and he needed the whole of Equestria to look it’s best. The two beings were floating on a plaid cloud, a wonderful picnic of various snacks laid out between then as they overlooked Equestria from on high. Discord turned to his friend as he gave them the news, his grin faltering somewhat as he didn’t receive the shocked reaction he was expecting.
“So retirement huh?” the strange creature asked, sipping their checker patterned drink
“Yup.” Discord replied, his grin slipping even further.
“Giving all this up for that fat pension huh?” the strange creature asked.
“Yup.” Discord replied, his grin slipping right off his face into his lap. The being looked over at their friend, their three golden eyes focusing on the draconequus next to them
“You’re really gonna do it. You’re really retiring.” The being said in a small amount of shock, reaching one of their four hands into a bowl of wriggling gummy worms. Ah, there’s the reaction Discord was looking for, not as extreme or exaggerated as he was hoping but he’ll take what he can get. He picked up his grin and put in back on.
“Maelstrom, we have been friends for what, almost five million years give or take a century? Now, I know I’m a funny guy, hell I’m a riot, but you think I’d joke about this?” Discord asked one of his oldest friends. Oh, him and Maelstrom go way way back. The strange being Discord called his best friend had been doing this much much longer than him, and while the dragonquiss wouldn’t admit it, he kind of looked up to the...whatever Maelstrom was.
“So have you given any thought about a replacement yet? You have around, what? A few hundred Equis worlds? You have to find replacements for all of them, you know the rules” Mael said, smirking “So much paperwork” the cat-like being chuckled, biting into a small cucumber sandwich that screamed out something in Russian.
“I know, I know” Discord responded, he didn’t like paperwork at all, but it couldn’t be avoided. “As for replacements. Well, I was going to give this particular world to you as a gift. I know you’ve wanted an Equis for awhile, but could never get approved for one.” The draonquiss grinned wider at Mael’s genuinely shocked face. It was so hard to truly shock Mael, and Discord has done it twice in less than an hour. He was on a roll! “Now I know you already have quite a few worlds to manage, but I wouldn’t feel like a very good friend if I found replacements for all these and didn’t give you at least one of them” Discord finished. Maelstrom’s shocked expression turned into a large smile as they pulled their friend into tight hug, wrapping all four of their arms around Discord
“I’ll gladly take this world off your paws! And don’t you worry, I’ll take good good care of it” Mael said.
“I mean, not too much care…” Discord replied, and they both laughed.
Maelstrom looked out over this world of Equis. It was a colorful world, so very colorful. It was so cheerful. It was so innocent. It was oh so very corruptible. Oh, this was going to be such great fun.
Spike grumbled to himself as he continued to catalogue and shelve books. It had been nearly three hours and while he had made more than adequate progress for anyone else in his position, he was nowhere close to being done. “I wish I could finish this faster”complained the young dragon to himself. He was a little desperate, having realized there were more books here than there was shelf space. That meant he would not only have to sort and catalogue all the books, but would have to figure out which ones should be shelved and which ones would have to be repacked and go into one of the back rooms for storage. This also meant that Twilight would probably have him constantly rotating inventory until she felt things were just perfect, so there goes his freetime for the rest of the year.
He picked up another book and the strangest thing happened. A voice sounded from both nowhere and everywhere. “Higitus Figitus Zumadazing! I want your attention everything!” it exclaimed. The book in his hand jerked and he could’ve sworn it was trying to stand to attention. The voice sounded again and he could feel the magic in the air, it was tingly. “Now we’re helping our new friend so come on, let’s go.” The table next to him shifted and the voice quickly spoke up “No no not you furniture; I’m talking to the books you know.” The book in Spikes claws leaped out onto a nearby shelf. Spike stared wide eyed as another book did the same thing. The voice sang out “Higitus Figitus migitus mum! Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” Soon, boxes were flinging open, and books were flying around left and right, going to their places on various shelves.
The strange disembodied voice continued singing “Cicero you belong with the Cs; alphabetical order if you please! Ali-ca-fez bal-a-ca-zez! Malacamex meripedes!” Already shelved booked shifted and moved to make room for their literary siblings. “Hockety pockety wockety wack! That’s the way we have to pack! Higitus Figitus migitus mum! Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” Spare quills came to life, filling in the archive catalogues at incredible speeds. Of course Spikes reaction, while not the most logical one by far, was the most natural; he screamed like a little filly. Immediately everything paused, books floating perfectly still in mid air. Spike gulped and took a deep breath. “Now now every book, let's not get in a traffic jam” The strange voice said sternly. “Alright, let’s start again. Hmm, Spike, where was I?” the voice asked, causing Spike to jerk.
He looks around, his breath almost catching in his throat as he slowly muttered out “h-hockety po-pockety?”
There was a few soft chuckles as the voice piped up “Oh yes, you’re right! Ahem! Hockety Pockety wockety wack! Each book on self and box do pack! Higitus Figitus migitus mum, Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” As Spike forced himself to calm down he watched the books slowly started moving again, faster and faster until the whole library has been stocked. Over by the doors to the back storage rooms were nearly stacked boxes, organized with the quills writing labels on each before flying back to the various reading desks and falling limp.
The drake took deep breaths, trying to remain calm to what suddenly transpired. Discord had stayed with them in the castle a few times and each time the major pain had hid pranks with invisible triggers all over the place. Yea, that had to be it, it was one of Discords pranks. Spike nodded to himself “Just a prank, everything is cool. It was even helpful this time” He said. Looking around, the library really was done. Not only were the books put away, but the floor had been swept and polished and the tables dusted off. Wow, he was really done. It was just past noon and he had the whole rest of the day to himself. Firstly, however, he needed a shower. An extremely hot one.
Heading to his bathroom, he thought over the ‘prank’ in the library. What was the point of it? Discord pranked him by helping him with his chores? Then there was that voice, it wasn’t Discord’s at all. It was all so confusing the more he thought about it. He stripped out of his sweaty work clothes, a basic t shirt and jeans, and stepped into his shower. Spike shivered a bit, no matter how hot he got the water, it was never quite hot enough.
Spike had taken a good long shower. He was now relaxed with a new set of casual clothes; shorts and a nice button up. He was planning on heading out, spending the rest of this beautiful day outdoors. Stepping into the main hall he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“There you are Spike!” said Twilight, coming from out of the large doors to the library. “I thought I told you to let me know once you finished with the library, we have a lot to do!” Spike just nodded his head. “Amazing job on the library by the way, though I’ll have to go over the packed books to make sure the right ones are on the shelves” complimented Twilight. Spike gave a small eye roll, he called it, he freaking called it. “Anyway, I need you to take these documents and file them.” said Twilight, handed him a large stack of papers. Spike just stood there holding them, a disappointed look on his face. “Come on, let’s go. You’re my number one assistant for a reason!” Twilight said cheerfully. Spike was turning to get to it when he felt a familiar sensation come over him.
Putting down the papers on a nearby end table he turned his head and burped up some familiar green flame. The flame solidified into a scroll bearing the royal sun seal. Spike caught the scroll and handed it over to Twilight who promptly opened it and started reading. Her eyes slowly grew larger and larger as she muttered to herself “I knew it! I knew it!”
Spike raised a brow and asked “Something wrong Twi? What does the Princess want?”
The purple pony looked up at her brother and nodded “Princess Celestia is summoning the element bearers to the the castle as soon as possible! I knew today was too perfect of a day! It’s probably Discord up to no good. I’m sorry Spike, I have to go!” The purple alicorn said, turning to leave before being stopped by her younger brother
“Wait!” Spike called “Take me with you, If you are going to go off on an adventure, let me come along! You may need a dragon with you, you know, as backup!” he offered.
Twilight smiled “Thanks Spike, but I wouldn’t want to see my baby brother getting hurt. Besides, you know Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the muscle of the team, and you’d feel horrible if you felt like you were holding them back.” Spike let go of Twilights arm and deflated a bit. Seeing Spike upset, Twilight quickly spoke up “But hey! If you really want to help, you can watch the pets while we’re gone, ok?” Spike nodded and put on a fake smile. Twilight hugged him and teleported away in a flash to collect her friends. Once again Spike the dragon had been left behind.
