Chapters Prelude to Deliverance
By: (Lord) Barcha
Part 1: Delta
You awaken in darkness, opening your eyes to find no light. You reach out, but nothing exists for you to touch. You struggle to breathe, but no air fills your lungs. The world is void, silence and darkness. A voice speaks, ignoring the impossibility of speech in a vacuum, “Welcome to the void, young one. I am called many things. The Archivist. The Recorder. And most commonly, Death. You can stop trying to scream, I can do nothing to you now. You are already dead. I am simply here to guide you onward. However, there is something you can do for me.
When you have existed for so long that you no longer remember your beginning, and know for an absolute fact that you have no end, some form of entertainment is necessary. So, many thousands of years ago, I began to collect the only interesting things in this place, stories. Everything has an origin, a motivation, and a purpose for their existence. Some stories are as simple as a brief romance, and others are so complex that they encompass multiples realities. Each story interweaves different points of view and motivations. From my outsider’s perspective, I long ago learned not to take sides. When you see two armies with exactly the same beliefs make war, you quickly stop trying to rationalize who is in the right.
You are of particular interest to me because you hold a view in a story thousands of years in the making. I have been watching it with interest and wondering which side will win in the end, or indeed, if anyone will win at all. And regardless of which side wins, I’ll be talking to a lot of ponies from your universe in the near future. And so, I make you an offer. I will share with you the parts of the story that others have given to me, then you will tell me yours.
Nod once for yes. Good. Let us begin. The sooner we finish, the sooner you can move on, and I can hear the next part of the story. This particular tale begins with a war, but I’ll let him tell you about it. His story is nothing remarkable, merely the account of a sheep in a battle he never fully understood, but it nicely establishes the setting.”
My name was Delta. Chaos had a strange sense of humor, always talking about the “fourth wall” and how my name was some kind of joke aimed at the “audience” whatever that might be. I commanded a group of roughly fifty, including groups of pegasi and unicorns. My task force had met the enemy on the hills, just south of Canterlot, or at least, where Canterlot used to stand before Chaos obliterated it. More than a hundred soldiers met us at the base of the hill, heavy infantry composing the main body. Their group had few unicorns, and only one or two pegasi, so they would be a fair fight. I hated fair fights. Their leader, a white pegasus, guided them from the sky.
Like all of Order’s soldiers, they fought with frightening efficiency, wasting no energy. However, their efficiency also made them predictable, and they fell into even the most simple of traps. Despite the fact that we had only light skirmishers with us, who were certainly no match in a fair fight, we managed to split them, giving the illusion of flight and then hitting their exposed flank with a barrage from our unicorns. At least twenty fell in the first strike, but they quickly reformed and charged our position. Underestimating their speed, we let loose another barrage of iron. Mentally, I cursed General Olive for not giving us any of the stronger unicorns. What was he thinking, sending me out with a bunch of rookies? This time, they were prepared, and only one went down.
Unable to escape, the unicorns quickly fell before the much stronger earth ponies, who broke their weak bodies like twigs. My pegasi were too weak to contend with so solid a formation, and we withdrew up the slope. Much of the hill remained exposed, and was little more than a sheer cliff, making it perfect for the pegasi’s flight to be maximized.
When we reached the top, the pursuing force began to scale the slope. While I waited, I examined the main battle in the distance. White flashes and bursts of light lit up the flat plains. Other, stronger unicorns would be there, changing the battlefield itself to suit their tactics. However, the chances of survival on such a playing field would be abysmal. Under the seething magic, the very earth would try to consume the incautious. At the heart of the battle, a roiling form tore through all before it. Its shape constantly shifted, but such was Chaos. He killed everything in sight, not a soldier but a force of nature. And like a force of nature, he didn’t care who he killed.
Glancing down at the slope, I shook my head and laughed at the simple incompetence of my opponent. She had run into an obvious trap and hadn’t even bothered scouting the slope before scaling it. As the first group neared the top, I gave the signal. Great boulders rolled down the slope, crushing many of the foes, and the pegasi swooped down to finish any who had survived. However, my pegasi never rose from their landing places, and I felt a whistle as a shard of iron tore the air next to my face. Unicorns. Although most of my pegasi had fallen, three or four rose above the tree line once again. Another whistle, and another pegasus fell to join the corpses below. Shifting into my native tongue, I cursed my enemies. Although more than half of their force lay dead on the ground, I had lost all but three of my pegasi, all of my unicorns, save me, and had no support for my light infantry. Drawing three short daggers from my bag, I sent one of them hurtling down to clatter on the rocks below.
“There! Another ambush!” a hoarse voice cried from below.
Chuckling, I sent the remaining daggers in the direction of the voice, to be rewarded with a gurgling scream. With another application of magic, the daggers returned, one drenched in blood.
War is hell. It changes you and twists you in ways beyond imagining. Eventually, you start to enjoy it. To me, that bloody dagger was nothing more than a treat, to be savored. I enjoyed my salty knife for a moment, before motioning to my soldiers once again.
