Creation’s Folly

Another week, another paycheck to my name. Today marked the start of the new month of Equestria’s year, with the twenty-six hour days and thirty day months. The daylight hours and nighttime hours would change length throughout the year shifting back and forth between sixteen hours of day or sixteen of night, which peaked during the solstices. Even the clocks had gears in them that would move the marks of ‘midday’ and ‘midnight’. Was complicated at first, but I figured it out eventually.

Today was the equivalent of October first, the start of mid-autumn. There was a crispiness to the air that prickled against my skin, inviting all sorts of electrically charged feelings. A much welcome change from the usual heat waves from the summer.

I fingered the letter that Applebloom had given me last week, the stark reminder that I hadn’t gotten a suit for the dance just yet. According to the invitation Applebloom gave me, the Fall Formal Dance was stated to happen on the Friday of this week, and being that it was Tuesday, that left me just three days to get one that fit the harvest theme. I was sure I had plenty of time, but it still stuck out in my mind like a sore thumb.

With as busy as the farm had been, I hadn’t had a moment to go ask Rarity if she’d have one ready, nor had I really stopped to think very hard about going to someone’s date. It was sweet, the way Blossom had chosen me, but weird. I didn’t figure she would be interested in something like that. During my free moments, my mind erased as to how she felt about the whole thing and what exactly the dance would entail, but I could worry about it later.

Right now, harvesting was more important. I had been tasked with helping to harvest and tie together bushels of grain from one of the fields on the farm, specifically something called ‘sparlum’, which was fed to livestock. Along with the namesake apples that the Apple family sold, sparlum was another of their products that was heavily in demand. Luckily, I didn’t have to do more than just cut and tie together the bushels, as they paid to have a unicorn transport company collect and distribute, but fucking hell was it hard work.

All I’d been given was a scythe and a few box of bindings and set to work in a three-acre portion of the fields. Applejack said it’d take maybe the entire week to tackle it, but I’d been here since Monday and only cleared one. I was afraid that if I didn’t finish by Friday morning, I’d miss the dance. Of all the garbage I deal with, why is this the one that bothers me so?

The thought occurred to me at the inefficiency of doing it all manually. Why didn’t they just hire unicorns full time to handle all the hard work and rest their hooves? Surely they have enough money for some spellcaster… wait a minute, I can use magic! Why I hadn’t thought from the get go to skip the tool was beyond me. Instead of wasting so much effort and exhausting myself, I could just magic up a blade and tie it all up. I readied myself for the expenditure and willed an incredibly long golden scythe blade into existence and gave it an experimental swing, the blade easily slicing through the base of a small section of stalks. This is too easy!

A grin crept onto my face as I admired the ease with which my conjured scythe sliced through the sparlum stalks. What had taken me hours of grueling labor now felt like child’s play. A flick of my wrist, and it’d slice through a whole row two foot thick. I pulled my arm back and threw it the other direction, and the blade responded by doing the same thing again. I had another thought and imagined cupping my hand underneath a portion and gripped an imaginary ice cream cone, and the sparlum lit up golden and bunched up into a sizable cylinder. “Holy shit, I’ll have this done by Friday after all!”

For the first time in days, the stress I had about the dance was gone, replaced by my invigorating efforts. Maybe it was the rush of using magic, so skillfully, but I felt confident. I continued on, slicing, gathering, and tying the bundles together in a sick rhythmic manner, bobbing my head to an imagined beat. In no time flat, I had another quarter acre done, then another quarter.

—-

I breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat on my face into my shirt. I’d just finished the second of the acres in under six hours, my body shivering from the excessive mana usage. I had to stop and rest, lest I suffer too much exhaustion and have to spend another extended stay in the hospital. I felt maybe at half mast, my breathing labored and stomach demanding sustenance despite eating lunch nearly an hour ago. And the waves of heartburn, oh how they hurt!

“Woo! You done… good, Aurelius! Up top!” I said, clapping my own hands above my head, before collapsing to the ground and gagging. “Urf… I, oooagh, too much magic… gonna hurl…”

I turned my head to the side and spotted the sun was on its final legs, maybe a couple more inches of light left in the day. “Almost quitting time. Thank you, Celestia!” I kissed my fingers and pointed at the sky. Carefully, I picked myself back up, feeling off balance. Didn’t really care to walk, but at least the farmhouse was only twenty minutes away. “At least the walk back will be comfortable enough, if the wind doesn’t pick up.”