“It’s not fair” Spike said to himself. He had been sitting against the hallway way for almost half an hour, feeling devistated. He wasn’t sure what felt worse; that he was always being left behind or that they all treated him like he were still a hatchling! “I could be a huge help! I have...I mean I could...I-I, oh who am I kidding, I’m just the dumb useless assistant!” He cried, tears starting to stream down his face unnoticed by the distraught drake. He had always been treated like this. He knew they meant well, At least, he believed they did.
“So, they left you again eh buddy?” the same disembodied voice asked. Spike jerked in surprise, but just sadly nodded. “Well, that doesn’t seem fair, or very smart. There has to be a million different reasons to bring a dragon of all people along on an adventure” the voice responded, sounding rather offended at the girls’ choice to leave the young drake behind. Spike couldn’t help but smile a little at this. Someone was taking his side, someone saw some worth in him. Even if it was a strange voice, there was something out there that saw something in him other than a secretary.
“They treat me like I’m a foal…” muttered Spike, wiping his eyes of the tears he didn’t realize were flowing.
“Foal. Servant. Pet.” the voice has said, each word making Spike cringe. The words hurt.
“No! They don’t see me as a pet! They’re my friends! I’m Twilights number one assistant!” he blurted out
“Number one servant you mean. Face it Spike, she sees you as a good servant at best, and at worst a pet. No different than Owlicious, no different than Angel, or Opal, or Tank. You are still just an animal to them” the voice said. Spike clenched his fists, but he couldn’t really argue.
“I’m a person…” he muttered.
“Of course you are. You are an amazing, strong, brilliant person” the voice said soothingly “and if those stupid ponies can’t see it, can’t see how incredible you are, can’t see how valuable you are...well screw them”
With clenched teeth, spike gave a low growl “yea! Buck them! I will do...something….to show them to treat me as a person!” Spike said, the wind falling out of his sails when he realized there was nothing he COULD do. After all, he was still just a teenager, a small dragon in a world of magical ponies. His friends were the elements of harmony too! Oh, who was he kidding, he is always just going to be the little helper drake.
He would always be the one to pick up after their messes. He would always be the one to reorganize the whole library by himself when Twilight went on a reading binge. He’ll always be the one to make them food. He’ll always be the one to watch their pets. He’ll always be the one to write down all the tales of their adventures. He’ll always be the one who would always be left behind without a second thought. The small drake sniffed again and look down at his feet, he could feel a fresh batch of tears collecting in the corners of his eyes. “There’s nothing I can do” he whispered, mostly to himself. “I’m nothing special..”
Spike felt hands place themselves gently on his shoulders and another pair under his arms pulling him up “I think you’re special Spike” the voice said calmly. This time, he could hear it, or rather the direction it was coming from.
He quickly looked up. Before him was a being, the likes of which he had never seen before, not in his wildest dreams. The being was tall with cat-like paws for feet, and four long arms two resting on his shoulder, the other pair moved to rest on the creature’s hips.The being as blue, a lazy cool blue that seemed to shift shades depending on how the light was hitting hit. Their tail seemed longer than their body, and ended with a glowing bulb that make him feel sleepy when he stared at it. What caught Spikes attention the most, however, was the creature’s face. They had three big glowing golden eyes. Staring into them, spike felt a sense of calmness wash over him. He felt at peace. The being smiled and pulled him into a hug, whispering “I believe in you spike.” Spike instinctively hugged back, a habit of living in a world of overly huggy ponies.
“Who, what are you?” he asked, pulling back away from the being.
“You can call me Maelstrom. As for what I am, well, I’m the new God of Chaos for this world.” Maelstrom said, extending their four arms out striking a majestic pose.
“New god of...but wait! What about Discord?!” Spike stuttered out. New god of chaos, this can’t be good. He would have to go and alert the girls somehow.
“Retired, I’m afraid” said a familiar voice behind him. He whipped around again, staring wide eyed at Discord
“Retired? You can retire? You’re saying it like it’s a job or something”
“But it IS a job. What, did you think I was creating all that chaos and disharmony for fun?! I mean, it was fun, but I’m also getting paid” the now ex god of chaos said with a chuckle. “You see we, my friend here and I, are working for a being of immense ancient cosmic power who is pretty much the highest authority this part of the multiverse” Discord continued, gesturing to Maelstrom and himself “This being, who goes by the name Mr. Boss, runs the multiverse like a large corporation you see. They create all the matter and energy around you. All of it. They then hire other people like us to give that energy and matter shape, to watch over and guide creation” said Discord.
Maelstrom then spoke up adding “we get paid every other millenia, healthcare, dental, the whole plan. Our boss doesn’t believe in cutting corners. Really, it’s a sweet set up.” Spike was having a hard time wrapping his head around all this. He felt the familiar tingle of levitation magic as he was lifted up and placed in a nearby chair.
Glancing over at Mael who just smiled at him, he nodded his thanks and turns back to Discord “so you were tormenting Equestria for all that time, for a paycheck...dude if Celestia ever found out…” he mused. Discord just laughed
“She knows, she’s getting paid too. Same as Luna, and Cadance. The Dragon King and Chrysalis as well.” The dragonquiss then moved in close and placed a finger of Spike’s lips “but shhh, it’s a secret from the mortals.”
Spike looked between the two of them confused “if it’s a secret, then why are you telling me? And Discord, why are you retiring?” the drake asked.
“It’s because I’m not getting any younger Spike. I’ve been doing this job for almost six million years on multiple words at the same time and I’m tired. I’m really really tired; so I think it’s about time for me to hang it all up and retire. Now, because of my many many many millennia of service, I have a rather juicy pension waiting for me. However, my contract says I have to name a replacement first. That replacement is Maelstrom here” Discord concluded, gesturing to his friend who in turn gave a half bow.
Spike nodded slowly “Ok, understand that, but that doesn’t explain why you’re telling me all this” This time, it was Maelstrom’s turn to speak up.
“Spike, when I said you were special, I meant it. I wasn’t just trying to make you feel better, I see so much raw potential in you. It makes me upset seeing how the ponies closest to you treat you.” Mael said, leaning forward and bending down to be at eye level with the sitting dragon. “So, the reason we’re telling you all this, is because I want you to join me Spike.” The new lord of chaos said with a smile, extending one of their hands.
“WHAT?!” Spike yelled. He looked frantically from Maelstrom to Discord. Mael had a gentle smile on their face, and Discord was just grinning and nodding.
“Surprise!” the draconequus exclaimed, making confetti fall from the sky, small fireworks going off near the ceiling. “You’ve got the grand prize! Soon, you’ll have powers like you wouldn’t believe. You’ll be able to do things you would never have dreamed of! Oh, it’s so exciting isnt it?!”
“But...But...I’m best friends with the Elements of Harmony! I can’t work for Chaos!” Spike sputtered out
“Of course you can!” Smiled Mailstrom, sitting on a chair that came out of nowhere. Discord followed suit, materializing a cup of brandy, he really liked this brand; as he drank the glass and left the liquid. Classic.
“That's why you’re perfect for the job! You know them in and out. You’ll know just how to make their lives a living hell haha!” Mael continued, reaching over and poking Spike in the chest “You’re a lot smarter and more resourceful than any of them give you credit for, you know.”
Spike blushed a bit at the compliment. “I don't want to be evil though” He said softly, he didn’t want to insult the person giving him so much praise.
Maelstrom laughed, and Discord rolled his eyes; he’d had this conversation before and was now quite bored. In fact he DID have this conversation before, why was he still here? Standing up, Discord excused himself and poofed away in an explosion of cotton candy. The two remaining couldn’t help but giggle as Mael turned to Spike.
“Chaos isn’t evil. It’s not petty acts of random destruction for shits and giggles. Though we DO do that too. Chaos, by nature, is just as good and necessary as Light, Darkness, Harmony or any other of the ancient forces. It’s probability, freedom, creativity, and most importantly; Change. Our job is to shake things up. We bring forth the renaissance, we inspire. We are imagination incarnate. We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams. Harmony can only bring things to an equilibrium. Chaos, however, can take something and make it exceptional. We are the other half of the same coin you see. Just like how Light and Darkness can’t exist without each other, so too Harmony and Chaos.” Spike nodded as Mael continued explaining, wondering why he hadn't thought of this before?