“Fade. Spread out and cover each other, don’t strike unless you can get a clean kill.” I whispered to my soldiers, casting an illusion spell. It took more magic than desired, but I accepted the loss, and disappeared into the shadows. Motioning to one of my geomancers, we proceeded down the slope, to approach the one of the newly diminished groups of enemy soldiers. From behind me, that thrice cursed pegasus cried out. She wore a Seer’s Stone, set in the center of her forehead on a crown of silver, which allowed her to look through my illusions. Throwing my daggers, I dived out of sight behind a tree. The pegasus effortlessly dodged my attack and continued in my direction. The earth pony geomancer next to me closed his eyes in concentration, and a faint trace of magic began to work its way toward the nearby trees. Understanding his intent, I set aside my pride and self-preservation, and stepped into the open. Immediately, the commander shot in my direction, talons on her armor reaching outward. As she approached, spikes of wood shot out of a tree, too quickly to dodge. She fell at my feet, and a well-placed dagger ended it.
“Well done soldier,” I said to him, “The prize is yours.”
However, he declined, instead saying, “Keep it, Commander, My powers need no amplification. They sent me with you because my time is near.”
You must understand, geomancers were rare even then, mostly because of the cost to their power. Complete manipulation of nature comes at an equivalent price. The more power they have, the sooner they die because of it, consumed by the very nature they use. This particular pony had sprouted several dozen roses from his back with his most recent spell, and was oozing blood. He wouldn’t last much longer.
In the distance, an explosion broke the calm, and I smirked at the dull screams. Offering the bloodied dagger to my comrade, I issued command quickly and quietly, “That took out at least half of the remaining soldiers. I estimate a maximum of ten left. You need to hold on until they’re dead, then we can pull you back. Enjoy the snack, it’ll help.”
Chaos gives us all some very strange powers, each with their own downsides. I once heard of a pony that could manipulate space and time as she chose. She managed to erase herself from existence so thoroughly by misusing it that she technically never existed in the first place. My particular skill was sangromancy, which allowed me to draw power from the consumption of blood. And yes, I’ve heard all of the vampire jokes, but I don’t need the blood to live. I just used it to accelerate healing and magic recovery. To some extent, I could transfer my power and was trying to improvise a healing method for my wounded comrade.
Only a gurgle answered me, and I glanced at the dying geomancer. A long, jagged chunk of metal protruded from his throat. Manipulating my daggers, I killed the unicorn responsible, and advanced on the final column of infantry. They were a sorry group, a mere dozen, trying desperately to reform into coherence. It pained me to kill anyone so helpless, but we lacked the tools to imprison them. They had made their choice.
Their lack of leadership prevented any discipline, which had been the source of their strength and competence, and I killed three of them from my position behind them. As the bodies struck the ground, a pegasus swooped into the gap, killing another with a well-placed blow before launching himself back into the air. My other geomancer struck next, shattering their defenses with some kind of monstrous plant and killed a further five by herself. I made a note to check on her condition after a spell like that. The last three struggled to stand, before my skirmishers finally arrived to finish them. They collapsed under the assault, too stunned to truly fight back.
“Report!” I shouted to the soldiers, “What are the losses?”
My second in command, the remaining pegasus, quickly tallied the survivors, “We lost all of the unicorns, save you, for a total of thirteen. The explosion was the Pyromancer hitting his limit. Ten of the twenty skirmishers are dead, and thirteen of fifteen pegasi. This is assuming that all are dead, with no wounded. Our other geomancer has yet to report, but he’s strong. I’m sure he’s fine.”
“He’s dead.” I delivered the news with a heavy heart. Our few survivors would be insufficient to hold the ridge.
At that moment, a corpse on the ground forced itself to its feet. Clearing its throat of the clotted blood, it spoke in a harsh, mechanical voice, before collapsing again, “Order is coming. Pull out.”
Panic set in. We were not equipped to fight her. There was no way we would ever be. Our only hope was to buy time for escape. I gave a quick set of motions to my troops. They understood what it meant, “Go on. I’ll catch up later.” They knew it was a lie, but they knew better than to directly disobey an order and began to run silently up the slope. Perhaps my second in command would finally get the leadership position he so deserved with my death.
Silently, I turned and began to walk in the other direction, carefully examining my surroundings. As I paced down the long path, the question gnawed at me. Why am I fighting? I suppressed it. Chaos was the only hope for ponykind, the lesser of the two evils. But yet the same doubts, obviously brought on by my impending death, continued to bother me. What had he ever done to help us? Certainly, he had warned us all of the dangers Order posed to reality, but was it really so essential? Indeed, could a victor ever come of such a fight? By all accounts, the war had no solid beginning, stretching back for a thousand years or more.
I only understand it now, I certainly didn’t then. This must be what Commander Arcturus felt, this despair, this emptiness. But unlike me, he acted on it and launched his mad quest to unite ponykind in peace. What were those words again, from his famous last struggle?
The words came unbidden to my lips, as my father once told me, “This day we fight, not to win, but to plant the seeds of hope, that others may rise against. And so that, in the name of peace, shall the final war be fought.”