Along the way back, I saw Applejack waiting for me over at the road, just a ways away by her section of the fields. She had a stalk of grass nestled nicely between her teeth, chewing it to admire the sweet juices. Her red and black plaid cardigan was tied nicely at her hips and she was using her grey undershirt to dry her face, not intending to but still showing her bra and belly. She looked tired, but that was to be expected.

She noticed me while she was picking at her teeth with the harder part of the grass stem. “Shoot, an’ here I was thinkin’ I’d be waitin’ till sundown fer you ta get done. Yerbout two hours earlier than normal.” She looked up at the setting sun, then back to me. “Yep, dang near an hour and a halfa daylight left.”

I shrugged. “Hey, you know how the farm work goes. Sometimes you get done fast and sometime you’re not done till Granny calls for suppertime.”

She chuckled. “Boy, no kiddin’.” AJ started to the long walk home. “So how’d the sparlum harvest treatcha today? Any new cut on yer hands or arms Ah need ta look at?”

I pulled the leather gloves off and pocketed them, showing off the callouses. “Honestly, I’m really just feeling tired. Took a hell of a lot out of me today, but I got into a nice, let’s say rhythm, about midway through and it got easier. I feel like I’ll be done tomorrow.”

She smirked and gave me a raised eyebrow. “Uh huh. That the nice way a sayin’ you finally started usin’ yer magic to help pull yer weight?” That made me blush in embarrassment. “Hey hey, Ah meant no offense. Not mad in the least that you got it done. Don’t rightly care how it gets done, just that it’s done efficiently.”

“Huh, that’s odd. I was sure you’d be mad for me not ‘sticking to my gun’ and being a ‘pony of quality’,” I said, raising my hands to put emphasis.

She gave me a knowing look. “Sugarcube, it don’t take no genius to figure out you ain’t got the same endurance and strength as us earth pony folk. If it makes it easier, then why not take advantage of your talents?”

I laughed. “Oh, dang. I thought for sure you’d chastise me.”

AJ shook her head. “Now that’s plum low to think Ah’d be mad at you helpin’ us harvest on time. Weren’t you here when Twilight got onta me for bitin’ off more than Ah could chew?” I recalled the whole ‘Applebuck Season’ fiasco and nodded. “Then that’s that. There’s a time an’ place for magic or straight brawn.”

She gave my arm a light punch. “But just remember that taking the shortcut magic ain’t gonna show you the same disciplines adoin’ things the old-fashioned way.”

I rubbed my arm where Applejack had punched me, grinning sheepishly. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll keep that in mind.”

We walked the rest of the way back to the farmhouse in a comfortable silence, the warm autumn air cooling just enough to make the evening feel perfect. The quiet between us felt like the kind of quiet you get after a long day’s work—earned, restful, and not awkward in the least. By the time we reached the house, the last slivers of sunlight were gone, and the stars were just starting to peek out from the darkening sky.

As we stepped inside, I was hit all at once with the smells of tonight’s meal permeating the air. While Applejack headed into the kitchen, I decided on taking a nice hot shower, rinse the grime and sweat off y’know? This wasn’t the first time I’d come inside and made myself at home, I even had a spare set of clothes in the hallway for when I was finished. A nice shower later, and I felt brighter than the sunshine, even had a chance to shave a little. I was right in the middle of plucking out the stray hairs I missed on my fresh face, when suddenly the bathroom door opened.

Now, normally I wouldn’t have minded one of the Apples coming in while I was busy in the bathroom, being that this was their house. I was used to it by now, comfortable enough around the folks that we could treat one another like blood-related family. But this time was different. I was naked and had the towel draped over my shoulders, not even thinking about my nudity. I turned my head to see who came in and to my surprise, it was Applebloom. Who was staring at me with her mouth wide open.

We looked at one another for a solid minute or two, neither of us making the move to shield either of ourselves. I turned back to picking the last few hairs in the mirror and then turned to face her

“What’s up? Dinner ready?”