“Everyone always associates harmony with goodness; it’s balance, and pure logic, perfection through predictability” Mael continued. Spike nodded again. “But left unchecked it can also breed oppression through conformity. If everyone is equal, it means no one is special, no one is exceptional, no one can stand out and do something amazing. That causes society to stagnate. A stagnant society is doomed to crumble.” Maelstrom finished, folding their arms over their chest and nodded sagely. Spike had a lot to think about. He had always been told that harmony was the supreme good, and Chaos was evil. But listening to what Maelstrom said, it made a lot of sense.
Spike sat quietly for a minute or so before speaking up. “So. Assuming I accept. How do we go about this? I mean I don't exactly know how to be a...um..”
“Agent of Chaos. Which is kind of a part time gig sort of thing, an unpaid internship if you will. I’ll give you some of my power and see how you can handle it. Once you prove to me you can handle yourself, and really show some grit and talent, you’ll be promoted to Master of Mayhem. Trust me, you want that title, comes with a lot of perks” explained Maelstrom.
Spike nodded again, mostly to be polite. It’s not as if he was actually considering working for the god of chaos. The idea was just silly! Ridiculous even! Him being granted near unlimited power and freedom to bend and shape reality to his favor?...his eyes widened when he realized just how amazing that sounded. Maybe he should consider this more. “So assuming I accept, do I go through some training or something?”
Mael shook their head “I personally believe in just diving in and figuring it out as you go along. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be with you every step of the way, but when you’ve been doing this as long as I have you really start to embrace those moments of true randomness. Besides, I like seeing newbies get their feet wet for the first time” they said, materializing a contract and quil and handing it to Spike to promptly began reading it over. “It’s really easy though. Like I said, I’ll give you some awesome chaos powers on top of your normal dragonic ones and you just go to town pranking and making chaos for everyone. We have three main limitations, if you want to call them that. Rule one: You aren’t allowed to kill directly. Rule two: You can’t mess with free will directly. Finally, Rule three: You can never touch the magical harmony macguffins directly” said Maelstrom. Even though Spike was reading the contract he was listening to every word, testament to his time working for Twilight.
“These three rules have major loopholes of course” Mael continued, causing Spike to stop reading and look up at who may soon become his new boss.
“Loopholes?” the drake asked.
Mael nodded “Big ones. You can't kill directly, meaning you can't just will someone to drop dead. But you could create a monster or something and kill them indirectly, or orchestrate their demise though some series of circumstance dependent on their own choices. You can’t alter free will, meaning you can't just snap your fingers and turn people into mindless puppets. You can however just enhance feelings or desires they already have, or even hypnotise them” Mael grinned and rubbed their hands together “And my favorite, you can’t directly touch the magic harmony charms, but you CAN use magic to teleport them or hide them. They will also automatically transform themselves to suit the needs of the user, dependant on the situation. So you can create scenarios that will force the elements to change into certain forms. This last bit of information, of course, is both super important and super useless. The physical elements are back in this world’s Tree of Harmony, having bonded with their pony wielders.” Mael couldn’t help it and laughed, this world was gonna be so much fun.
Spike however was confused. “Why is that info both important and useless?” he asked.
“I’ll let you find that out first hand, trust me you’re going to have a laugh when you realize it” Mael responded with a grin. After that the god fell silent and let Spike finish reading the contract. Placing it down in his lap, the drake seemed deep in thought.
“I...dont want to betray my friends” he finally said.
“What friends? The same friends that are having a spa day in Canterlot while you slave away restocking Twilight’s library and organizing her paperwork?” Mael asked innocently.
“What? No. Twilight said Celestia summoned her for a problem or something. She said she suspected it was Discord” Spike said, realizing immediately the fault in his logic.
“You mean the same Discord that was here with us? The same one who had been treating me to a nice brunch all morning? That Discord?” Maelstrom asked.
Mael snapped their fingers and instantly they and Spike were in the royal spa. The elements along with Celestia and Luna were relaxing in a hot spring, and they were completely naked. Spike didn’t know how much blood could fit in his head, but his face has to be as red as one of Applejack’s apples. Speaking of which, he could totally see hers, right on the side of her perfectly shaped-NOPE! He looked around trying to find a place to escape to before they spotted him. They should have spotted him. He was standing out in the open, why can’t they...then it dawned on him
“That's right Spike, they can neither see nor hear you” Maelstrom said next to him. Hearing this, the teenager in Spike took over and he couldn’t help but take the a chance to peek at a few of his friends. Wow, he never realized Fluttershy was so endowed. “Having fun?” Mael asked with a smirk
“Hey! I’m a healthy eighteen year old dragon, what did you expect?!” Spike responded defensively. “Besides, this is just some trick. None of this is real” he said dismissively.
“No trick Spike. Teleported us straight to the Canterlot royal bathhouse” Maelstrom replied.
Spike still wasn’t buying it “If this is real, then how did you know they’d be here? You were with me the whole time” he countered.
Maelstrom nodded, admiringly the dragons observational skills. “This is true, I was with you. However I saw the letter Princess Sunbutt sent. It didn’t say anything about danger, just that she had wanted Twilight and her friends to come to Canterlot due to this particularly perfect day” they said. “Of course, Twilight assumed the worst…”
Spike just stared at Mael. If this was real then...The blush on Spike’s face was visible through his scales as he surveyed the girls again, his eyes falling on a sunbathing Celestia, or rather, her very large derriere.
“Well, as fun as being a peeping tom would be, I did bring you here to prove a point” Mael said, gesturing to the group of mares “Is this the royal business you were talking about? Quiet the emergency huh?”
The young dragon was about to say something back when Rarity suddenly spoke “This is all so simply DIVINE! And I must say Princess, great minds DO think alike! I had invited Twilight and Fluttershy over for a day at the local spa. But this, this is so much better!” She cooed, the other girls giggled and Spike deflated a bit, his shoulders slumping.
“So while you were slaving away, Twilight was going to enjoy a nice spa day. Then Celestia invites Twilight and her friends to come to the royal spa since she had the day off. I bet they didn’t even think to invite you at all.” Maelstrom said “I mean, sure Twilight probably didn’t know the reason for the invitation at first, but when she found out I bet she didn’t give you a second thought. There wasn’t one thought of ‘Oh, I should go get Spike’ or ‘Spike organized my whole library for me by himself, he could use some R&R’, none of that. Some friends.”
Princess Celestia had decided speak up “It is great that you could come join us Twilight, what with all the paperwork you told me you had to do.” Spike eyes widen, was Celestia talking about the paperwork Twilight had handed over to him?
Twilight just smiled and gave a happy sigh as she slid further down into the hot water “It’s getting done, don’t worry princess, I won’t fail you.”
Maelstrom was about to comment on this but was cut off as Spike shoved the contract against their chest, his signature at the bottom. “You want me, I’m in...boss” he said, a single tear running down his cheek past a slightly dark smirk. Maelstrom smile and shook the dragons hand, teleporting them back to the library
“Welcome to Team Chaos.”
Chapter 2 - There's a new Age coming; this one's coming to an end
Chapter 2
“There’s a new Age coming; this one’s coming to an end”
“So how do we do this?” asked Spike. He was still nervous about the whole thing. “This isn’t going to wipe my mind or anything is it?”
Mael could only chuckle “Spike, if I were going to make you into a mindless drone I wouldn’t have spent all this effort convincing you to join me. Besides, second rule remember?” they responded.
“Right, of course...will it hurt?” Spike asked as Mael wrapped their four arms around him, pulling him into an embrace
“Not at all. Now, close your eyes” they said. Spike slowly shut his eyes. “Take a breath.” Spike inhaled. “Count to three” Mael instructed.
Spike nodded and began “One.”
“Here with me” Mael slowly sang.
“Two.”
“You will be.”
“Three”
“In a world of pure imagination.”
Spike opened his eyes slowly, he still felt like he always did. In front of him was an odd mirror, in it his reflection still looked the same.
“Take a look, and you’ll see into your imagination”
Maelstrom gestured to the mirror and Spike looked again. The person looking back was now dramatically different; with their main scales now black and the scales on their underbelly a pale purple. Their crest and back spikes now looks sharper and were a deep shade of royal purple, in fact all those scales looked sharper. The eyes, oh wow those eyes. They were solid purple and glowing, sparking with chaotic energy.