Then, I spotted it, and my doubts fled from me. A right angle, an unnatural perfection on an ancient and wizened tree. However, it did little to increase my already maximized fear. Minutes passed, and still nothing disturbed the forest but the breeze. Perhaps I had erred; perhaps there had been no threat at all, merely a decoy to force us to yield our position. It seemed out of character for Order, she never really tried the deception side of war, but I eventually concluded that she had truly faked us out. I turned to follow my compatriots, but decided to wait a minute to gather my nerves.
As I calmed myself and relaxed, exhaling deeply, the long, cold sword drove itself into my back, and I fell without a word. My punctured and deflated lungs were too weak to call out to my allies. She had been there the entire time. Detachment came as the pain quickly faded, and the world slowly spun away. With my dying motion, I turned over to see my killer, and was greeted with a vision of absolute terror. It simply existed, a featureless nothing, a formless shape of distilled emptiness. It didn't even have the decency to let me choke out my last words, the b-(Censored by your friendly reaper).
Now can you just let me move on, Death? I’ve done what you wanted. I want to rest.
Part 2: Resolve
Colors faded back to black as the void slowly returned. “Realistic, isn’t it?” The voice of Death asked, obviously rhetorically, “Of course, even with such vivid imagery, there is no guarantee that everything is correct. Such is the disadvantage of hearing a story second-hand. On the day Delta died, the war was roughly ten thousand years older than the first sapient pony. Thus, no-one, especially this pony, expected the end to come so quickly. This is one of the more interesting sections of the story. I have only one account of this, and I have no way of knowing exactly what happened afterward. I am sure that there was another witness, but if there was, they chose to tell me nothing. But I digress, she can tell it a thousand times better than I. After all, she was there.”
Broken stone clattered under my hooves. Around me, the others trudged on in perfect formation. Ruined buildings sent pangs of regret through me. Regret that we had allowed another city to fall. Regret that Chaos had fallen on yet another population.
“Number 37!” The commander shouted, “Focus and keep in line!”
I had failed to keep up, had allowed my unhappiness to show. Forcing myself back into proper position required a great effort, but I eventually regained my composure. My sister, a pegasus, had fallen in battle the previous night. I had looked forward to serving under for several years. Now, it could never happen. An interruption from one side. A pony near me in line fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from one side.
The order came quickly, “They’ve hidden in the nearby ruins! Break into squads and deal with any you find!”
My group of ten broke away from the main body, and we charged in the direction of a mostly intact ruin. Another whistling chunk of metal struck one of my fellow soldiers, but failed to penetrate his armor. Now that the presence of the enemy was confirmed, I dived through a window and landed next to a surprised unicorn. With my magically enhanced strength, his skull was little more than a glass bowl, to be broken. It felt wrong. My first kill. Other infantry broke through the walls and quickly dispatched the enemies in the room. A mere three bodies lay on the ground. Something was off. Chaos soldiers never attacked unless they thought they had a chance of victory, and three against ten was no competition at all. Then, it struck.
“Locate the pyromancer!” the captain cried to his scattered soldiers, then glanced at me. “You acted without orders. It saved lives, so I’ll let you off with a reprimand. Don’t do it again.”
Irritation shot through me. I had saved his life, and this was how I was treated? However, I had no time to brood, as the next assault had already begun.
From above, a group of three pegasi swept down, each grabbing a soldier and launching themselves back into the sky. They regrouped around a griffon wearing a rich red and gold flight-suit and offered their cargo to it. It dug its beak into one of my companions, Number 32, who screamed and struggled. However, the griffon merely laughed harshly and quickly slit his throat. Tossing the dead pony aside, it let off a burst of flame from its mouth, roasting another soldier. Even fifty feet away, the heat caused me to flinch. My captain looked stunned. No-one had ever seen a griffon in battle before, much less one that had sworn itself to Chaos and received one of his accursed powers. Running through my options, I quickly decided on an appropriate course of action. We needed cover, somewhere where they wouldn’t have thought to set up a trap. Of course! The building from before had not entirely collapsed. It would certainly serve. Pegasi couldn’t beat heavy infantry in closed spaces.
“Quickly! Back under cover!” I shouted, grabbing my stunned commander and dragging him into the badly burned ruin. Two of the remaining soldiers followed, but another went up in a column of fire before he could escape. It was Number 38 this time. Although the building had suffered in the explosion, there had been no force in the detonation. Based on the charred corpse halfway through the door, it had mostly consisted of raw heat. It struck me then. That could have been me. That could have been all of us. Even as it stood, six of the ponies I knew best were all dead, and they had all died within the space of a few minutes. A crash from above. Swinging hard, I felt a satisfying crack as the pegasus’ neck snapped under my armored hoof.
As the griffon flew in, I noted that it was smoking slightly. Chaos’ curse was obviously taking its toll. Too distracted by a now flaming wing, it didn’t notice until too late the earth pony waiting to crush it in a death-grip. As the new corpse fell to the floor, the Captain visibly pulled himself together, and choked out the order, “fall back to the rendezvous point. We’ve taken too much damage.”
From outside, the call came, “Chaos is coming! Reform and prepare to flee!”
“Who do you think you are?” demanded the captain. “This is the second time you’ve acted without orders in as many minutes!”
“But sir,” I began, but he cut me off.
“Don’t call me sir! You are exactly what we work so hard to fight! You will be held, awaiting trial upon our return! Now, form up! We need to get out of here!”
With a heavy heart, I rejoined the line. Did Order really value obedience over intelligence? In the distance, I saw several chaos soldiers fleeing at the top of their speed. Apparently, even they didn’t want to be anywhere near their master. “Sir!” I called to the commander, “We’ll never escape Chaos. He’s going to kill us all! We need to scatter. At least some of us will have a chance at escape then.”
“Your logic is unnecessary and flawed,” the captain responded sharply, “This will be added to your record of insubordination.”
“Then add this to the record too!” That was the final straw. If being in Order’s army meant that I would be reprimanded for saving lives, I wanted no part in it. I stopped marching and walked in the opposite direction. We needed a distraction, and the commander was obviously not going to let it happen in any way but this. In the distance, I heard something shouted about killing me on sight. So this was what Order was, a being so focused on obedience that she wanted us to forget about our own lives. But was Chaos any better? I would soon find out.
Ten minutes passed, and then twenty, but still no sign of him. I began to wonder what had happened. Was he simply not coming?
The minutes passed, and I eventually reached the outskirts of what had once been Canterlot, the former seat of Commander Arcturus’ power. I stopped for a moment to examine the rough, mossy stones, when a sharp smell touched my nose.
Heavy, roiling smoke tainted the air as Chaos approached, but from behind. Immediately, the realization struck. He had killed the soldiers first, and then come back for me. His appearance was impossible to describe. It constantly changed and shifted, from brass gears and steam to unidentifiable biological mass, to a crude facsimile of my own.
In one voice, but yet thousands, he spoke, “Let us look at this situation simply. You are alone and wearing the Order uniform. Singular Order soldiers do not exist. This means that you have either been banished, or have deserted. The determined hatred on your face clearly marks you as an enemy, which leads me to believe that you came out here to distract me from your fleeing and now dead comrades. They really didn’t deserve you.” It reached out an arm to gently touch the side of my face, which I promptly broke as violently as I could manage.
“Stop talking and fight me!” I bellowed in defiance.
His demeanor shifted to one of amusement and several more arms extruded themselves from what might be called a body, “It’s a pity, really. I saw your performance in battle earlier. You would make such a good soldier for my side. Unfortunately for you, I’m not currently accepting applications. You see, one of my favorite soldiers, Commander Delta, is dead. Order killed him last night, although not before losing her best pegasus commander in the fighting. This has put me in a really terrible mood.”
“Did you say pegasus commander?”
“Why, yes. Lieutenant Stonewall was her name. Relative of yours?” He grinned, clearly showing that he already knew.
I slammed into him, doing my best to hurt him, but the arms pinned me to the ground. “She was my sister! My hero! I was supposed to serve under her!” Although I tried to control myself, my angry shouts degraded into grief filled sobs.
His face, such as it was, adopted a serious position. “It’s time for a lesson, my little pony. Learn it well. It is to be your last. Order is not what you think it is. It is basically representative of simplicity.”
A claw scratched into my side, drawing a few drops of blood. My innate magic slowly began to seal it, closing it little by little.
“You earth ponies have impressive regenerative abilities, as well as absurd strength. But do you need them? No. You do not. And that is how Order will begin to treat it, as unnecessary”
I winced as he pulled something out of my body, something that faintly shimmered in the light, before fading away into the smoky air.
“And that was your magic. You didn’t need it, so I eliminated it, just like Order will.”
He ripped off my tail and mane, grinning viciously and humorlessly.
“You don’t need a mane or a tail, so they go away!”
His voiced waxed louder as he tore off my nose, “You don’t need a nose, so it is taken from you!”
Pain blossomed in my face as I collapsed to the ground.
“Before long, Order decides that life is itself unnecessary to this universe, and then it goes away!”
Driving a limb, through my chest, he turned and began to walk away. The wound, however, was not immediately fatal; it would be a while before I died.
A voice boomed from behind me, “Chaos! Today, you die!”
“That’s rich, Order, you know that we’re equals. It’s not like you to lie like that. There is no possible way to defeat me without dying yourself. Just take your soldier and go.”
I struggled to look at Order, and dared to hope for a second that I might survive.
Then, Order spoke, “She was not mine. She was a mere grunt. I don’t feel like saving a useless soldier who disobeyed orders. She tried to balance Order and Chaos and died for it. Neither of us can afford rogue elements.”
It was then that something snapped. Being dead really helps your perspective on things. I now know for a fact that in that instant, I went completely, utterly insane. Two, all-encompassing sides had rejected me, and I rejected them. They didn’t care about me. They counted me among the dead, when I could still hear and understand them. They didn’t care about anyone. We were just pawns in a war that we did not choose. And in that instant of clarity, the music began. Strings of melody, echoing in my ears, faint at first, but waxing louder. It felt sad. No. Sad was the wrong word. It sounded like distilled grief, the sorrow of the dead all around.
It whispered to me, asking for assistance, for a body to use, and I gave it everything I had. It seeped into my veins and lifted me gently to my feet. My wounds ceased to ache, washed away by the raw feeling behind the power. Pain still pulsed through me, but it was nothing, merely a faint melody, lost in the storm. I was lost. Now I am found.
Wings burst forth from my back, and a horn grew from my forehead. Some part of me registered that it couldn’t last, that my wounds were too great, but I resolved to use this broken body of mine to save my people. I asked for the power to do so, and I received it. For an instant, I felt Harmony. Light seeped from my wound as it yawned wider from the strain, and golden ichor pooled on the ground at my feet.
Order’s usually smug and impassive face showed terror as she looked upon my shining form. Chaos didn’t even bother to look, fleeing at the top of his speed. They were nothing. Catching them with a bolt of magic, I brought the full force of the power to bear against them. They broke and splintered under my grasp, screeching as they felt pain for the first time. Then, they vanished, leaving me alone on the field.
Satisfied in my work, the power left me. Drawing itself away, the music, and feelings that came with it, abandoned me to my fate. As it left, I realized that I would never feel anything again. Nothing could compare to the raw emotion and depth of Harmony, not even my mortal wound. I died then, in a pool of my own blood, alone but content. I had made the world a better place.
Part 3: Terminus
“When she told me that story, I honestly didn’t believe a word of it.” The voice commented, “however, a few things convinced me that it wasn’t impossible. Firstly, she begged me not to share her story, not the kind of thing a braggart does. In fact, she never even told me her name. I had to find it out from someone else. And secondly, none who arrived in this realm after her ever spoke of seeing either Order or Chaos any time after her death.
Eventually, one of the dead spoke of arriving at the scene afterward. He said that while the details were sketchy, the story lined up with the disappearance of the two leaders, and that he had seen a body, maimed in a way that matched the description. It is possible that some account of the event escaped my notice, perhaps even working its way into legends or even a history book, but if it did, I have heard nothing about it.”
The fathomless void around you lightens slightly, fading to a dark grey. But the voice continues on, “I can tell by your reaction that things have become a bit clearer. It means that I’m doing my job correctly. It has, over the long eons, become my job to offer understanding to the dead before they move on. It serves to show you that there was a meaning to existence, something many have forgotten. But far from believing me, perhaps you would like an account.
This is a short, sad story, and thoroughly disconnected from the universe you now inhabit. It is being given to you to show two things. Firstly, you need to know how much difference a single pony can make. And secondly, you need to know the stakes of the war between Order and Chaos.
In this particular story, Delta was never born. Because of this, Number 37 eventually served under her sister, Commander, and later General, Stonewall in Order’s army, strengthening a bond of sisterly love. Eventually, they commanded Order’s armies in her final victory, mostly because the armies finally started to think for themselves a bit. After Order’s triumph, the world began to shut down, and ponies began to lose their magic. In a final gesture of wrath and despair at the uncaring entity, Number 37 and her sister tapped into Harmony’s power to seal Order away forever. They failed to accomplish this goal. Instead, they killed her outright.
Without magic, gods, or indeed, Harmony itself, that world developed very differently from yours. In your world, the unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was well known for her raw magical ability. Her birth in this world was a very different one, and her death far from extraordinary in its misery. What made this account interesting throughout was how damaged the world was. It was on the eve of collapse at that time. In such a world, where time and space have grown thin and weak, the inhabitants occasionally glimpse things as they are elsewhere in the multiverse, and usually long for it.”
Dully glowing neon lights lit the slums of Ponyville. Trash from the latest riot blew in the wind, and the stumbling drunkards from a nearby bar tripped over each other as they made their way home. One of them, a pink earth pony tripped and fell to the ground, laughing and convulsing as foam dribbled from her mouth. Shuddering, I looked to the north, where the twisting spires of Canterlot pierced the clouds of smog, glowing from the well-lit streets below. How I longed to be back there.
From the south, a low moaning sound broke the night air. Glancing in that direction, I was greeted by the sight of a perfectly formed black pearl on the horizon. As I observed impassively, it drew in clouds and chunks of earth like a ravenous beast. Then, it hit the edge of the city, and stopped. The barrier, usually invisible, crackled with energy as it fought the twist in space, before finally deflecting it.
Most of the ponies around had chosen to ignore the devourer, instead carrying on their normal business. It was far from extraordinary. In the wastes outside of Canterlot, devourers appeared at random, tearing apart everything around them and then disappearing. Some hypothesized that life now existed only in the greater Canterlot area. Certainly, the last time an expedition had actually reached Fillydelphia and returned alive, they had reported no sign that the city had ever existed in the first place, much less the presence of life. From above, a bright streak crossed the sky. It was probably just another set of desperate humans, struggling to escape both the devourers and their inevitable extinction.
A voice cried out from a nearby alley, “Hey guys! Look, a unicorn! Get her!”
Of course. Unicorns generally learned the most quickly, thus acquiring most of the jobs in leadership positions and data management. The segment of the brain devoted to communication with the horn allowed for unicorns to be hooked into the computer systems with relative ease. Indeed, the less successful unicorns often rented their minds as cheap processing power, which quickly killed them. Unicorns who succeeded in life could expect the highest administrative positions. Unfortunately for me, this meant that the angry earth ponies chasing me probably blamed me for their current lack of a job.
Although I ran at the top of my speed, I had no chance of outrunning them. Even the strongest unicorn couldn’t compete with an earth pony. As I ran, the questions poured forth. Why did Harmony give us such a horrible world? What did we do to deserve this nightmare of steel and electricity? Where was the true leadership we so desperately needed? A spark of violet jumped from my horn. Ha! Magic was so shriveled and dead. I was probably the only unicorn left who could get even that much power.
Flashing through my head, a vivid picture broke through my mind and caused me to trip. A gently pony with both wings and a horn, looking down at me in a motherly, kind way. How I longed for such a pony, someone to love and care about me, but I dismissed it as mere fantasy. The price of love was simply too high. I had seen what happens to the loving, a slit throat and stolen purse. No ponies had ever possessed both wings and a horn, anyway.
As I struggled to my feet, a blow to my legs quickly banished any hope of escape and forced me back to the ground. However, rather than finishing their task, my assailants cried out and backed away. Lifting my head, I was greeted with the sight of a set of pegasi dressed in guard uniforms. Their wings were braced with smooth plates and hooked up to an engine, which allowed them to fly despite their lack of magic.
One of them lifted a hoof, revealing a long rod of metal coated in plastic. It touched one of the earth ponies, and he collapsed, spasming violently. The rest of the group quickly dealt with the others, swinging their rods with impunity, and encircled me.
“Thanks for that, I thought I was going to die,” I said, trying to be gracious as I stood on my bruised legs.
“What are you thanking me for?” one of the pegasi asked, and then swung his humming rod.
I woke up sometime later with a horrible metallic taste in my mouth and tried to move, only to find a set of chains holding my legs together. Panic shot through me.
“Where am I?” I demanded, glancing around desperately.
My voice echoed back at me, warped and twisted by the cavernous room. Machinery of the old style, brass gears and steam, lay scattered through the room, obviously abandoned. In the center of the room, an immense conglomerate of wires and circuitry hung from the ceiling. It shifted slightly, revealing something at the center. An arm, more like a lion’s leg, reached out and pulled tubing aside. Chunks of metal and pipinging protruded from the arm, binding it into the machine. Slow, rattling breaths came from deep within the device. “Could I have a visitor?” it asked with a wheezing cough.
“Who are you, and where am I?” I demanded, panic rising in my chest.
“I was once Chaos’ lieutenant, Discord. Because of your confusion, I am lead to believe that you were brought here by force, correct?”
It was all I could do not to faint. Discord was a legend. A beast of unimaginable strength and cruelty. However, panic would do nothing for me, so I answered as levelly as I could, “That would be correct.”
“Then let me tell you two things. Firstly, I couldn’t hurt you if I tried in my current condition. I’m rather tied up. Secondly, you need to know where you are and why you are here. In the aftermath of the War of Command, your country’s hero, Resolve, or as most who served with or under her knew her, Number 37, was simply sent home. Absolutely ignored. In fact, Order sent everyone home with neither pay, nor thanks. For the sake of her soldiers, who were starving, Resolve entered Order’s palace to ask what had happened. I followed, mostly out of curiosity and desperation. Order didn’t even look at her. She just jerked a lance off of the wall and ran her through, then went back to work. What exactly happened next, I’ll probably never know, except that the world went white, and Order disappeared.”
The account was wrong. All of the books in the library agreed. Discord had killed both Order and Resolve, “Wait, I was taught that Resolve died protecting Order from you.”
“And that’s rule one of a city like this. Don’t believe what you were taught. As a being of chaos, I could feel Order’s movements and location and knew she could feel mine. There was no way I could even hope to touch a being like her, much less kill her.
Even my creator, Chaos, was incapable of killing her without the backlash killing him. The only reason she didn’t kill me was because she knew that I would die when the chaos in the universe ran out. She probably thought it was a waste of effort to kill me before I aggressed. In the aftermath of that flash, her stench was simply gone. Besides, she’s such a stickler to rules. She’d never break them. Instantaneous transportation breaks every rule she ever made.”
Unfortunately, this made sense. Could he be telling the truth? “So, what do you think happened?”
“I assume that the same thing happened to Order that happened to Chaos. She was killed. However, something needs to be clarified. The thing you call magic is actually chaos channeled through a set of rules. Chaos was the source of all of the chaos in the universe, just as Order was the source of the order. Chaos’ death was enough to all but kill magic, and with no source of order or chaos, this universe has simply been running on reserve power. I’m the last supply of chaos. In short; I’m a battery, and I’m rapidly running dry.”
Although satisfied by his answer, the question still stood. “So why would they bring me here?”
“That’s quite simple really. I provide the chaos that keeps the sun going. The city is currently held together by what fragments of magic remain, which manifests as a force field. The twists in space that you call devourers are basically chunks of this universe unraveling and falling into the void. Death keeps chastising me for that, something about not dumping my junk on him, but I can’t really do much about it.
Because of my nature, I’m quite capable of restoring you to the magical strength you should have by flooding you with chaos. They plan to use your restored magic to refresh the barrier protecting this city, guaranteeing it another hundred years or so to find another magic source.”
This was far too much to take in. I was being asked to save the world by Discord, who once proclaimed his intention to destroy it. “So why couldn’t they just ask? It would be wonderful to learn that my magical ability could help save this world.”
“Because they are too terrified that you would refuse. With Order and Chaos dead, your magic is a finite supply, not something that can be restored by resting or eating. Because the spell would draw all of your power from you, you would fall out of the universe and into the void. And there is nothing more certain to kill you than that.”
“So they were so terrified of dying, that they would sacrifice me without even telling me why?”
“And why should they care about you? You are merely one among the sea of faces. Are you worth any more than another? Holding onto this miserable existence is my sacrifice for the world. It means that I accept this belief and offer myself for the many.”
How far had Discord fallen? From arrogant conqueror and death incarnate to fatalist. How I pitied him then. “You poor creature.”
“Don’t you dare pity me! I’m here because I choose to be!” Discord shrieked. Then he chuckled, a wretched croaking sound. “It’s really funny though. I’ve been rotting down here for a thousand years. There is increasingly little holding me to life, which has led to some interesting conversations with Death.Don’t look so shocked. I’ve met Death many times since I came here, and he is not a being to be feared. He does make a bit of a habit of trying to push his strange philosophies on others, though.
He’s told me about other versions of me, all of which eventually meet you, Twilight Sparkle. Of all of these worlds, this is the only one where we’ve been on something resembling good terms. In all but two or three, one or both of us end up dead. As Chaos would have said, ‘Even the fandom isn’t twisted enough to ship us’.”
“And that means?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I never understood half of what he said. However, my little pony, I must ask you a question. While you have lived, have you, even once, seen someone truly happy in this torturous world?”
Immediately, the picture of the crowded streets filled my mind. A few of the drunkards there certainly laughed and smiled. “There have been a few, I think. The party-goers seem happy enough. I know at least one pink pony who literally can’t stop laughing”
“That’s not true happiness, and you should know it. That’s delusion and eventual death. It’s basically a pleasant form of suicide. Think. There has to be at least one pony who understands their place in the world, embraces it and makes the best of it.”
I thought back further, and finally emerged with a single face from my time in Central Canterlot. “My mother. She was happy. She told me so with every hug she ever gave me.”
“Was? Is she no longer?” Discord questioned with a sigh.
“She’s been missing since my fifth birthday. Probably dead in a gutter somewhere, like all the other kind and caring ponies.”
“And what was her name?”
“Star Shine.”
“Ah.” He coughed violently, as though choking on something, “Star Shine also ended up here. When I asked her, she named several ponies. The pony before her gave me a dozen. And before her, I didn’t even have to ask. The world was a wonderful, peaceful place to live.”
“And why are you asking me this?” I demanded, tears rolling down my face.
“You need to make a choice. Will you save this ruined world, or end it here and now? I won’t end this world, I’ve worked too long and hard keeping it alive to kill it, but I won’t stop you from doing it.”
An eagle’s claw reached out of the wires and pulled clumps of them aside, revealing the patched together remnants of his body beneath. He waved his claw in front of his chest, creating an exaggerated target.
Snapping his fingers, he spoke in a voice of acceptance, tinged with a joke that only he understood, “In the words of another, from another time, ‘I’m ready to meet my fate now. Fire when ready.’”
Immediately, my horn began to glow. Did I have a right to end this world? A flash from behind me broke my concentration. A newly forged mark lay on my flank. A set of rods, bound together with an axe in the center. The decision came to me and I delivered my verdict, “This universe has become a place of misery and desolation. It deserves a graceful end, not this slow, lingering death.”
Then, the magic burst forth in a flood of raw power, and struck Discord in the center of his chest. Wires snapped with a sharp crack, and the broken body struck the ground. Moaning, screeching noise burst forth from all directions. Cracks lined the walls, and the universe crumbled away. The last thing I heard before I went with it was Discord’s final sentence, “Perhaps I’ll see you again in the hereafter, Twilight Sparkle.”
Part 4: Hope
“As much as it pains some, occasionally a monster is the best thing that can happen for a world. Your world has the potential for happiness because of the death of a single soldier. The other path created a being so depressed about the state of the universe that she considered destroying it a mercy. So. Do you appreciate your world a bit more now? Good. Thankfully, that was merely what your universe could have been, a song of pain, despair and death. Instead of that nightmare, a light emerged from the void left by the shattered gods, a hope for a better future, and a desperate plea to end to an endless war. Behold now the birth of both a great hero, and a great hope.”
Where had Chaos gone? Had he abandoned us? The questions ran through my mind as I soared over the burning town. Times were hard. Chaos’ armies had held together only because they knew what Chaos did to defectors. Without our leader, we were little more than small bands of raiders, fighting only for our next meal. Today was no different. Swooping down, I seized one of the peasants. Understand, it was nothing personal. The peasants had food, and we did not. We intended to conquer the territory and repurpose it as our own settlement. The earth pony beneath me struggled, but couldn’t quite reach me. After reaching a nearby cloud, I let go and raced him to the ground, pulling up when I heard the crunch.
“Captain!” Shouted one of my soldiers, a unicorn, “Look at what I found!”
Intrigued, I landed next to her. On the ground, a battered and bruised earth pony gasped for breath. “Look at her! I broke her with my bare hooves! I didn’t even use magic once!”
“You monsters!” shrieked the broken filly, “We don’t even have weapons! We’ve done nothing to deserve this!”
Although a bit sickened, I laughed. It was rather humorous. Earth ponies were usually personified by their magically enhanced strength. However, he needed to be chastised, we had a town to conquer, and little time to enjoy ourselves. “Just kill her already and get back to work!” I shouted, then leapt back into the air. Behind me, the soldier slit the earth pony’s throat and pressed onward through the burning buildings.
By that time, a contingent of Order’s remaining soldiers had arrived at the edge of the town. I allowed myself a grin as I noticed the already immense number of casualties on the opposing side. Joining the fray, I assisted my partner, another unicorn. Taking a dagger from a pouch on my back, I positioned it above the enemy forces and dropped it. He then seized it with magic, and guided it to its target. Then, the enchanted dagger returned to the pouch for me to release once again.. I won’t bore you with the details of the battle. Suffice it to say that they never stood a chance. I gave the signal for no quarter, and we killed any wounded we happened across. However, something felt wrong. It was too easy. The enemy reaction speed was slower, their strength lessened, and their movements far less fluid. As I knocked over the last enemy still standing, I called to the rest of the group, and attempted to gather them together.
However, an unearthly wail suddenly burst from the center of the village. My curiousity piqued, I turned and shot toward the source of the sound, before freezing in shock. The filly from before stood next to one of the fallen, loosing her anger at the sky. Blood dribbled down her front from her slashed throat, but it had adopted a rich golden hue and glowed gently where it fell. Before my stunned eyes, her body grew longer and taller, hiding the fatal injury beneath her newly formed skin. A horn burst forth from her forehead and newly formed wings flexed with enough power to level nearby buildings.
My nearest squad, a group of lightly armored earth ponies leapt forward, brandishing their edged weapons. The first pair were deflected by the wings of their target, but the third lodged his blade deep into her side and twisted it loose. She didn’t even bleed. Roiling golden magic embraced him and forced him to the ground, effortlessly tearing his sword free and bending it into a makeshift collar to hold him. Although he squirmed and struggled, he only managed to cut himself on the edge. As she stared at us, her new wound closed and she spoke for the first time, “I understand now. I have seen Harmony. The fighting must end. It is time to move on.”
This pony reminded me of Commander Arcturus, the madpony who dared to defy both Order and Chaos and died for it. “Kill this mad creature,” I ordered, disgusted by the entire notion, “We don’t need what she is offering.”
My entire force launched themselves forward, tearing into their target. However, one by one, they were forced to the ground and bound there with their own equipment, writhing in protest. Eventually, the few remaining attempted flight, but they too were seized. I had only seen such a display once before on the battlefield, when Order had slain the 42nd battalion.
“This day,” announced the terror, “Marks the foundation of a new order. And with this new order comes a new code of laws. One designed to protect my new subjects. I will be called Celestia, Princess of Equestria.”
I realized something, then. None of my soldiers had died. Suddenly, my saddle pouches came to life, twisting themselves into straps and binding my legs to the ground.
“You will be given a choice. To embrace a set of laws designed to protect and serve everyone, or to leave here and never return.”
“And what are these laws?” I queried in dread.
Instead of answering, her horn glowed once more and golden light washed over the pony nearest to the alicorn.
He screamed and clutched his head. Tears poured down from his face as he moaned then shrieked a mantra that could only be madness, “What have I done?”
“What did you do to him?” I demanded, trying to be brave.
“I gave him a conscience. An understanding of good and evil.”
The screaming pony suddenly burst from his bonds and threw himself down before the shining being, begging, “Please! Help me!”
She drew him into a gentle embrace, pity in her eyes. “There is nothing I can do to help you. The only way forward now is to apply the virtues you now understand, and to do your best to atone for your sins. I opened your eyes. Now make sure that it wasn’t in vain.”
The light spread further, and so did the weeping. Finally, it brushed up against me. It was like a thousand needles stabbing me, not in my body or mind, but my very soul. A hundred dead ponies screaming. And worst of all, I understood that it was entirely my own fault.
Unlike the other though, I reasoned that the pain would die with its origin.
Glancing around, I realized that my soldiers were staring at her with hope. Blast her, she was turning into Arcturus reborn. Her obsession with a new order would get us all killed. Tearing loose from my bonds, I stabbed a dagger into her chest before she could react. Jerking it free, I shoved it into her eye and twisted it as violently as I could. Although she spasmed for a moment, the dagger clattered to the ground, completely clean of blood, and a whole, unblemished eye stared down at me. Refusing to let her have the last laugh, I threw myself onto the dagger, lodging it deep in my left lung.
She glanced at me as I lay there dying, “You ordered the destruction of my village, the death of my family, and eventually my death, but I want you to know that I do forgive you. I only wish I could have saved you.”
“(Censored by your friendly reaper) you!” I coughed through the blood as the world faded to white.