Applebloom blinked, her eyes wide and still glued to me. Her face slowly started turning a deep shade of red. “Uh… uh…” she stammered, clearly at a loss for words. I could practically see the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out how to react. And then her eyes trailed down, locking position at my crotch.

There was a long pause between the two of us before I realized that I put myself in a pickle, especially considering she just confessed to me not even a week ago. “Oh fuck, I’m sorry!” I quickly took the towel and wrapped it around my waist. She covered her cheeks, trying to shield her blush.

“A-ah didn’t realize you were in here.” She walked quickly over to the cabinet, not watching where she was going, instead her eyes never leaving me. She bit her lip “Came to get t-towels… oh sweet Celestia…” Her voice squeaked, like a mouse.

I had never been ogled before and felt awkward. My face blanked and I rapidly rushed out, grabbing my clothes off the hallway table and making my way to Big Mac’s room. My face felt hotter than when I was in the shower. I stared at the wall as I dressed myself in silence, not noticing Big Mac was sitting in a recliner, reading to himself. “What the hell just happened?”

He cleared his throat, bringing my attention around. “You good there?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. Your youngest sister just walked in on me in the bathroom.”

He sighed. “Well, it was bound to happen eventually. What’s the problem?”

“Dude, she confessed to having a crush on me last week.”

I watched Big Mac stand, his normally calm and stoic expression shifting into something a bit more serious. He crossed his arms over his chest, and for a second, I thought he was going to give me some kind of lecture, but he just shook his head with a sigh.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. I’ll handle this,” he said, his deep voice calm, though there was a subtle hint of concern in his eyes.

“Are you sure? I didn’t mean to make this awkward for anybody.”

He shook his head as he walked. “No, no. This is somethin’ between a brother and his sister. Go help Granny setup for supper.” Big Mac cracked his neck and prepared to hunt for his sister.

I grabbed his shirt before he could make it all the way out into the hall. “Hey, please don’t e to harsh on her or anything. I know how it sounds, but I don’t think she meant any harm.”

“Aurelius, while I appreciate you looking out for my little sister, she knew full well you were the one in the bathroom. It’s inappropriate behavior for somepony who should know better. Ah’m just gonna go give her a talking to. Now let me go.” He looked at me in a way that said he meant business.

I paled, afraid of what he might do to her, but more afraid of what he’d do to me if I stood in his way. Better do as he told me, lest he points his anger my way.

I met up with Granny Smith and Applejack in the kitchen, the smells backhanding my nose with their delicious might. Granny had just pulled a tin of fresh biscuits out of the oven, steam running right off them. She noticed me and smiled, never turning her attention away from the stove. “Well, now that yer done refreshing, be a dear and help AJ set the table, would ya?”

“Yes, Granny.”

Like clockwork, we set out the plates, the towels Blossom had grabbed, and silverware. Granny continued to work like her age wasn’t anything but a number, nimbly moving through the kitchen between her stock pot and the counter. How she could handle all those burners and cut food without any of it burning, I’ll never know. Maybe the years of skill.

“Supper’ll be ready in a jiffy, have a seat you two.” She turned her head to the hall and called out. “Mac, Applebloom, dinner in five!”

Big Mac responded. “Be there in a bit!”

AJ and I sat, waiting for the feast to be served on our sterling platters by the chef, like usual. Granny refused to allow us to serve ourselves in her house, so we knew to sit patiently. Big Mac cam around the corner with Applebloom in tow, pulling the seat out for the youngest sibling and taking his own.

Applebloom fidgeted in her seat, uneasy. She looked like she wanted to say something, but kept her eyes pinned to her lap. Her cheeks were mildly flushed. The meal was hearty, as far as vegetarian dishes go. The Apple family knew how to fill a table with comfort food that could feed an army. We ate in relative silence, the kind where words weren’t really necessary. Granny would occasionally comment on the weather, and Applejack would respond with a “yep” or “reckon so.” It felt… nice, honestly. Peaceful.

I did my part to help clean up the table afterward, washing the dishes in the kitchen by my lonesome. Granny gave me a nod of appreciation before settling out in the living area by the smoldering fireplace.