“We’ll begin with a spin” Mael said, spinning Spike around, his reflection doing the same. Spike looked down at his claws, they were covered with the same black scale. This thing in the mirror was him. It was a warped chaotic version of himself. This was now who he was.
Resting their hands on the shoulders of the newly transformed dragon, Mael continued singing “We will warp this world to our creation, what we’ll do will defy explanation.” Spike turned and looked at his new boss. Maelstrom smiled.
“If you want to view paradise, well then simply turn around and view it” Mael continued, pointing back to their reflection in the mirror. “Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it”
Spike looked down at his claws again, then turned and looked back at the mirror. He could feel the power coursing through him, filling him up. It was indescribable.
“There is no life I know to compare to pure imagination. Living here you’ll be free, if you truly wish to be” Maelstrom conclude.
Spike grinned a bit “Spike, agent of chaos…” he said softly
“Um, well, let’s change that name” Mael said.
Spike raised a brow “What? Why? I like my name!”
Maelstrom rolled their three eyes, or at least made the gesture for an eye roll, Spike couldn’t tell which.
“Besides the fact that ‘Spike’ is the most unoriginal cliche name given to a PET, I think it would be wiser to keep your new career choice secret from the others. At least at first. Besides, start of a new life so you get a new name to go along with it. I think I shall call you...Disarray” they said, smiling at the drake.
“Disarray…” Spike repeated slowly, looking back at his reflection, smiling to himself and nodding “I like it. I really like it.”
“Let’s test out your new powers hm?” suggested Mael, gesturing to the stack of paper folders Twilight had asked Spike, er Disarray, to categorize.
Disarray smiled and snapped his fingers, nothing happened.
“While I approve of the enthusiasm, let me explain your abilities first” laughing Maelstrom, the black dragon giving a sheepish smile in return. “I’ve increased your already impressive durability and strength. Your relatively small frame is packing the power of an elder dragon now. On top of that I gave you several enhancements on your senses and reflexes; more on that later. This is the important bit. Along with your normal flames, and messenger flames, you now have Chaos flames; pure chaos magic in a fire-like state” Mael explained. “You’ll be able to use this new chaos breath to warp reality, enchant things, unleash powerful magical blasts, and much more.”
Disarray nodded and looked over at the stack of folders, testing his new breath out by blowing a couple puffs of purple flame into the air. The flames turned into small black butterflies and fluttered away. Satisfied that he had a handle on it, Disarray took a deep breath and blew the purple flames over the folders. The fires engulfed the documents and then, in a flash of purple light, they were gone. “Crap I burned them up!” cried Disarray.
Shaking their head, Mael teleported the two to Twilights study, opening one of the file cabinets “All documents teleported to their rightful places, not a single scorch mark on them” they said, examining the contents of the cabinet; there was a lot of interesting documents in there.
“Ok, that’s a relief. I don’t want Twi mad at me...yet” said Disarray
Maelstrom nodded and smiled “I’ll create a time bubble so you can get some more practice in with your new abilities. After that, I’ll show you how to shift back into your old form” they said.
Disarray gave a huge grin and nodded his head, he was going to enjoy this.
As they trained, Maelstrom explained more to Disarray. They explained about how, should he accept the title of Master of Mayhem, he would become a lesser god. He would be immortal, nearly indestructible, with the potential for even greater power than what Maelstrom has already granted him. They explained that with enough practice, he would have no problem rivaling the power of several alicorns. Disarray couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Spike was walking down the street as his old purple self, Maelstrom casually walking next to him. Mael had decided to alter their form into that of a blue unicorn mare with mid length blonde hair and tail. She wore black cargo shorts with a dark grey t shirt and black trench coat. All in all she was rather cute in a dark mysterious way. Going by the name Moonspark now, the unicorn continued her conversation with Spike.
“So, here’s how this is going to go down, you’ll need to prove you can handle being on Team Chaos. I’ll give you a week, you gotta pull off some pranks. Doesn’t matter if it’s a bunch of small ones or a few big ones, just impress me” she exclaimed. Spike pondered this as they continued their leisurely stroll around ponyville.
The duo soon found themselves near a busy little shop. Moonspark gestured to the shop and asked “What’s this place, and why is it so crowded?” Indeed, the small shop had a line out the door stretching half a block down. It was rather impressive.
“Oh that’s Bon Bon’s Sweets, best homemade candy in all Equestria” Spike replied with a smile. He reached into his pocket and gave a disappointed sigh. If only he had a few bits. Moon saw the look on Spikes face and rolled her eyes. Reaching into one of the side pockets of her shorts she pulled out a niced sized pouch of bits, tossing them over to the dragon.
Spike caught them and pulled one out, staring at it “did you just make counterfeit money?” he asked incredulously.
“That would imply that I am making fake money. That money is perfectly real” Moon replied with a smirk “Just because I poofed it into existence doesn’t make it any less so”
“But…” Spike began, but was cut off
“But what? The Bit, this nation’s main form of currency, is a simple small disk of copper plated over with gold and stamped with both the seal of the sun and this nation’s money symbol. Creating both metals in such a shape is childsplay. Also, because they’re made of precious metals it’s not like the value goes down or anything.” said Moon. “But you’re still thinking it was wrong, aren’t you? You have to get out of that way of thinking, morality is subjective and besides, you’re a ‘villain’ now.”
Spike thought about it for a second, then just shrugged. Moon was right. Like she said, he was technically one of the bad guys now.
Moving to the back of the line, the dragon scoffed. It was a shame he couldn’t use his powers to just force everyone to let him cut. He was really looking forward to satisfying his sweet tooth and he didn’t know when Twilight would be home from her...spa day.
He still felt hurt from that, and decided to focus on the slow moving line in front of him. By just glancing at those in line he could tell that more than half of them weren’t even from ponyville based on how they were dressed. Fucking tourists. To be fair to Bon Bon, having the title of ‘best candy ever’ meant everypony would want to try some. Wait, the best candy ever…
Stepping out of the line and towards a nearby tree, Spike sat down and began to think. Moon sat next to him and looked over questioningly “I thought you wanted candy. Why you just didn’t materialize some yourself I’ll never know...” she said, though she recognized that look on Spike’s face. It was the look of a prankster working on a new prank. Gears moving in his head at top speeds, eyes staring off into the distance seeing something no one else can, a mischievous smirk on his face. Oh yea, Spike had thought of something good.
“Ok, out with it” said Moon with a chuckle, poking Spike’s arm. Spike turned to her, grinning mischievously
“A Candy. The most delicious candy in all the world and of all time. A candy so good that other candies and sweet can never compare with it” he said with a whisper.
Now it was Moonspark’s turn to grin “ooh now that has potential. I think we should head back to the castle while the idea is fresh in your mind, and you can work on it.” They both got up, took another glance as the long line into the candy shop, and walked back the way they came.
Walking was always a relaxing experience. Sure one could teleport, but physically traveling somewhere allowed one to collect their thoughts and take in everything around them, forming new ideas. As they walked back to the Castle of Friendship, Spike was busy muttering to himself. An idea for this, a change on that, what if he did this other thing. Moonspark couldn’t help but give a proud smile. It had been less than an hour and Spike, no, Disarray was taking to his new job like a fish to water. She knew she had made the right choice.
As they neared the castle Spike turned to his new boss “So I think I have this figured out, but I’m going to need more people to pull it off, if that’s ok with you.” He said, expecting the lord of chaos to throw a cosmic fit at the idea of having to get more people. After all, Discord was never the type of surround himself with a group.
Moonspark just shook her head, smiling “I was going to look for more people anyways. This is Team Chaos. Can’t be a team with only two people. Still, it’s good that you recognize you can’t do this alone. Going lone wolf is what gets bad guys beat. Getting the right people around you, and forming a tight knit group, will make you unstoppable” She said, patting Spike on the back “You find the right people, and I’ll whip up some contracts and get them on the payroll.”
Spike smiled, his boss was really understanding but a larger problem perplexed him “How are we going to find people who’d be willing and brave enough to get into massive trouble wrecking the world and causing general havoc?” He asked. Before Moonspark could respond they were both startled by a loud crash that seemed to have impacted the side of the castle.