Big Mac waltzed in and went after his stache of hard ciders in the refrigerator, setting one out on the counter for me to enjoy at my leisure. Wasn’t too big on alcohol, but I felt it would be rude of me to reject a communal gift. He sipped his bottle, sighing as it burned on the way down, closing his eyes to enjoy the sweet and savory beverage. I dried my hands off on my pants and twisted the cap off of my own bottle and smelled it, picking up notes of pear, oak, and citrus. It tasted familiar and went down smooth, the cool drink dancing on my tongue as I got to know it. Had a nice burn to it. “Dang, this stuff is good. Did you brew it yourself?”

“Eeyup.”

“Have you ever thought about selling it?”

“Nah, not this batch. It’s weaker than the stuff we usually market.”

We enjoyed the brews, the alcohol starting to affect me more than I’d’ve liked. Felt pleasant as the warmth from the cider spread through my body, helping to loosen up the tension in me from today’s harvest. I leaned against the counter and watched the bubbles rise within my bottle, lost in the little world of the liquid’s cosmos. Something about its simplicity helped me clear my head, Hearing well with the cool breeze that walked into the trees outside. It had gotten colder after the sun went down, the prelude of winter seeping into my soul and the moonlight twinkling.

Big Mac didn’t talk at all while he drank, content to simply relax in the room with me. Even though he would sit and talk with me whenever I felt like stirring up a conversation, he was really a man of a few words at heart. Never the one to start many conversations. I think I liked that about him, his willingness to listen first and speak his heart second. Despite appearances, he really was a very learned pony, fiercely intelligent and brotherly to a fault. A real comrade in arms.

He finished his first of what would be many bottles tonight, pulling out two more from the fridge and cracking one open with his bare hands, drinking himself into a comfort. He breathed deeply, sighing slowly. “Never really had any drinking buddies, ‘fore you started workin’ for us. ‘Snice.”

I wanted to talk about what went on earlier. “Say, Mac?”

He looked me in the eyes. “Hm?”

“About earlier…”

He scrunched his lips and dismissively waved. “Not much to say about it, really. It was inappropriate, and she’s embarrassed and wants to apologize to you.”

There had to be more to it than that. “So what did you say to her?”

“Ah told her Ah was disappointed in her. That she shoulda known better than to sneak a peek at you during a time of privacy. Just the typical kinda elder conversation you have with your youngers.”

“That all?”

He shook his head, apprehensive to talk about it directly. “You know how being a teenager is, Aurelius, same as me. How your hormones cloud your judgment. S’not all that bad and Ah can’t really blame her for her actions, ‘specially with that time a the year coming up. You know how mares get.”

That struck me as odd. “Time of the year? What, like a period?”

He flattened and rotated his hand, taking another long draw from his bottle. “Somethin’ like that. Mares get all more emotional and don’t think too clear about anything but their chosen partners. It’s not like they turn into animals or anything”

That revelation helped me put some pieces of the puzzle together. “So that’s the reason she was acting weirder on Friday.”

“Trust me, it ain’t as bad as you’re thinkin’. She’s just a filly still learnin’ how to handle these things inside her head. I say it’ll be about Friday next week when she’s full blown starting. Just be nicer to her than usual and behave.”

Staring at the floor, I absentmindedly fiddled with the hem of my shirt. I wasn’t mad at her or anything—far from it—but I wasn’t exactly comfortable either. She was like a kid sister to me, and the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt her feelings either. It was… complicated. “Girls are hard, Big Mac.”

“Preachin’ to the choir, Aurelius.”

We continue to drink in silence, not really needing to say very much to another, since we had an understanding. My mind drifted back to the calendar in Big Mac’s room, right next to the door. So that’s why he has all of next week marked in red. In hind sight, it should have been more obvious to me, but I’d never really interacted with girls enough to know about the whole reproductive cycle. How much different could a mare be from a woman, anyway?

Big Mac cleared his throat. “Listen, if ya don’t wanna head back ta your place, you’re welcome ta stay here tonight. I got an extra bed in my room, so you can crash there if’n ya want. Figured you’d want a quicker start in the mornin’, especially with how close ya are ta finishin’ the field.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

“‘Course not,” he replied, smiling. “Ah’ll wake ya bright an’ early, don’t worry.”