“Murphy’s Law at work!” Moonspark called out gleefully.
“Who’s Murphy?!” Spike called back as they both ran to the castle.
The duo reached their destination, noticing a trench leading right up to a large pile of scrap smacked up against the castle’s side; the remains of a rather glorious wreck.
“What the hell?” Spike muttered out loud at the scene in front of him.
There was movement and large boards being flung aside as the Cutie Mark Crusaders groaned, removing themselves from the pile of metal and wood; the remains of their latest experiment: the collective scooter.
Dusting herself off, Applebloom looked over at the drake. “Sorry Spike” She said. “We wanted to get our Cutiemarks as extreme skaters, but it ended up like this...”
Yes, after all this time, despite being eighteen year olds themselves, they STILL didn’t have their cutiemarks.
“Next time we’ll make it better” Scootaloo chimed in “we just need more nails and maybe some glue and…”
“And what if we try something else? Maybe Spike has some ideas” Sweetie suggested, turning to Spike with a smile. Her smile faltered when she say the black clad mare next to him, the mare’s golden eyes surveying the scene of their latest failure. “Um, who is she Spike?” asked Sweetie Belle, with just a hint of jealousy in her voice.
Spike had his eyes on the wreck. “She’s my new boss” he responded casually, deep in thought.
It was so obvious, of course he’d ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were just as benched as him when it came to the Elements. They had a bit more presence than he had, but were even more condemned to be permanently trapped in their sisters’ shadows. Thinking about it, Spike suspected that their sisters’ treatment of them and the shadows they cast over them may play a large factor as to why ponies who would be considered young adults still didn’t have their cutiemark; something a pony normally gets when they’re between ages of eight and twelve.
It was so perfectly obvious. He grinned as Applebloom asked “Boss? Ya went and got a new job Spike?”
“Yea, something like that” the drake responded, taking a deep breath and blowing his chaos flames over the wreck. The wood and metal changed and warped. They wrapped around each other, twisting and binding. Soon, sitting there on it’s kickstand, was a perfectly crafted three person scooter. Spike then blew on it again, and in a puff of purple it disappeared “I’ll just save you for later” he chuckled to himself.
Applebloom and Scootaloo stared wide eyed. “What the hay was that?!” Scootaloo finally cried out, finding her voice after a few seconds.
Moonspark laughed, switching back to their original form, much to the shock of Sweetie who had been giving them a subtle glare the whole time “That was just a bit of chaos.” Mael said. The three mares just stared as Mael extended a hand to teach of them “Maelstrom, God of Chaos and Disharmony, it’s a pleasure to meet you” they said with a smile.
Spike coughed to get the girls attention and grinned “We have a proposition for you three, do you guys have a place we can talk?”
The Next Day:
It was a beautiful afternoon in Ponyville. Even though it wasn’t as beautiful as the previous day, everypony could agree it was still very nice. The local park was rather full, with school let out many young fillies and colts were running around and playing under the watchful eyes of their families. Older teens were also present, playing frisbee, or relaxing under a tree, with some even going swimming in the pond. Feather Weight and Rumble were such teens, zipping through the air as they raced each other from one end of the park to the other. The eighteen year old stallions had been friends since they were colts.
In truth, Feather Weight was the only real friend Rumble had left, the others having either moved on with their lives or decided not to associate with him anymore. Being a blank flank at his age really sucked, especially since there were foals half his age who already had their cutiemarks.
Everypony treats you weird, colts and fillies tease and adults treat you with pity thinking something was wrong with you. It was a rather touchy subject for him, made worse by the bullying from a certain snobbish duo. Feather Weight had been the only friend to really stick by him, regardless of his cutiemark or rather lack thereof. So the two continued their personal races, occasionally doing flips and tricks in the air to show off to no one in particular. They were in the middle of seeing which of them could do the tightest barrel roll when something suddenly caught their attention.
A black shadow whizzed past them at great speed. The blur kept going, before turning around and heading right back towards them. They could recognize that it was a pony, but couldn’t think of anypony who could fly that fast. Well, there was Rainbow Dash but this pony was black, not sky blue. Gripped with fear, the stallions turned and flew off as fast as they could but the shadow was faster and started to give chase.
“What do you want?!” cried Rumble as the shadowy pony began to overtake them, reaching out to grab his arm.
“Quick! Split up!” Feather Weight yelled out.
Immediately the two banked in opposite directions, flapping their wings for all they’re worth. All in all, it would have been a good idea had the dark pony not been so fast. The shadow zipped around, easy going after one and forcing him to change direction, then flying after the other to do the same. This went on for a few minutes until the two were corralled right up against each other, hovering and holding each other, eyes shut tight as the shadow zipped around them in a circle. There was no escape, the two realized; they were too far away from the park now so calling for help wasn’t an option.
The whirlwind around them died down, replaced only by lazy flapping. Rumble opened his eyes slowly, then nudged Feather to do the same. There, hovering in front of them, was a pegasus mare. Her fur was completely black and her mane and tail were magenta. Her eyes were solid magenta as well and glowed with an eerie energy. She was wearing, what Rumble could only describe as, the cross between the military jackets the wonderbolts wear and a pirate costume, with a weird star like symbol over the jacket’s left breast. Her black bat wings were as large as Celestia’s and slowly flapped behind her. All in all, Rumble thought she was kind of cute.
“Sorry for scaring you two, I know my appearance doesn’t exactly inspire bravery.” The mare said with a smirk. “But I didn’t come to hurt your guys, in fact…” The pegasus offered the two a piece of candy each. The candy was circular and light brown, with a dark brown swirl going around it. “I’m promoting this delicious new treat.” She continued. “Nightmare Night is in five days, if you like the candy you can get more from my team and I, you can look for us at Trick of Treat time!” She finished with a giggle.
Feather and Rumble felt slightly guilty. They had judged a pony based solely on her appearance and all she was doing was being a friendly promoter. Without another thought the two stallions popped the candy into their mouths.
As soon as the candy hit their tongues, the two exchanged a look with each other. They then turned back to the mare wide eyed at the candy dissolved in their mouths. To say it was heavenly would be a gross understatement. Words completely failed them at the moment, it was sweet, but not overly so. It was tangly and sharp, but velvety and smooth. The flavor was so complex it was almost indescribable. It was everything anypony could want in a candy all blended together into perfection. That’s it, that was the word they were looking for; perfection.
“Dude, this candy!!” exclaimed Rumble
“I know!” said Feather back.
“It’s just...and so…”
“I KNOW!”
Rumble turned back to the mare who was just grinning “What do you call this?!” he asked.
“We call it The Candy of All Candies. It’s the greatest candy in the whole world!” she answered.
Feather nodded “I believe her!” He said as the mare took off like a bolt, disappearing into the clouds.
The two friends looked at each other “How could we have thought bad of her?” asked Feather.
“I know dude, she was just doing her job. That candy though…” Rumble replied
“I kknooowwwww!” exclaimed Feather as the two flew back to the park.
As they landed they were greeted by Thunderlane, Rumble’s big brother. “Heya Rumble, get carried away showing Feather those flying tricks I taught you?” he said with a chuckle.
Rumble smirked “Something like that.” He replied.
Thunder playfully punched his little bro in the arm “well, mom sent me out to find you, it’s almost time for dinner. Feather, you can come too if you’d like.”
Both Rumble and Feather nodded and the three took off towards Thunderlane and Rumble’s home. On the way, Thunder took some candy out his pocket, popping a piece in his mouth and handing one to the young stallions with him. “I went to Bon Bon’s and got some sweets. You don’t tell mom, I’ll share them with you” he said with a smile.
The two of course accepted, but as they popped them into their mouths they glanced at each other and grimaced. It was delicious of course, just like Bon Bon’s sweets normally are, but it tasted off, really off. After having the Candy of All Candies this one seems so inferior and...pathetic. The two were thinking the same thing; from that point forward they won’t eat any other sweets again, since they were all far from the absolute perfection that was the confectionary miracle that dark pegasus gave them.
Thunder offered them another piece and they politely declined, giving the excuse that they didn’t want to spoil their appetite. Thunder just shrugged and popped another piece into his mouth, the teens looking on and sighing.