After a moment, Big Mac stood up, grabbed a couple more bottles from the fridge, and made his way to the living room, leaving me with my thoughts. I took another sip from my bottle, leaning against the counter and gazing out into the moonlit night. The warmth of the alcohol was starting to hit harder and it was beginning to become difficult to think clearly. Like I had a blanket draped over me.

I could hear Applejack talking quietly with Granny Smith by the fire, their voices a soothing murmur in the background. It’s hard to imagine that just half a year ago, I was thrust into a totally unknown world. I had just met this family and they adopted me like it was no problem.

But there was that nagging feeling in the back of my mind about Applebloom. Sure, it made sense now—the way she’d been acting all week, her awkwardness, even the confession. I really couldn’t comprehend how she felt about me. It was such a fickle emotion that I had difficulty putting into words. I had grown so used to treating her like a little sister, that I didn’t know how to handle the reveal that she liked me.

I side, finishing up the bottle and setting it in the sink. Tomorrow was another day, and maybe after a good night’s rest, things would be easier to handle.

I heard the soft creak of the stairs. Applebloom appeared in the doorway, lingering awkwardly. She looked ashamed, nervous to even see me right now.

“Hey,” she said quietly, not meeting my eyes.

“Hey,” I replied, speaking quietly.

There was a beat of silence before she spoke again. “Ah’m real sorry about earlier, Aurelius. Ah didn’t mean to—” She stopped, biting her lip and finally looking up at me. “Ah let muh head get the better of me and Ah feel real ashamed in muhself fer puttin’ you in that position. Ah hope ah didn’t make things too weird.”

I shook my head. “You’re good, Blossom. I’m not too off put. I don’t blame you.”

“So ya still wanna go to the dance with me?”

“Absolutely. I said I would, didn’t I?”

That put her mind at ease and she smiled. She gave me a quick nod, then headed back up the stairs for bed. I joined her not shortly after, settling in Big Mac’s room.

As I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, my thoughts drifted back to the Apple family and everything that had happened today. I didn’t know what the future held—whether things with Applebloom would stay simple or get more complicated—but for now, I was content. Tomorrow was a new day, and I’d face whatever came my way then.

For now, all I needed was sleep.

—-

“I’ll… never… tell…” My body grew weak, threatening to give out and succumb to death, yet I could not die. No, HE would not let me. Discord had long since grown tired of me not answering his questions, taking up finding new ways to torture me until I gave in to his demand.

He brought his hoof down onto my right femur, snapping it like a plastic fork, before snapping his fingers to put it back together. He crafted a syringe of unknown glowing fluid from out of the ether and injected it into each eye socket, the resulting chemical reaction boiling my eyes out in fire, before they swiftly regenerated. Then he grew to the size of a mountain and held me between his fingers, rolling me around like an overripe grape, shifting all my internal organs around in a way similar to the beads in a stuffed toy. He flicked my corpse high into the air, landing me in his mouth like popcorn, before he swigged back some form of acid. And then he chewed.

And yet, I still did not die. Over and over again, he had thought of crafty new ways to inflict pain, but I was becoming increasingly numb to it all. There’s only so much the body can endure, so many times he can cut off and regenerate fingers before even the sensation of losing limbs becomes like breathing oxygen. At least, it would have if he didn’t flush my pain receptors and neurotransmitters every hour. And I couldn’t go mad either, something he did to my body prevented that.

I reappeared on the ‘ground’ of the chaos realm in the form of a heap of ground mush, the strands of my body unfolding and reknitting themselves into a whole person. The sensation brought me to my knees, purging my stomach of the arcane residue he’d pumped into me to keep me from dying. I was powerless to do all but keep my last dying wish, my ethereal will going, I fruitlessly hoped long enough that Discord would either grow bored or my remnants of my soul found a way to escape into Aurelius.

Discord stood over me, kicking me while I was down and sliding my body away. His breathing was wild, a growl in his throat. “Tell meeee where he iiiisssss!!! NOW!” He demanded for the umpteenth time.