Rumble and Feather Weight weren’t the only ones. Children and teens all across Ponyville were trying the Candy of All Candies, thanks to the mysterious black furred promoters; the Pegasus, an earth pony with glowing red eyes, and a unicorn with glowing green eyes. All around Ponyville they appeared, giving out their free samples to every kid they could find.
“It’d better be good, no, excellent! I have the most exquisite of tastes and the most refined pallet” said Diamond Tiara rudely to the shadowy unicorn.
Normally somepony with such high status as Diamond wouldn’t associate with weirdo strange ponies, but this one had an air of sophistication about her. She was also cladd in a beautiful smokey emerald green dress. And then there was that strange silver multi-pointed star necklace she wore. Weird black fur or glowing eyes aside, she was obvious a pony of class and status, so worth Diamond’s time.
“Daddy only buys me the very best of the best you know” she added with a small ‘hmph!’
The unicorn just smiled and handed Diamond and Silverspoon a piece each saying “Trust me, it’s the best candy in the world, ever!” before teleporting away.
The two bratty mares hesitantly tried it, but were hooked immediately. Diamond was beside herself. This didn’t make any sense. Daddy always claimed to bring her the very best from all around the world. Yet here she was tasting something so perfect it defied description. Why had daddy never given her this amazing candy before?
Silverspoon was silent, in her own little world as the amazing taste washed over her.
Diamond looked back at the spot the unicorn has been. There had been something familiar about the strange pony, but she just couldn’t quite place it. Also, what was the deal with offering something so precious and then disappearing without a trace? Questions like that would have to wait though, Diamond Tiara had to say some choice words to her father about his keeping this candy from her.
As the days went on, the effects were devastating. Everypony in Ponyville under the age of eighteen stopped eating candy, or cake, or any kind of sweets all together. At first this rose alarm to Bon Bon, the Cakes, and all the other proprietors of confectionary treats in the town. Fortunately all ponies like sugar, so the businesses could still stay afloat with the grownups coming in to get their sugar fix; but none could count on patronage the kids anymore.
The kids around Ponyville waited and waited for Nightmare Night. They were anxious, counting the hours until they could taste perfection again. And then the night came! The youth of Ponyville flocked to the streets and town square as per usual, ready to have fun during this special night. As tradition (albeit a new one), Luna herself came to visit.
“Pipsqueek!” she called out happily to her best friend, the fifteen year old colt happily bounding over. “Wow, you’re a swamp monster this year! Finally grew bored of the old pirate look?” the princess asked with a giggle, causing Pipsqueek to blush slightly. He still loved pirates, but wanted to try something fresh this year “It’s a really good costume” complimented Luna “Very scary. It also seems you’ve gathered quite the amount of candy, you had better watch out or your teeth will pay the consequences” she said.
The colt just smiled to Luna. “Hi Princess, thank you for the advice. Um, you want the candy? You can consider it a tribute to Nightmare Moon” he said, holding out his sack. Luna could only blink in surprise.
“You’re giving my all your candy? Are you feeling well Pip?” she asked, concerned.
“Oh, I’m doing just fine Princess, but since I tried the Candy of All Candies these just don’t taste as good as they used to.” He replied, setting the sack of candy at her hooves “I can’t eat them anymore, they’re inferior treats. Anyways, I’m going to go play some games, see ya around Princess!” said Pip happily, running off to join some group of teens.
Luna stared down at the sack, and then turned to Twilight who had just walked up. “Twilight, what is this I hear of a Candy of All Candies?” She asked.
The purple alicorn, who was dressed in her Starswirl costume, shook her head before replying. “We don’t know Luna. I’ve personally tried to look into it and can’t find a thing. All we know is that all the children have been talking about it all week, but they can’t or won’t give us any more information. They only talk about how perfect the treat is.”
Looking out at the children as they chased each other and played the various carnival games they seemed normal; however a closer look would reveal they weren’t eating a single piece of any of the candy they won or collected. Many a kid and teen alike could be seen toting a bag or sack filled with candy, but none were nibbling away at any of it. Luna noticed that instead of trading candy with each other they were instead trying to give it all away. She even noticed one teen throw some of it in the trash when he thought no one was looking. If she didn’t know better she’d think kids just didn’t like sugar anymore.
Applejack walked up to the pair, she was dressed as a scarecrow, her head shaking sadly. “Ah just don’t understand it” she sighed, “Ah spent all day making apple fritters with some extra sweet apples we had just bucked, and the kids don’t want ‘em. I mean, they’ll accept ‘em, but they just aren’t eatin any of ‘em”
“None of them let me try that candy of all candiiieess!” whined Pinkie Pie as she bounded up the the small group, dressed in a brown top hat and purple suit. “I NEED to taste the candy that beats MINE!”
“But if you had some maybe you wouldn’t want candy anymore like the children…” said Fluttershy softly as she too walked up, dressed in a cute white bunny costume that may have been sized more for teens than adult, it hugged her curves rather tightly. Fluttershy didn’t seem aware of this though.
Rainbow Dash, wearing her wonderbolts uniform, was devouring fritter after fritter from Applejack’s stand nearby. “I can’t be too upset about this!” she said as she shoved another in her mouth, “kids are eating healthier since they won’t eat sweets anymore.”
While Twilight did like the fact that kids were now eating healthier she couldn’t shake the idea that something fishy was going on
Spike, who are this point had just remained silent at Twilight’s side, glanced towards the large clock tower near the center of town. It was almost time. His week was almost up. Instead of pulling off a bunch of smaller pranks he had spent the whole time planning and setting up for a single massive one. It was risky, he was putting all his eggs in one basket as it were, but he knew he could trust his team. Spike took a deep breath, it was time to get started.
“Hey Twi, I’m gonna go play some games. See you girls later. Have a wonderful night Princess Luna” he said before turning and walking away with a wave.
Luna smiled and waved back as Pinkie Pie yelled wishing him good luck. Twilight just nodded in his direction, to preoccupied with her thoughts on the current situation.
Walking away as casually as he could, Spike made his way over to an alley. Moving into the shadows he quickly looked around and teleported away in a burst of purple flame. Arriving at the secret meetup spot, he look around at the CMC. The all nodded to each other, it was now or never.
“Thanks again for helping out girls” said the drake “I think you three are the only ones who can understand how much this means to me”
“It ain’t no problem Spike” replied Apple Bloom “Even if we don’t get our Cutiemarks from this, it’s gonna be really fun!” she said with a smile, her eyes turning bright red. What appeared to be a shadow moved over her fur, turning it black. It started around her eyes and moved out, first over her face and then down her body. Her clothing changed as well, turning into black jeans, red plaid shirt, and black duster all topped off with a wide brimmed black Bolero. On her silver belt buckle was the star of chaos.
Spike nodded and smiled “Well, good luck Apple Bloom, you too Sweetie and Scoots” wished Spike.
“Thanks Disarray” the farm pony responded, grinning darkly in her shadow form “But lookin like this? Call me by the name Maelstrom gave us. I’m Bad Seed”
Sweetie transformed and gave a small giggle that sounded like three different people giggling at once “I’m Hymnphonic, or just Hymn for short”
Scootaloo transformed and spread her batlike wings giving a menacing grin “And I’m Shadow Blitz, the coolest sounding name”
At being called Disarray, Spike smiled and transformed as well, his clothing changing into a new outfit. He wore a jet black pants and shirt, the type of black that seems to eat the light around it, just like his scales. A thick belt hung loosely around his waist. On his chest, in white, was the Star of Chaos. Over his shoulders, he had a high collar cloak. The outside was a dark grey, the inside was the same purple as his eyes.
Grinning wide, he looked at his teammates “Let’s make mischief”
The night was beautiful. Luna’s moon hung bright and full in the sky. Even if the children had no desire for sweets, they were still enjoying themselves. With the surplus of sweets around, the adults couldn’t resist and were indulging themselves as well. Everypony was having a good time, everything was peaceful, that is until a shadow passed over the skies. As the shadow swooped overhead the kids cheered excitedly; they recognized the strange black clad promoter. The shadowy mare circled around in the night sky, before turning and heading towards the town square, the children running after her, cheering once again as it landed in between the other two strange shadow promoters who were waiting there.
“Kids of Ponyville, WE’RE BACK!” yelled Shadow, as the kids cheered, more of them running to catch up with the others, adults in close behind. “Just like we promised, we have for you...THE CANDY OF ALL CANDIES!”
The kids roared and cheered in excitement while the adults where in the back trying to catch their breath and muttered amongst themselves. They wondered if this was some kind of marketing strategy. They could all agree, so far it seemed like a good one. Twilight and her friends could just watch with bated breath, they had a feeling something bad was about to happen.
Shadow continued “We have plenty of candy waiting for you all at the schoolhouse!”
The crowd cheered again as Seed helded up her hand “HOWEVER!” she yelled out, instantly silencing the crowd of kids. “We wanna make things interesting. So, whoever gets there first...will receive a lifetime supply of the best candy ever!”
The crowd cheered again, but quieted down as Disarray appeared in a burst of purple flame, his cloak flowing in a nonexistent wind. “And to make this all so much sweeter...” he said in a gruff voice before inhaling deeply and letting loose a blast of purple flame that engulfed the entire group of children.
Adults screamed and some were too shocked to properly react. A black dragon just showed up and incinerated all the children of Ponyville! However, instead of being burned to a crisp, the flames seem to soak into the childrens costumes, transforming each kid into whatever they had decided to dress up as. The fires died down, and the braver adults dared to look. Their fears were partially right, there wasn’t a single kid there anymore. Instead, there stood a crowd of monsters, superheroes, princesses, animals, and the like.
Disarray cleared his throat loudly, getting everypony’s attention “Now, this will go away as soon as we run out of candy, so you all better hurry”
Before any of the adults could really process what had just occurred, they were overtaken by a stampede of creatures. Swamp Monster Pipsqueak was lashing out with vine-like tentacles at Batmare who threw down smoke pellets and escaped with the help of a grappling hook. The Mane-iac Silver Spoon was trying her best to get away from several ghosts who were chasing her, using her hair to pick up anything and everything around her that wasn’t bolted down (and a few things that had been) and chucking it as hard as she could at her pursuers. Celestia Diamond Tiara was firing solar beams at various monsters around her and missing horribly, blowing holes in nearby buildings. Monsters battled heroes. Animals ran amok. Ninjas were fighting pirates. All around them ponyville was being wrecked. It was chaos, pure chaos.
“This is what I was afraid of” groaned Twilight “Come on, let’s go find Rarity and put an end to this before it gets even more out of hand!” she said before teleporting her friends and herself away in a bright flash.
The Princess of the night thought about lending a helping hand, but Twilight and her friends seemed to have things under control and they didn’t ask her for her help. She thought it might be best to just head back home. After all, she came to spend time with her best friend and enjoy the festivities. However, since Pip wasn’t currently Pip at the moment and all the game stands had been wrecked she really didn’t have any reason to stick around. Though, she WAS curious how this was going to play out, and really she didn’t have anything better to do. She nodded to herself and decided to just wait around and see what happens.
Rarity had been at her shop all night waiting for Trick or Treaters, but none came. She had two bowls of candy at the ready and had spend an hour getting her costume perfect; a beautifully sexy succubus. She was about to turn in for the night when there was a flash as Twilight and the others arrived.
“Perfect timing darling, there seems to be an issue.” Rarity spoke “I haven’t gotten a single Trick or Treater all night!”
“That’s because they all got turned into monsters by some creepy black dragon!” Pinkie Pie said, waving her arms about
“Pinkie Pie, I’m being serious here.” responded Rarity with a smirk and a small head shake towards her pink friend.
Twilight shook her head and spoke up “I’m afraid she’s not joking, It’s chaos out there! We have to use the power of harmony!” Twilight concentrated as her eyes began to glow white with energy. The others nodded and did the same. They held hands as a rainbow wave washed over them and out into ponyville. Nodding triumphantly, Twilight smiled “And that is that” she said as she opened the door to Rarity’s shop, just in time for a flaming wheel to roll inside. There was no change. Their wave of harmony didn’t affect the chaos at all.
“Ah’m supposing we’re gonna have to face those responsible for this first” muttered Applejack.
Twilight just nodded and teleported all her friends directly to the schoolhouse. They arrived and saw the shadow ponies waiting for them.
“Good Evenin’” said Bad Seed “The goodie goodies have finally got here”
“Who are you calling goodie goodies?!” yelled Rainbow Dash, preparing to rush at Seed before being enveloped in a familiar pink aura. “Let me at em Twilight!”
Ignoring Dash, Twilight turned to the shadow ponies “Who are you and why are you doing this?” she asked as calm as she could
Hymnphonic smiles “We work for the god of disharmony and chaos” she spoke in her odd triple voice.
“As for why we’re doing this. Well, it’s fun!” Shadow Blitz said, moving beside her friend.
“Discord?” Fluttershy said incredulously. She just couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t believe it.
“Let’s be honest here, it does have his signature. Though it is strange for him to be working with others” said Applejack
“Well, we did teach him the power of friendship…” Twilight said, wondering who would willingly join Discord in being evil, and if evil could even have friendships.
Having had been released from Twilight’s magical grip, Rainbow took a fighting stance alongside Applejack “Enough talk! Let’s fight!”
The shadowy girls just shrugged and went back to what they were previously doing; setting up tables, covering them with black tablecloths, and filling up large bowls with candy.
“You don't want to fight us?” ask Pinkie Pie, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“It’s some kinda trick, don’t take yer guard down!” warned Applejack
Bad Seed just turned around and shook her head with a smirk “Don’t have to. Look” she said, gesturing behind them.
The mane six turned and looked down the road. At first all they could see was a dust cloud. Surprisingly, Rainbow Dash was the first to realize what it was.
“STAMPEDE!!!” she cried out too late as the group of monsters, heroes, pirates, princesses, and such arrived, swarming the area.
Before the girls could react, Shadow called out “They’re trying to stop us from giving you any candy!” while pointing at the Elements. “They want to keep it all for themselves!!”
“...fuck…” grumbled Twilight.
The area devolved into complete madness as chaos erupted from all sides by kids wanting to eat more of the best candy in the world. The kids fought valiantly against the tyrannical adults they believed were trying to stop them. As for the main six, knowing that their attackers were children meant they couldn’t even try to fight back. They could only allow themselves to be overtaken by the swarm of transformed youth.
Bad Seed picked up one of the candies and looked at it “And that there is why ah never tried one of these! A life without sweets just sounds horrible!”
“True, very true” agreed Hymnphonic. She glanced over and saw that Rarity had managed to wiggle partially free from the mass. They locked eyes and the shadow pony could see both embarrassment and rage on her sister’s face. Rarity seemed to open her mouth to say something but was cut off as a large slimy tentacle wrapped around her head and pulled her back into the brawl. Hymn gulped “Let’s get out of here before they actually kill us.”
The other two nodded their heads in agreement and all three disappeared into the crowd.
After a couple hours it was finally over. The children had returned to normal and slowly they realized they had run out of candy. With no one to declare the winner, they returned to their homes a little disappointed but would still admit it was the best Nightmare Night ever.
Slowly the schoolhouse cleared. Soon it was nearly empty. All that remained was a beaten and humiliated elements of harmony. They sat on the ground sulking amongst piles of candy wrappers, puddles of juice, and scraps of their own torn and wrecked costumes. They were tired, bruised, and a general mess. Whomever was responsible for this, they were going to pay. Oh, they were going to PAY! It didn’t matter if it wasn’t tonight, or the next month, or a decade from now; somepony was going to pay for all this!
Slowly they helped each other up, dusted themselves off, fixed their clothing the best they could, and made the slow sore trek back to the Castle of Friendship. Twilight was simply too tired and angry to teleport them. On the way they met up with a bored Luna who was going to ask them how things went, but one look on their faces caused her think better of it.
At the castle waiting for them was the last entity they wanted to see at the moment. Said entity was currently laughing so hard that all his different parts were cycling through various colors and patterns.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO MATTER HO-HAHAHA-HOW MANY TIMES I SEE-HEHEHE IT! IT’S ALWAYS JUST AS-AHAHAHAHAHAHA AS FUNNY!!” laughed Discord, rolling around in the air.