I coughed, spitting blood and bile onto the ground that immediately fizzled away in the ever-shifting chaos of Discord’s domain. My body twitched involuntarily as it reassembled itself once more. The agony of being crushed, liquefied, burned, and reshaped was almost routine by now.

“I… already told you…” My voice was ragged and it hurt to talk. “I can’t tell you even if I knew.” Gaslighting wouldn’t work, but anything to stall for time is better than nothing.

“LIIIEESS!!” Discord hissed, jumping up and down in a tantrum. He stomped his feet and beat the ground like an animal, steam erupting from his mouth. His mismatched limbs twitching as his body twisted into impossible shapes, his rage palpable in the air. His chaotic magic flared with a life of its own, bending the realm around them into a cacophony of swirling colors and fragmented realities. “LIESLIESLIESLIESLIES!! LIEEEED!”

His head literally exploded into nuclear fire, his body falling onto the ground limply, pitch spurting from the exposed flesh on his nub of a neck. A new head popped out from his esophagus, slick with mucus. He stood up, slicking his donkey mane back with the eagle talon. “That’s much better. Thought I rid myself of that pesky flaw, but I guess months of denial really must have gotten to me. Almost lost my cool there.”

Discord turned to face me, snapping his claws to stretch my body out and levitate me into the air, perpendicular to him. “I know you’re lying to stall for time, Solus. You’re my, well WAS my brother and we’ve been alive for hundreds of eons. I know, for the most part, how you think and what you’ll try to do.” He slithered through the air and coiled his body around my own, gripping me tightly in his hands to look me in the eyes. His breath smelled like rotten cabbage. “I am Chaos incarnate. Every fiber of my being exists to cause pain, torment, and disharmony, and I love every second of it. Even as we speak, my will extends across the cosmos of Yggdrasil, searching every world. Whether it be you telling me directly or me stumbling across that singular dimension you’ve hidden him upon, I will find him.”

He grunted, uncoiling and spinning me through the air only to be caught by one of the many currents of magic he’d weaved in the times between beatings. I flew around the edge of His barrier, shards of our Father’s ripping through my soul and slicing my body, before unceremoniously being deposited back into the center of the realm with a thud. I remained silent as Discord pranced about lazily, picking and prodding at one of the many currents he crafted, unspeakable monsters and diseases thrashing about as he tweaked them for his pleasure.

An opportunity had a risen while he was distracted. Ever so cautiously I reached out my mind to search for a sign of life from Aurelius, the tracer spell I had cast connecting to me in an instant. My mind drifted, slowly, painfully, toward the World Tree through that connection, where the faint pulse of life—the pulse of Aurelius—beat steadily. Many a time I had made an attempt to reach out and pour more of my soul into him, but Discord’s magic would tear me back before I could get close enough. This time, though… I smiled.

Aurelius, what have you done now? He had grown more mature since the last time I saw him. I could feel the stirrings of something new within him, something I never had. I might not need to feed him the rest of me after all…

I smiled through my pain, not realizing Discord had finished up what he was doing. “Why do you smile, Solus? Surely you’re not stupid enough to… No…” His voice whispered through my head as I tried to backtrack through the spell. “You can still reach out to him! I can feel it! The realm he hides upon… it’s almost on the tips of my tongue!”

Discord fought back against my will, clawing through my mind to distract me and see what I could see. “The name! Oh what was that name? I know this place!” He gripped my chest, slamming me against the ground. “Don’t you dare stop reaching out to him!”

He conjured an iron stake from thin air and stabbed it through my chest, pinning me to the ground like an insect on display. Every new spike of pain distracted me from disconnecting, I needed more time. I wasn’t being quick enough! “Get out of my head!” I struggled back against Discord, more of my will being eroded, but not enough to crush me into unconsciousness again. Push, damn you! Close the link!

It hurt so much. I couldn’t describe the pain, even if I tried. I could feel what remained of my soul being ripped to cinders, mere embers of the whole. Discord’s cackling laughter reverberated through the air as he sensed victory within his grasp. “Oh, Solus, you fool! You’ve been fighting me for so long, but now, now I see it! I see him!” His grip on my mind tightened, his claws digging into my spirit, shredding through the last vestiges of my defenses. “Almost… there…!”

I couldn’t hold on anymore. I felt my soul shatter into countless pieces, vanishing into the surrounding chaos as Discord greedily slurped up each and every one. I fought even as I fell into nothingness. I had to protect Aurelius, shield him and keep him safe. My body, brittle and cracking, resisted my decay with what remained. I grit my teeth, blood pouring from my mouth like a river as I tried to resist falling. My mind was slipping, like sand through my fingers as Discord’s sneering laughter crawled through my thoughts. I could feel his triumphant attitude.

“I… wont..” My voice cracked, failing me.

“Oh, but you will,” Discord whispered, his voice sickeningly sweet. “He’ll be mine for the TAKING!”

And then, in my final moment of clarity, a single, all consuming thought filled my mind: Aurelius doesn’t need me anymore. He is growing without the other pieces of my soul. He will mature… My mind finally collapsed, unconsciousness consuming me. No… it wasn’t that. Is this… death?

I… of all the fickle things I never… I feel… cold. Irreparably so. I can finally rest…

And then I was gone.

—-

“Pity he didn’t last much longer. In other news…” Discords smile cracked his face, that ebony darkness inside him pouring down his face. “I HAVE WON! I have the name! I see everything!” He shivered in delight at the new increase in power.

“Though he was but a fragment of full godhood, this power will be a much loved boon as I rip Equus from its place on the World Tree.” Discord guffawed. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I visit that peaceful place! The ancient battleground!”

Equus. The word rippled on the air as a torrent of magic carved a doorway through time and space, linking the realm of Chaos to the edges of that sought after world. There was nothing stopping Discord from reigning freely. Nothing but…

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Discord screamed as he crashed face first into an invisible barrier. He rebounded off it as it lit up miraculously bright with ancient runes and swirls. The very magic of Equus fought back against the demonic tyrant. Discord roared in anger.

“THE PATH IS MINE! What trickery dares to stand between me and mine?!” He frowned. “All this resistance to my will, and for what?! The last laugh when I find out it won’t be as easy as I thought, Solus?! BASTARD!” Discord threw himself against the world’s barrier, snarling and clawing at it and throwing any manner of spell he could think of into it, but it did not budge.

The onslaught shook the very foundations of creation, and Yggdrasil shuddered. The tyrant shook with immeasurable rage, and creation shook with him.

—-

Deep in the heart of Canterlot, something stirred against its stone prison. The statue of Discord, nay, the fragment of him, twisted within the confines of his imprisonment. He hungered to be free as he reacted to his master’s torment. The Discord of this world, bound and frozen in time, awoke just barely. He struggled against his stone casing, stretching his body beneath it to test his limits. He could feel the surface damage in the form of cracks and chips, and he pressed against them. The cracks deepend, chunks of stone falling off like slag and littering the ground as an arm broke free.

The lion’s paw reached up and felt his face, the stone melting away into butter as he broke his chains more, the harmony in the air curdling and cringing. This Discord laughed madly as he began to break free, until finally he fell to the ground in a puddle of hot fudge. He slowly stood to full height, stretching and popping his joints, before cracking his skull open to pull his brain out and wring it free of water.

“Oooagh, that feels so much better… Thought for sure I would oversleep!” He looked at his brain, scratching at the inside of his brain casing, then tossing the shriveled thing aside like trash. “Don’t need that thing molding in there anymore.” With a grunt, a new and fresher brain popped into existence and the Fragment closed his skull with a snap.

Discord, the one standing over me in the Chaos Realm, was oblivious. He kept hammering at the barrier, his howls of rage shaking the very foundations of Equus’ magic. “LET ME IN! I WILL NOT BE DENIED! WRYAAAAAGH!”

The Fragment could hear his greater piece shrieking from beyond the veil, and he shuddered. He scratched the inside of his ear and flicked out the annoying spider that crawled there. “Oh pipe down, will you? I’m not nearly strong enough to unlock that door just yet, so you’ll have to settle for raging against the barrier for now. For the moment…”

“I must feed. Far too weak.” And so, the Fragment vanished into thin air, hungry for chaos. For the first time in over six thousand years, there would be Discord. “I think a visit to the Elements of Harmony little prison cell would do nicely.”