Before he could react he found himself caught in the pink glow of Twilight’s magic as he was yanked from the air and forced right up the the faces of the mane six. To say they were furious would be a gross understatement.
“You...” Twilight growled through clenched teeth “Do you have any idea HOW HUMILIATING TONIGHT WAS?!”
Discord, still laughing, just gave a bored shrug. Fluttershy stepped forward and hit him with her intense stare.
“Discord, I thought you were changed! I thought you were reformed!” she said in a quiet angry voice. “So how? How could you have done this to us?!”
Forced to calm down due to the power of the stare, Discord just sighed held up his mismatched hands. He’s had to do this quite a few times already and it was never pleasant. Maybe for the other Equis’ he’ll just give his replacement powers and a book or something explaining everything and then just leave.
“Calm down, all of you. You just had a bad night, that’s all. Nothing some tea and a snack can’t fix. Besides, I didn’t do any of this haha!”
“Just a bad night? JUST A BAD NIGHT?!” screamed Rainbow Dash, rushing at Discord only to be held back by Applejack “Let go! Let me at him!!”
Applejack was doing her best to stay cool headed, though she was very tempted to let go of Rainbow Dash “Now what do ya mean it weren’t you? Then who was it? You’re the god of chaos, who else would it be?”
Discord shook his head “No, no I’m not, not anymore at least. It was fun while it lasted my friends, but I’ve retired.”
“WAIT WHAT?!” shouted all the girls; Luna included.
There was suddenly clapping and a chuckle and the girls turned to see a strange blue four armed creature sitting in a floating arm chair. One pair of arms was slowly clapping and the other was holding a saucer and cup of tea. “Wonderful, simply brilliant! I didn’t doubt them for a minute. Oh Discord you, he is everything you said he’d be and more. Simply amazing!”
“You…” said Luna in stunned disbelief, a very slight smirk in the corner of her mouth.
“Me…” said Mael with a grin.
“Who are you?” asked Twilight slowly, the gaze of the creatures three golden eyes filled her with dread and unease.
“I am Maelstrom; This worlds new God of Chaos!” Mael responded, sipping their tea.
The room fell silent as the girls just stared slack jawed, turning to Discord for an explanation. Seeing his que, he began to explain.
“You see, as per the rules, to retire I have to name a replacement. Maelstrom here is that replacement. It’s time this old age of discord to end.”
The girls were still stunned silent. This was real, this was actually happening. They couldn’t believe it. Fluttershy moved forward and hugged her friend.
“So...so you’re leaving?” she asked teary eyed, her prior anger long forgotten.
Discord nodded sadly, this part was always the hardest. Seeing that look on Fluttershy’s face over and over again, it’ll always get to him. He really needed to start just to start just plopping his replacements in and leaving. “That's how things have to be I’m afraid. Old god moves out, new god moves in. Don’t worry though, I’ll come visit when I can. It’s just that now, spreading chaos isn’t my job anymore. Goodbye my friends.” he said before waving and teleporting away. They all just stood there in silence.
“As sad as this might be, all that means is that it’s YOU who’s going to have to pay!” a still angry Rarity finally spoke up, pointing at Mael who just sipped their tea.
“As comedic as it would be to kick your flanks left and right after such a hilariously enjoyable night, I’m afraid I cannot claim responsibility for yonder past events; I am merely an observer here. No no if you would like the real culprit…” they said, gesturing to a nearby door.
The girls turned and stared at the door, their faces a mixture of anger and anxiety as it slowly opened. Stepping through the door and politely closing it behind himself was the black dragon from before. However, without the cover of night to help hide his features the girls could get a good detailed look at him. This caused Twilight to come to a stark and rather unbelievable realization.
Twilight couldn’t believe who was standing in front of her. It wasn’t possible! The other girls slowly caught on as well, gasping at they recognized the strange dragon.
“Why do you look like that?! What happened to you?!” asked Twilight, her tone full of worry and concern, yet the angry remained. Where it was directed now though was anyone’s guess.
The black dragon just chuckled “Oh nothing Twi, just a little change in looks” he said.
“Yes” agreed Mael “his old look just wasn’t a fitting style for Team Chaos”
Again, all the girls shouted; “WHAT?!”
Spike grinned “That’s right, I work for Chaos now. But don’t worry my friends; I’ll go easy on you”
“But….but…”Twilight stammered, trying to find the words.
Applejack took the opportunity to speak up, her voice sounding hurt “So ya went and gone evil now huh?”
“Not evil, Chaos isn’t evil.” the dragon said. “Just like Harmony isn’t good. It all just...is. Both sides need to exist. Since you lot are Team Harmony, I felt it was only right to join Team Chaos.”
Finally Twilight managed to collect her thoughts enough to ask one question “But why?”
The dragon turned to Twilight, glaring at her with those solid purple eyes “Because you all ARE Team Harmony and you’ve made it very clear that there isn’t any room on that team for me.” he said. “So I’ll work for Chaos now. I’ll use every last ounce of my power and knowledge to prove I’m more than just somepony’s servant, some trained pet to be left behind to write down your daring escapades as you’re off adventuring across Equestria. I’m not some weak pathetic hatchling that needs your protection and I’ll prove I’m just as good if not better than you Twi. You didn’t want me by your side on your adventures, fine. I’ll just be the cause of them!”
The black dragon looked at each of the girls, their faces a mixture of emotions. “So, I hope you all are ready. Tonight was just a taste, the main course is coming soon. It’s a whole new age of chaos!”
Mael nodded their head, clapping and wiping their eyes “Beautiful speech, simply beautiful! Now, if you’ll excuse me lovelies, I have some more business to do before the night is over” they said before poofing away.
Luna, who had up to this point been standing there quietly in mild shock, cleared her throat and said “I must be going as well, Tia will need to be updated on these...current events.” In her mind, however, she was thinking about how interesting things are going to become around here. She politely excused herself and teleported back to Canterlot.
Twilight looked at the intimidating dragon that she called her brother. Her mind was still reeling, trying to make any sense of everything that had happened. It was a flurry of emotions and thoughts. “Spike…” she said softly, hoping this was all just some elaborate joke. That had to be it. Discord retiring and some strange new enemy turning her little brother over to the side of evil? This all had to be some crazy joke that Discord put him up to. None of this was real, it couldn’t be.
“Spike? No, that’s not my name anymore. I am Disarray” the black and purple dragon responded with a dark laugh “Viva la Chaos.”
That was it, Twilight’s brain refused to try to process any more, it decided it was time to call it a night. Twilight fainted.
On the other side of town behind an old clubhouse the CMC were looking at each other with excitement after coming out of a short meeting with a certain being. To be more specific, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were looking at each other’s right shoulder while Scootaloo had pulled down her pants to check out her hips. On Bloom’s right shoulder was the mark of a black apple with a red outline, on Sweetie’s was a black quarter note with a emerald outline, and on Scoot’s hips where two black bat wings with a magenta outline.
“Ya know, ya could just look at yer shoulder too. No need to drop yer pants” said Applebloom with a smirk.
“But it’s bigger on my hips, I wanna see all the details!” Scootaloo responded excitedly.
“You know what this all means right?” asked Sweetie
“That we FINALLY have our cutiemarks!” responded Scootaloo.
“That we officially ain’t Cutie Mark Crusaders any more” said Applebloom
"Well, yes and yes...but I was talking about all of this. This whole situation. We aren’t even who we used to be anymore. No more Sweetie Belle, no more Applebloom, and no more Scootaloo. They no longer exist. We’re...something different now” said Sweetie.
Applebloom nodded “Something new…”
Scootaloo pulled up her pants “Something dark…”
“So what do you say Shadow Blitz? Bad Seed? Ready to raise come chaos?” asked Hymnphonic. Her eyes flashing emerald green as she held out her hand.
Bad Seed eye’s flashed red as she smiled and placed hers on top “Let’s show those goodie goodies what we’re made of”
Shadow Blitz’s eyes flashed magenta as she grinned and slapped her hand on top of the other two “This is going to be fun! Long live chaos!”
Author's Note
Thank you everyone for reading MLP: Dawn of Chaos. I'm already working on the next entry to this saga: MLP Age of Chaos so be ready!
I'll try to answer any questions you have in the comment sections.
Someone messaged me asking what Maelstrom looked like. Well here you all go:
