A magic symphonyby Naroe_ClanChaptersA chaotic beginningA frantic hospitalChapter 3: An attempted escapeA chaotic beginningA herd of giraffe-legged rabbits ran by, followed by bison dancing in their tutus through a house of cards. A house used its roof as a foundation as it floated by on its small inverted mountain. The checkerboard that was the ground held a game with itself just out of view while holding up a dark throne made from the finest mahogany. Sat upon this throne was the lord of this realm, the maestro of a symphony of meaningful meaninglessness. The lord of chaos Himself, known to those of this realm as Discord, and known to others in times long past by more names than any single creature would care to catalog, was watching over his glorious chaos. A rain of peach pies went by for naught but a few seconds, prompting Him to laugh at the utter imperfection of it all. A pink cloud flew by his throne, stopping to release its load of chocolate milk for its creator. A claw reached over to it, drying itself in the rain momentarily before a flash of light created a tall glass to fill with the cloud's outpouring contents. Quickly it filled from top to bottom and was drawn away. Discord closed His eyes to revel in his creations as He reaffirmed himself in saying, “Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing.” The last tile slid into place, ancient stone clicking into place as the enormous doors before the pair opened in agonizing slowness, they and the room were lit from behind for a moment by a number of explosions outside the cave they were within. The battle raging outside simply so they could go through those doors. With clanking armor one stepped forward, hand resting on his sword's pommel. He looked down to the other one there, telling them “Alright. Get out there and help them fight off the smaller beasts.” The smaller one looked up, sadly saying “I'm all out of power. You'd be more useful to them, and they'll still need you afterwards. I've got this, you go.” Metal shifted against metal as the armored figure ignored the other and started walking toward the doors while replying, “No. This is for me to do, now stop-” and was cut off with a scream as electricity arced across his armor. He fell down, numbly clutching for his sword and out of breath as he tried to ask “Why?!” A small black rod was pressed back into his armored side, electricity filling him once again and forcing him into unconsciousness. The rod was drawn away, and tossed into the surrounding darkness as a quiet voice whispered “Because I wasn't asking.” A small gold ring was pulled from a small finger, resizing itself as it was placed over an armored gauntlet. A word of power, meaningless except to activate the object, was spoken and the armored figure vanished from sight. The tiny figure beside the now-invisible paladin stood there for only a moment longer before darting away through the grand doors, accompanied by another flash of explosive light. The glass had just reached His lips as He was interrupted by a voice He expected even less than his masterful chaos. A feminine voice stating proudly, “Not as wonderful as friendship!” The half-lidded glare from the lord of chaos would have made most sane creatures quail in fear before slinking away, or at least that was the intent with which it was leveled at those six colorful ponies. The glare was much less effective than intended however, so instead of watching these creatures run away in justified panic Discord wearily stated, “Oh, this again?” before drinking up his glass and throwing away the milk to explosive effect. “That's right! Ya couldn't break apart our friendship fer long!” Came the southern-accented reply. “Oh Applejack, don't lie to me. I'm the one who made you a liar!” Discord countered, while using his magic to draw her closer into the air. His face distorted in malice and concentration as He pulled the other four Element necklaces to hang in the air in front of Him. As soon as they all were floating there, He asked simply, “Do you ever learn?” Beyond the doors was a massive chamber, empty except for what appeared to be a gravestone near the far wall, marked with nothing but a few words of power. The walls of the chamber were marked by thousands of enormous claw marks, a dozen meters long each. Each mark was only inches deep, evidence of just how powerful this place was. A large gemstone was drawn from the tiny figure's side. It clattered and clanged as it bounced along the floor to the back of the chamber. The figure drew back their arm from throwing it away, and sat down in front of the stone, studying it and waiting, the distant sounds of combat their only company. It was not long before the roar was felt as much as heard. The figure flinched with each echoing step of the beast as it approached. Eyes squeezed closed as the earth quaked, until the sound stopped only a few meters behind the tiny figure. Eyes snapped open and mouth pronounced the few words there. The grand doors behind slammed closed, sending rushing wind through the chamber. Those eyes closed for a moment as a deep breath was drawn in. The tiny figure turned around, eyes calm and mouth open in a toothy grin. There before them was a mountain of scales, muscle and claws. Behind the greater dragon, the door was sealed, no longer distinguished from the wall around it. Fury filled every part of the beast, a roar growing in its maw as both it and the figure accepted that they were trapped together for all eternity. The figure's grin grew wild as they gleefully said “Hello beasty.” before rushing forward. As He was watching them, He didn't notice their sixth member casting her spell to appear in their midst. A bubble of pink magic enveloped the entire group only a moment after, the lord of chaos flinching back in surprise for but a second. He watched the pink sphere float away back to where the six were standing just a few seconds before. The bubble touched the ground, turning the glorious checkerboard it touched back into the boring grass these ponies thought it should be before the pink dissipated with a pop. The six ponies stood there, proudly defiant as their leader said “I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord.” as they all advanced towards the throne, “We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for.” Discord's long serpentine neck extended close to the group as He said “Ngh, gag!” He drew back before continuing, “Fine, go ahead, try and use your little elements, frienemies! Just make it quick.” And with a bright flash back to His throne moodily stated “I'm missing some excellent chaos here!” as a herd of pigs flew by. The ponies clustered together, entering threatening poses as the purple one said “Alright ladies! Let's show him what friendship can do!” Even as their pink member was off to the side, panickedly yelling “wait, wait, wait!” as she guzzled chocolate milk from a low-flying cloud to the unimpressed stares of her friends. She shortly hopped back over to them before entering her own combative pose. A glow surrounded the ponies as Discord closed His eyes and yawned deeply, ignoring the shimmering sound coming from them as unimportant. The glow grew in strength as each individual's colors joined it. Shapes representing each member of the magic six flew from them, passing by Discord on His throne. He had to duck below a pink star to avoid it hitting his face. Discord surprisedly asked “Oh, what's this?” as the shapes grew in strength and frequency. The glow grew ever stronger, to which Discord could only reply with a disbelieving “No!” as the group floated within their magical field, their eyes glowing with strength that radiated off of them, quickly forming into a solid rainbow. The rainbow arced up high above Discord's throne, so fast it could not be avoided. Discord let out an extended denial, a long “Nooooo!” as His body rapidly changed, becoming frozen and gray stone. Unnoticed to the ponies, before His entire body could be petrified, His eyebrow changed shape to almost be a clawed hand, poised with its pointer finger to the sky as the middle finger and thumb snapped together quicker than almost any eye could follow. The figure flitted amongst the spikes on the dragon's back, as the beast spun around to kill the annoying gnat that had trapped it. Agility was all the figure had to keep them alive now, and they were privately amazed it had lasted this long. A paw swept over the figure once more, missing them by inches as they leapt between the claws. This had been going on for a few minutes now, and the greater dragon's fury had only grown more incandescent. All skill it may have had was long gone, replaced with a desire to see this minuscule creature dead. But even as the dragon grew angrier, the figure grew weaker. Their dodges became more and more desperate as they tried to extend their life as much as possible. But only a single mistake was necessary to end them. That mistake came in the form of the tip of the beast's tail being just a little longer than they thought as it whipped towards them. Thrown across the chamber, the figure slammed into the wall, feeling their bones shatter as blood flew from their mouth. They slumped to the floor, unable to move as the beast regained its mind seeing its foe beaten. Thudding footsteps crossed the floor, echoing through the chamber. They stopped above the tiny, broken figure. One foreleg reached down, and with surprising delicateness, picked up the figure. A whimper was released as they were lifted up in front of the dragon's eyes. Some reserve of strength was found deep within them, as they coughed up blood before saying “Coulda beat you in my good days.” with a small grin. The fury came back in full force as the dragon tossed the figure into their open maw, snapping it closed over them. The rainbow continued out from Discord's frozen shape, forming a sphere around the area in which the battle had just been fought. The glow continued to grow, becoming blindingly bright before suddenly dissipating. Where before there had been a pastel nightmare, now a simple and idyllic valley spread out over the restored land. The ponies gently floated down from their levitated positions just in time to watch the statue that had minutes before been Discord fall crashing to the ground. A relieved breath escaped most of them as the pink one leapt up and began cheering, “Yay! We're the bestest friendshippers ever!” The purple one chuckled, saying “I don't think that friendshippers is a word Pinky.” in an exasperatedly fond tone of voice. She thought she heard something far above her as she turned to her friends. “We did it, girls! Now we need to get Discord back to the princesses and...is that screaming?” The others started hearing it too, sounding like it was coming from above them and getting closer. They all looked around at each other before looking straight up into the sky, at the small speck growing larger. The white one began saying “what is tha-” before it quickly resolved itself into the form of a pony, flailing limbs all around. None of them had time to think of a response as, with a wet splatting sound, the figure landed right in the middle of their group, all of them leaping back with various startled cries. There between them was a small pegasus filly, limbs out to the side and face down in the ground. They all slowly approached, still startled out of their thoughts. Looking down on the small form before them, the blue one summarized all their thoughts by asking, “What the fuck?” Author's Note I really want to write this all out for you all and share it with you guys, but i honestly don't know whether that motivation will last. Expect nothing, while i hope for everything. A frantic hospitalNurse Redheart raised an eyebrow at the six mares in front of her. Fluttershy was visibly panicking, hiding behind Applejack's comforting hoof. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were off to the side muttering to each other. Rainbow Dash hovered over a stretcher which was held in a purple aura of magic, worriedly looking at it's occupant. “Fell... from the sky?” Redheart repeated, pulling on her uniform. Twilight gave a huff, but responded “Yes, fell from the sky. Right after Discord was petrified.” Redheart nodded at that, hoping this would be one of the stranger patients she would have today. She looked around at Ponyville General Hospital rapidly getting back into operating order. Doctors, nurses and technicians ran every which way, checking stocks and equipment, making sure the reign of chaos that ended just half an hour ago wouldn't keep them from helping ponies. Quickly discerning order out of the apparent lack of such, Redheart waved the mares to follow her towards a side door. She tapped the shoulder of a passing doctor, stating “121” as he turned to her. A quick nod came from the doctor before he continued on his task. Redheart marched towards the spassageway, seemingly ignoring the other rushing ponies around her. Twilight levitated the stretcher to follow the nurse closely. The other Elements quickly followed close behind. Redheart lead the group through one wide doorway, down a short hallway and into an ordinary patient's room. She gestured to the bed in the room, saying “Put her down. Gently.” as she went to the machines off to the side, rolling them towards the bed. The stretcher slowly lowered down next to the bed before Rainbow and Applejack gently lifted the small form resting on it over on top of the sheets. Redheart looked down at the small filly laying on her side, her forest green fur matted down in more than a few places. Darker splotches of color along her flank hopefully just indicated natural coloring and not something else. That her left ear had a cut almost halfway through it, the raw skin on either side still bleeding indicated that the splotches would need to be seen to quickly before they worsened. Her silver mane was similarly discolored throughout, though the red stains showed much more obviously. A grimace broke out on Redheart's face as she placed a few patches on the filly. She pressed a few buttons on the machinery as the room's door opened and the doctor from earlier came into the room. A terrible cacophony of noise came from the devices for a few moments, startling the Elements until Redheart gave a hard kick to one's side and the noise settled down into a rapid heartbeat and other varied beeps. The six friends stood back a little from the two medical professionals rapidly assessing the filly, before Redheart roughly pushed past the mares, calling out into the hall some strange sequence of words before ducking back into the room. She looked at the group shuffling around awkwardly. She gave a silent sigh before telling them “Could you wait in the lobby? I promise we'll do our best, but we need the room.” “Ah, yeah...ah guess we should” was the only verbal response, from Applejack. The six shuffled out of the room and back to the lobby. On the way, a few nurses ran past, pushing a heavy cart towards the room they just left. Rainbow Dash stared for a long time at the door before Rarity said “Come along dear. Let them do their work.” and she turned back with a shake of her head, rushing to catch up. Several hours later, Rainbow Dash sat in the lobby, lost in thought. Her friends had all left earlier, having their own duties to attend to. “The...the animals are probably so scared. I-I-I should help them.” “I need to talk to the mayor. And send a letter to the princess. And make sure Spike's okay. And...” “Mah orchard might be havin' a bad time of it, and ah need to make sure Granny's not hurt.” “The Cake's'll need me to help them bake treats to make sure everyone has smiles!” “I can't trust that that rapscallion didn't destroy my dresses. Oh that would be the worst! I must check on them!” Rainbow knew that all of them, even Rarity, had good reasons to go. Discord was a menace, who knows what long-term effects he could have. Some part of her knew that the Elements of Harmony would fix a lot of it, but some stuff would take a lot of time and effort to make right. The weather would need work, probably lots of it. But whenever she thought about what she needed to do, her mind stayed fixed on a small crumpled form that had just fallen from above. She'd never seen that filly before. But she was hurt. She'd gotten her to the hospital, right? But she was hurt. She had other ponies who needed her. But she was hurt. She could barely even keep her eyes open she was so tired. But there was a hurt little filly who might need someone, so she stayed. Quite a few other ponies had some into the hospital with small injuries. A cut there from a knife suddenly stopping being a conversationalist and falling on its 'drinking buddy'. A bruise over there from falling through formerly solid cotton candy clouds. Even a dislocated shoulder from something the pony whispered that made the nurse blush. She hadn't caught a glimpse of nurse Redheart or that doctor. But now the rush of ponies had quieted down and Rainbow sat almost alone in the darkening room, only the receptionist keeping her company. Not that he was much company. Rainbow had tried starting a conversation a few...dozen times, but noncommittal nonanswers were all she got at first, now the guy just looked straight ahead and ignored her. She got to whistling tunes to pass the time, boredom as ever her enemy even while waiting for news on an injured little filly. And still no pony came to tell her anything. She eventually lapsed into a worried silence, her brain spending its time coming up with worse and worse reasons why she was still in the dark. Just as her tired brain almost convinced her to start worrying about the sudden onset of the zombie apocalypse, the side door opened startling a cry out of her. She rapidly looked around, noticing the receptionist giving her a weird look before spotting Redheart. The nurse was wearing a new uniform and looked like she had just dried her hair after dunking it in a bucket of water. Her eyes had sunken into her face, bags underneath them already drooping. Her posture screamed that all she wanted was to go home and fall into her bed. But most importantly, she had a satisfied smile on her tired face, proud to have done good. Redheart looked over the lobby twice before spotting Rainbow and slowly making her way over. “That filly is very, very lucky that you got her here as soon as you did.” was the first thing she said. “Yeah?” was Rainbows only response. Redheart's smile faded a little as she just said “She was hurt bad. Very bad. But she'll be okay now. You should head home, we'll tell you and your friends more tomorrow.” “Yeah, yeah I'll do that.” Rainbow tiredly stated before floating out the door into the night. The receptionist looked over some of the papers in front of him before asking “Did you forget some of the report?” Redheart looked over at him with a frown on her face. “No, I'll tell her when both of our brains are working.” She walked towards the back room. As she passed him, he said “Permanent crippling injuries are generally the sort of thing you don't wait to mention you know.” A sigh and an “I know.” were the only response as Redheart slipped past to gather her things. Chapter 3: An attempted escape*...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'Well, that's a weird noise.' was my first thought. My brain tried to have more thoughts after that, but none came for quite a while. Eventually I managed to reach something like consciousness, dragging my brain with me. *...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'What is that weird noise?” was my next thought, one which took long enough to form that I forgot to follow though on it before another thought started to take form. *...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'Why can't I see?' came to me quicker, but still very slowly. I spent a while contemplating the question, no answers coming to me. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* 'Oh right. My eyes are closed.' took far too long to occur to me. Shortly afterward I tried opening my eyelids. They were far too heavy, iron weights and glue keeping them shut. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* Blearily, with the entirety of my concentration focused on the one action, my eyelids ground open. A thin sliver of blurry white was all I could see for several minutes before my lids opened further. A little bit of definition came to me, but so very slowly. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* I thought for a while before deducing that I was looking at a wall painted some shade of white. A little bit of feeling came soon after, letting me feel gravity pulling me to the side. I guessed that I was laying down on my side. 'Where am I?' *.beep.* *.beep.* *.beep.* I had no answers. I remembered seeing places like this only a few times. None of those times were good, though my memory failed me as to why. My vision still wasn't getting any better, and I could still only hear that one sound. *.beep.* *.beep.* *.beep.* Why was it getting faster? What did it mean? I had no answers, though a few ideas came to me. Maybe it's keeping count of something? Maybe keeping a rhythm? *beep* *beep* *beep* Maybe counting down? I didn't know, how could I? All I can see is this one wall, all I can feel is the pressure of the surface I'm laying upon. Wait, no. I could feel other things now too. I could feel something wrapping around my torso, trapping me. Something around one of my legs too, immobilizing it. *beep* *beep* *beep* I tried to move my other leg. It barely shifted, dragging across the surface I lay upon, pulling some kind of fabric with it. My neck twitched with my attempt to look around, changing my view only enough to look at a different angle at the wall. *beep beep* *beep beep* I gathered my energy, slowly shifting my arms. Only one responds, the one against the ground. It slowly moved underneath me, shifting me onto my chest. My legs responded in kind, the immobilized one trying to kick about until I lay entirely on my belly. *beep beep* *beep beep* My view shifted along with my body, dragging over the wall and onto another, over indistinct grey-black blobs and flashing lights. Eventually my sight came to rest on a much closer wall, along with what may be the head of a bed. *beep beep beep beep beep* 'I need to move.' I thought. I'm not sure why, but I knew that staying still would be bad. It took a long time to shift my limbs underneath me, pulling one at a time closer and closer. My breath began to quicken with the effort, short puffs of air in and out. *beep beep beep beep beep* I pushed with my more responsive arm, trying to slowly get up. An inch. Two inches. Three inches. My spine slowly twisted along with my slow rise, until... Agony. My back felt a searing heat, the nerve endings dying fiery deaths as my muscles received far too many instructions, all spasming as one to force my body into an unnatural shape. *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* I could hear a scream almost drowning out the strange noise at the same time as it became a rapidly repeated cry. Other noises joined in. Many footsteps rushed closer, along with a wailing alarm filling the air. *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* A door slammed open, the footsteps surrounded me along with limbs trying to hold me down. My limbs flailed around, not letting these strangers keep hold of me. Adrenaline surged through my entire body, sharpening my mind and activating dangerous instincts. *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* I vaguely noticed the noise changing to a single long tone as my body twisted and legs kicked out into one attacker's shoulder, my arms slamming into another's elbow with a crack. The pain spread from my back throughout my lower body as the constraints around my leg shattered. Even more adrenaline flooded my system, allowing me to ignore the agony. I felt a sharp stabbing come from the direction of another attacker as the greyish blur that I thought was them jabbed something into my shoulder. Before they could do anything more, my legs kicked out towards them, propelling me away. There was a momentary weightlessness as I shoved myself off of the bed. Soon afterwards my arm hit the floor, already moving to get under me, my shoulders twisting around to let me run away. I identified the doorway immediately, already seeing more assailants moving outside. All four of my limbs began propelling me towards the opening. The leg that was immobilized earlier didn't hold any weight, needing me to hop my other leg forward to keep upright as I identified that the lower bone was badly broken. The feeling of the lower half of the bone sliding up through my flesh to outside my body blinded me for a moment. My other limbs kept moving rapidly as I moved my broken leg into a position to do something unpleasant when I reached the door. As I rounded the corner and darted to the side I avoided an attacker trying to grab me. Before I fully left the room I had been in, my broken leg slammed hard into the doorframe, shoving the halves of the bone back inside my leg. I blacked out for a moment, my limbs moving on their own pushing me down the hallway. With the muscles in my broken leg tensing up and holding the broken bone in place with all their adrenaline-granted strength, I put all four of my limbs into my escape. There was another doorway at the end of the hall. I could only hope that that way led to an escape, and to friends. The nurse led the six friends out of the reception area, saying “We're only just starting to look into who the filly is, but since it's only been a day since you brought her in to us we've not had any progress so far.” Twilight furrowed her brow and asked “So she's not from Ponyville?” “Nah, I ain't seen her around anywhere and ah've met dern near every pony in this town.” came from Applejack. The nurse nodded and said “Yes, while Ponyville isn't a very small town it doesn't have so many ponies living here that it'd be hard at all to keep track of them. She's not anypony from here's child, and the only tourists in the area when Discord attacked were a few families with no children.” The nurse pushed open a door, holding it for the friends. When they all got through she continued with “But anyway, we hope to find her family soon. She's thankfully in stable condition, but we don't expect her to wake up for quite a while yet. Her condition was...bad. Falling from any height shouldn't do that much damage to even a young pegasus, unless they propel themselves into the ground.” Rainbow Dash cringed a little at that before asking “So, what happened? How bad was it?” “We don't know what happened, but it looked like she'd been crushed on all sides by something, and sliced by some large creature's claws. Several cuts and abrasions along her flank, and multiple broken bones not consistent with a fall.” Was the nurse's response. Most of the friends reacted with various levels of shock. Twilight's eyes widened as she began muttering about what creatures could have been nearby, Fluttershy wondering the same as she shrank down. Rarity gasped with a hoof to her snout. Pinkie's persistent pronking stopped as she settled down next to Fluttershy. Applejack and Rainbow both shared a look, having seen the filly's injuries before and expecting something along those lines. Both of them began having thoughts of tracking down whatever creature had hurt the filly and giving it a piece of their mind. The nurse just continued on, leading them towards the filly's room. “But anyway, visiting hours will last until dusk so take however long you want. Just remember to stay out of our way when we come to check on her later. Just around the corn...” She was interrupted by a wailing screach, accompanied by an incessant beeping. The nurse immediately held a hoof out to the six friends, commanding “Stay here!” as she sprinted down the rest of the hall and around the corner she had been leading them towards. They all shared various looks of worry, most wanting to follow and see if they could provide any help. Before they could decide what to do, a deeper scream rang out followed by a yell of “Catch her!” Applejack and Rainbow, followed close behind by the other four, were most of the way to the corner when a green and silver ball of fluff and bandages rocketed out of the side corridor, slid clumsily along the floor and slammed into the wall with a small grunt of pain. All six stopped and stared, confusedly wondering what was going on. The sound of galloping hooves came from the side corridor as the filly's head snapped up, looking unfocused at the six friends. Slightly glowing lime-colored eyes with pinpricks of black for pupils tried to focus on any one of them, seeming to fail entirely. Rainbow and applejack both thought quickly, realizing that the filly was trying to run away for some reason. Applejack lowered herself down to jump in her way if need be, while Rainbow quickly flew closer, spreading her hooves to grab. The filly's muscles tensed faster than either could react to, exploding into motion underneath Rainbow's outstretched hooves. Applejack tried to get in front of the running filly, but another sudden motion had her overshoot as the little one's direction changed in an instant. They both turned around to see the filly zigzagging towards the others faster than either of them could have ran at such a young age. Rarity began rapidly backpedaling as Twilight's horn began to glow. Fluttershy tried to make herself as small as possible, and Pinkie stared open mouthed at the rapidly approaching filly. The filly darted underneath Pinkie, barely missing her legs. One of the filly's hind legs pulled up close as the other one pushed downward powerfully, propelling her up on top of Fluttershy, who was then used as a springboard to leap at Rarity's face. With a yelp Rarity fell backwards as the rocketing filly landed on top of her head and sprang even further down the corridor behind the group. The filly landed awkwardly on her front legs, stumbling onto all fours and screaming out as her broken hind leg took too much weight and collapsed. The only sounds in the corridor for a few seconds were the filly's heavy breathing and the nurses starting to catch up. The filly tried to lurch back into motion after only that short rest, but could only push herself back onto her front hooves before Twilight's magic finally caught up, lifting her off the ground. She continued to try to pull herself forward for a while more, before being gently floated back to the group. She blearily looked around, obviously confused. Everpony else there, including the just arrived nurses, took the same time to look around as well at the spots of blood all around the corridor. Rarity especially was staring cross-eyed at a large patch of red just above her nose. Before long the filly turned slowly to look at Twilight's frowning, wide-eyed face. She stared until they were closer to each other before breathily speaking “Svabol wer uoinota.” and passing out. Author's Note Betchya nobody knows the language i'm using. Well, admittedly i don't either, i'm just using an online 'translater' for the fictional language. But anyway, hope people at least find this interesting. I'm trying to update at least once a month.
A chaotic beginningA herd of giraffe-legged rabbits ran by, followed by bison dancing in their tutus through a house of cards. A house used its roof as a foundation as it floated by on its small inverted mountain. The checkerboard that was the ground held a game with itself just out of view while holding up a dark throne made from the finest mahogany. Sat upon this throne was the lord of this realm, the maestro of a symphony of meaningful meaninglessness. The lord of chaos Himself, known to those of this realm as Discord, and known to others in times long past by more names than any single creature would care to catalog, was watching over his glorious chaos. A rain of peach pies went by for naught but a few seconds, prompting Him to laugh at the utter imperfection of it all. A pink cloud flew by his throne, stopping to release its load of chocolate milk for its creator. A claw reached over to it, drying itself in the rain momentarily before a flash of light created a tall glass to fill with the cloud's outpouring contents. Quickly it filled from top to bottom and was drawn away. Discord closed His eyes to revel in his creations as He reaffirmed himself in saying, “Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing.” The last tile slid into place, ancient stone clicking into place as the enormous doors before the pair opened in agonizing slowness, they and the room were lit from behind for a moment by a number of explosions outside the cave they were within. The battle raging outside simply so they could go through those doors. With clanking armor one stepped forward, hand resting on his sword's pommel. He looked down to the other one there, telling them “Alright. Get out there and help them fight off the smaller beasts.” The smaller one looked up, sadly saying “I'm all out of power. You'd be more useful to them, and they'll still need you afterwards. I've got this, you go.” Metal shifted against metal as the armored figure ignored the other and started walking toward the doors while replying, “No. This is for me to do, now stop-” and was cut off with a scream as electricity arced across his armor. He fell down, numbly clutching for his sword and out of breath as he tried to ask “Why?!” A small black rod was pressed back into his armored side, electricity filling him once again and forcing him into unconsciousness. The rod was drawn away, and tossed into the surrounding darkness as a quiet voice whispered “Because I wasn't asking.” A small gold ring was pulled from a small finger, resizing itself as it was placed over an armored gauntlet. A word of power, meaningless except to activate the object, was spoken and the armored figure vanished from sight. The tiny figure beside the now-invisible paladin stood there for only a moment longer before darting away through the grand doors, accompanied by another flash of explosive light. The glass had just reached His lips as He was interrupted by a voice He expected even less than his masterful chaos. A feminine voice stating proudly, “Not as wonderful as friendship!” The half-lidded glare from the lord of chaos would have made most sane creatures quail in fear before slinking away, or at least that was the intent with which it was leveled at those six colorful ponies. The glare was much less effective than intended however, so instead of watching these creatures run away in justified panic Discord wearily stated, “Oh, this again?” before drinking up his glass and throwing away the milk to explosive effect. “That's right! Ya couldn't break apart our friendship fer long!” Came the southern-accented reply. “Oh Applejack, don't lie to me. I'm the one who made you a liar!” Discord countered, while using his magic to draw her closer into the air. His face distorted in malice and concentration as He pulled the other four Element necklaces to hang in the air in front of Him. As soon as they all were floating there, He asked simply, “Do you ever learn?” Beyond the doors was a massive chamber, empty except for what appeared to be a gravestone near the far wall, marked with nothing but a few words of power. The walls of the chamber were marked by thousands of enormous claw marks, a dozen meters long each. Each mark was only inches deep, evidence of just how powerful this place was. A large gemstone was drawn from the tiny figure's side. It clattered and clanged as it bounced along the floor to the back of the chamber. The figure drew back their arm from throwing it away, and sat down in front of the stone, studying it and waiting, the distant sounds of combat their only company. It was not long before the roar was felt as much as heard. The figure flinched with each echoing step of the beast as it approached. Eyes squeezed closed as the earth quaked, until the sound stopped only a few meters behind the tiny figure. Eyes snapped open and mouth pronounced the few words there. The grand doors behind slammed closed, sending rushing wind through the chamber. Those eyes closed for a moment as a deep breath was drawn in. The tiny figure turned around, eyes calm and mouth open in a toothy grin. There before them was a mountain of scales, muscle and claws. Behind the greater dragon, the door was sealed, no longer distinguished from the wall around it. Fury filled every part of the beast, a roar growing in its maw as both it and the figure accepted that they were trapped together for all eternity. The figure's grin grew wild as they gleefully said “Hello beasty.” before rushing forward. As He was watching them, He didn't notice their sixth member casting her spell to appear in their midst. A bubble of pink magic enveloped the entire group only a moment after, the lord of chaos flinching back in surprise for but a second. He watched the pink sphere float away back to where the six were standing just a few seconds before. The bubble touched the ground, turning the glorious checkerboard it touched back into the boring grass these ponies thought it should be before the pink dissipated with a pop. The six ponies stood there, proudly defiant as their leader said “I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord.” as they all advanced towards the throne, “We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for.” Discord's long serpentine neck extended close to the group as He said “Ngh, gag!” He drew back before continuing, “Fine, go ahead, try and use your little elements, frienemies! Just make it quick.” And with a bright flash back to His throne moodily stated “I'm missing some excellent chaos here!” as a herd of pigs flew by. The ponies clustered together, entering threatening poses as the purple one said “Alright ladies! Let's show him what friendship can do!” Even as their pink member was off to the side, panickedly yelling “wait, wait, wait!” as she guzzled chocolate milk from a low-flying cloud to the unimpressed stares of her friends. She shortly hopped back over to them before entering her own combative pose. A glow surrounded the ponies as Discord closed His eyes and yawned deeply, ignoring the shimmering sound coming from them as unimportant. The glow grew in strength as each individual's colors joined it. Shapes representing each member of the magic six flew from them, passing by Discord on His throne. He had to duck below a pink star to avoid it hitting his face. Discord surprisedly asked “Oh, what's this?” as the shapes grew in strength and frequency. The glow grew ever stronger, to which Discord could only reply with a disbelieving “No!” as the group floated within their magical field, their eyes glowing with strength that radiated off of them, quickly forming into a solid rainbow. The rainbow arced up high above Discord's throne, so fast it could not be avoided. Discord let out an extended denial, a long “Nooooo!” as His body rapidly changed, becoming frozen and gray stone. Unnoticed to the ponies, before His entire body could be petrified, His eyebrow changed shape to almost be a clawed hand, poised with its pointer finger to the sky as the middle finger and thumb snapped together quicker than almost any eye could follow. The figure flitted amongst the spikes on the dragon's back, as the beast spun around to kill the annoying gnat that had trapped it. Agility was all the figure had to keep them alive now, and they were privately amazed it had lasted this long. A paw swept over the figure once more, missing them by inches as they leapt between the claws. This had been going on for a few minutes now, and the greater dragon's fury had only grown more incandescent. All skill it may have had was long gone, replaced with a desire to see this minuscule creature dead. But even as the dragon grew angrier, the figure grew weaker. Their dodges became more and more desperate as they tried to extend their life as much as possible. But only a single mistake was necessary to end them. That mistake came in the form of the tip of the beast's tail being just a little longer than they thought as it whipped towards them. Thrown across the chamber, the figure slammed into the wall, feeling their bones shatter as blood flew from their mouth. They slumped to the floor, unable to move as the beast regained its mind seeing its foe beaten. Thudding footsteps crossed the floor, echoing through the chamber. They stopped above the tiny, broken figure. One foreleg reached down, and with surprising delicateness, picked up the figure. A whimper was released as they were lifted up in front of the dragon's eyes. Some reserve of strength was found deep within them, as they coughed up blood before saying “Coulda beat you in my good days.” with a small grin. The fury came back in full force as the dragon tossed the figure into their open maw, snapping it closed over them. The rainbow continued out from Discord's frozen shape, forming a sphere around the area in which the battle had just been fought. The glow continued to grow, becoming blindingly bright before suddenly dissipating. Where before there had been a pastel nightmare, now a simple and idyllic valley spread out over the restored land. The ponies gently floated down from their levitated positions just in time to watch the statue that had minutes before been Discord fall crashing to the ground. A relieved breath escaped most of them as the pink one leapt up and began cheering, “Yay! We're the bestest friendshippers ever!” The purple one chuckled, saying “I don't think that friendshippers is a word Pinky.” in an exasperatedly fond tone of voice. She thought she heard something far above her as she turned to her friends. “We did it, girls! Now we need to get Discord back to the princesses and...is that screaming?” The others started hearing it too, sounding like it was coming from above them and getting closer. They all looked around at each other before looking straight up into the sky, at the small speck growing larger. The white one began saying “what is tha-” before it quickly resolved itself into the form of a pony, flailing limbs all around. None of them had time to think of a response as, with a wet splatting sound, the figure landed right in the middle of their group, all of them leaping back with various startled cries. There between them was a small pegasus filly, limbs out to the side and face down in the ground. They all slowly approached, still startled out of their thoughts. Looking down on the small form before them, the blue one summarized all their thoughts by asking, “What the fuck?” Author's Note I really want to write this all out for you all and share it with you guys, but i honestly don't know whether that motivation will last. Expect nothing, while i hope for everything.
A frantic hospitalNurse Redheart raised an eyebrow at the six mares in front of her. Fluttershy was visibly panicking, hiding behind Applejack's comforting hoof. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were off to the side muttering to each other. Rainbow Dash hovered over a stretcher which was held in a purple aura of magic, worriedly looking at it's occupant. “Fell... from the sky?” Redheart repeated, pulling on her uniform. Twilight gave a huff, but responded “Yes, fell from the sky. Right after Discord was petrified.” Redheart nodded at that, hoping this would be one of the stranger patients she would have today. She looked around at Ponyville General Hospital rapidly getting back into operating order. Doctors, nurses and technicians ran every which way, checking stocks and equipment, making sure the reign of chaos that ended just half an hour ago wouldn't keep them from helping ponies. Quickly discerning order out of the apparent lack of such, Redheart waved the mares to follow her towards a side door. She tapped the shoulder of a passing doctor, stating “121” as he turned to her. A quick nod came from the doctor before he continued on his task. Redheart marched towards the spassageway, seemingly ignoring the other rushing ponies around her. Twilight levitated the stretcher to follow the nurse closely. The other Elements quickly followed close behind. Redheart lead the group through one wide doorway, down a short hallway and into an ordinary patient's room. She gestured to the bed in the room, saying “Put her down. Gently.” as she went to the machines off to the side, rolling them towards the bed. The stretcher slowly lowered down next to the bed before Rainbow and Applejack gently lifted the small form resting on it over on top of the sheets. Redheart looked down at the small filly laying on her side, her forest green fur matted down in more than a few places. Darker splotches of color along her flank hopefully just indicated natural coloring and not something else. That her left ear had a cut almost halfway through it, the raw skin on either side still bleeding indicated that the splotches would need to be seen to quickly before they worsened. Her silver mane was similarly discolored throughout, though the red stains showed much more obviously. A grimace broke out on Redheart's face as she placed a few patches on the filly. She pressed a few buttons on the machinery as the room's door opened and the doctor from earlier came into the room. A terrible cacophony of noise came from the devices for a few moments, startling the Elements until Redheart gave a hard kick to one's side and the noise settled down into a rapid heartbeat and other varied beeps. The six friends stood back a little from the two medical professionals rapidly assessing the filly, before Redheart roughly pushed past the mares, calling out into the hall some strange sequence of words before ducking back into the room. She looked at the group shuffling around awkwardly. She gave a silent sigh before telling them “Could you wait in the lobby? I promise we'll do our best, but we need the room.” “Ah, yeah...ah guess we should” was the only verbal response, from Applejack. The six shuffled out of the room and back to the lobby. On the way, a few nurses ran past, pushing a heavy cart towards the room they just left. Rainbow Dash stared for a long time at the door before Rarity said “Come along dear. Let them do their work.” and she turned back with a shake of her head, rushing to catch up. Several hours later, Rainbow Dash sat in the lobby, lost in thought. Her friends had all left earlier, having their own duties to attend to. “The...the animals are probably so scared. I-I-I should help them.” “I need to talk to the mayor. And send a letter to the princess. And make sure Spike's okay. And...” “Mah orchard might be havin' a bad time of it, and ah need to make sure Granny's not hurt.” “The Cake's'll need me to help them bake treats to make sure everyone has smiles!” “I can't trust that that rapscallion didn't destroy my dresses. Oh that would be the worst! I must check on them!” Rainbow knew that all of them, even Rarity, had good reasons to go. Discord was a menace, who knows what long-term effects he could have. Some part of her knew that the Elements of Harmony would fix a lot of it, but some stuff would take a lot of time and effort to make right. The weather would need work, probably lots of it. But whenever she thought about what she needed to do, her mind stayed fixed on a small crumpled form that had just fallen from above. She'd never seen that filly before. But she was hurt. She'd gotten her to the hospital, right? But she was hurt. She had other ponies who needed her. But she was hurt. She could barely even keep her eyes open she was so tired. But there was a hurt little filly who might need someone, so she stayed. Quite a few other ponies had some into the hospital with small injuries. A cut there from a knife suddenly stopping being a conversationalist and falling on its 'drinking buddy'. A bruise over there from falling through formerly solid cotton candy clouds. Even a dislocated shoulder from something the pony whispered that made the nurse blush. She hadn't caught a glimpse of nurse Redheart or that doctor. But now the rush of ponies had quieted down and Rainbow sat almost alone in the darkening room, only the receptionist keeping her company. Not that he was much company. Rainbow had tried starting a conversation a few...dozen times, but noncommittal nonanswers were all she got at first, now the guy just looked straight ahead and ignored her. She got to whistling tunes to pass the time, boredom as ever her enemy even while waiting for news on an injured little filly. And still no pony came to tell her anything. She eventually lapsed into a worried silence, her brain spending its time coming up with worse and worse reasons why she was still in the dark. Just as her tired brain almost convinced her to start worrying about the sudden onset of the zombie apocalypse, the side door opened startling a cry out of her. She rapidly looked around, noticing the receptionist giving her a weird look before spotting Redheart. The nurse was wearing a new uniform and looked like she had just dried her hair after dunking it in a bucket of water. Her eyes had sunken into her face, bags underneath them already drooping. Her posture screamed that all she wanted was to go home and fall into her bed. But most importantly, she had a satisfied smile on her tired face, proud to have done good. Redheart looked over the lobby twice before spotting Rainbow and slowly making her way over. “That filly is very, very lucky that you got her here as soon as you did.” was the first thing she said. “Yeah?” was Rainbows only response. Redheart's smile faded a little as she just said “She was hurt bad. Very bad. But she'll be okay now. You should head home, we'll tell you and your friends more tomorrow.” “Yeah, yeah I'll do that.” Rainbow tiredly stated before floating out the door into the night. The receptionist looked over some of the papers in front of him before asking “Did you forget some of the report?” Redheart looked over at him with a frown on her face. “No, I'll tell her when both of our brains are working.” She walked towards the back room. As she passed him, he said “Permanent crippling injuries are generally the sort of thing you don't wait to mention you know.” A sigh and an “I know.” were the only response as Redheart slipped past to gather her things.
Chapter 3: An attempted escape*...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'Well, that's a weird noise.' was my first thought. My brain tried to have more thoughts after that, but none came for quite a while. Eventually I managed to reach something like consciousness, dragging my brain with me. *...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'What is that weird noise?” was my next thought, one which took long enough to form that I forgot to follow though on it before another thought started to take form. *...beep...* *...beep...* *...beep...* 'Why can't I see?' came to me quicker, but still very slowly. I spent a while contemplating the question, no answers coming to me. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* 'Oh right. My eyes are closed.' took far too long to occur to me. Shortly afterward I tried opening my eyelids. They were far too heavy, iron weights and glue keeping them shut. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* Blearily, with the entirety of my concentration focused on the one action, my eyelids ground open. A thin sliver of blurry white was all I could see for several minutes before my lids opened further. A little bit of definition came to me, but so very slowly. *..beep..* *..beep..* *..beep..* I thought for a while before deducing that I was looking at a wall painted some shade of white. A little bit of feeling came soon after, letting me feel gravity pulling me to the side. I guessed that I was laying down on my side. 'Where am I?' *.beep.* *.beep.* *.beep.* I had no answers. I remembered seeing places like this only a few times. None of those times were good, though my memory failed me as to why. My vision still wasn't getting any better, and I could still only hear that one sound. *.beep.* *.beep.* *.beep.* Why was it getting faster? What did it mean? I had no answers, though a few ideas came to me. Maybe it's keeping count of something? Maybe keeping a rhythm? *beep* *beep* *beep* Maybe counting down? I didn't know, how could I? All I can see is this one wall, all I can feel is the pressure of the surface I'm laying upon. Wait, no. I could feel other things now too. I could feel something wrapping around my torso, trapping me. Something around one of my legs too, immobilizing it. *beep* *beep* *beep* I tried to move my other leg. It barely shifted, dragging across the surface I lay upon, pulling some kind of fabric with it. My neck twitched with my attempt to look around, changing my view only enough to look at a different angle at the wall. *beep beep* *beep beep* I gathered my energy, slowly shifting my arms. Only one responds, the one against the ground. It slowly moved underneath me, shifting me onto my chest. My legs responded in kind, the immobilized one trying to kick about until I lay entirely on my belly. *beep beep* *beep beep* My view shifted along with my body, dragging over the wall and onto another, over indistinct grey-black blobs and flashing lights. Eventually my sight came to rest on a much closer wall, along with what may be the head of a bed. *beep beep beep beep beep* 'I need to move.' I thought. I'm not sure why, but I knew that staying still would be bad. It took a long time to shift my limbs underneath me, pulling one at a time closer and closer. My breath began to quicken with the effort, short puffs of air in and out. *beep beep beep beep beep* I pushed with my more responsive arm, trying to slowly get up. An inch. Two inches. Three inches. My spine slowly twisted along with my slow rise, until... Agony. My back felt a searing heat, the nerve endings dying fiery deaths as my muscles received far too many instructions, all spasming as one to force my body into an unnatural shape. *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* I could hear a scream almost drowning out the strange noise at the same time as it became a rapidly repeated cry. Other noises joined in. Many footsteps rushed closer, along with a wailing alarm filling the air. *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* A door slammed open, the footsteps surrounded me along with limbs trying to hold me down. My limbs flailed around, not letting these strangers keep hold of me. Adrenaline surged through my entire body, sharpening my mind and activating dangerous instincts. *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* I vaguely noticed the noise changing to a single long tone as my body twisted and legs kicked out into one attacker's shoulder, my arms slamming into another's elbow with a crack. The pain spread from my back throughout my lower body as the constraints around my leg shattered. Even more adrenaline flooded my system, allowing me to ignore the agony. I felt a sharp stabbing come from the direction of another attacker as the greyish blur that I thought was them jabbed something into my shoulder. Before they could do anything more, my legs kicked out towards them, propelling me away. There was a momentary weightlessness as I shoved myself off of the bed. Soon afterwards my arm hit the floor, already moving to get under me, my shoulders twisting around to let me run away. I identified the doorway immediately, already seeing more assailants moving outside. All four of my limbs began propelling me towards the opening. The leg that was immobilized earlier didn't hold any weight, needing me to hop my other leg forward to keep upright as I identified that the lower bone was badly broken. The feeling of the lower half of the bone sliding up through my flesh to outside my body blinded me for a moment. My other limbs kept moving rapidly as I moved my broken leg into a position to do something unpleasant when I reached the door. As I rounded the corner and darted to the side I avoided an attacker trying to grab me. Before I fully left the room I had been in, my broken leg slammed hard into the doorframe, shoving the halves of the bone back inside my leg. I blacked out for a moment, my limbs moving on their own pushing me down the hallway. With the muscles in my broken leg tensing up and holding the broken bone in place with all their adrenaline-granted strength, I put all four of my limbs into my escape. There was another doorway at the end of the hall. I could only hope that that way led to an escape, and to friends. The nurse led the six friends out of the reception area, saying “We're only just starting to look into who the filly is, but since it's only been a day since you brought her in to us we've not had any progress so far.” Twilight furrowed her brow and asked “So she's not from Ponyville?” “Nah, I ain't seen her around anywhere and ah've met dern near every pony in this town.” came from Applejack. The nurse nodded and said “Yes, while Ponyville isn't a very small town it doesn't have so many ponies living here that it'd be hard at all to keep track of them. She's not anypony from here's child, and the only tourists in the area when Discord attacked were a few families with no children.” The nurse pushed open a door, holding it for the friends. When they all got through she continued with “But anyway, we hope to find her family soon. She's thankfully in stable condition, but we don't expect her to wake up for quite a while yet. Her condition was...bad. Falling from any height shouldn't do that much damage to even a young pegasus, unless they propel themselves into the ground.” Rainbow Dash cringed a little at that before asking “So, what happened? How bad was it?” “We don't know what happened, but it looked like she'd been crushed on all sides by something, and sliced by some large creature's claws. Several cuts and abrasions along her flank, and multiple broken bones not consistent with a fall.” Was the nurse's response. Most of the friends reacted with various levels of shock. Twilight's eyes widened as she began muttering about what creatures could have been nearby, Fluttershy wondering the same as she shrank down. Rarity gasped with a hoof to her snout. Pinkie's persistent pronking stopped as she settled down next to Fluttershy. Applejack and Rainbow both shared a look, having seen the filly's injuries before and expecting something along those lines. Both of them began having thoughts of tracking down whatever creature had hurt the filly and giving it a piece of their mind. The nurse just continued on, leading them towards the filly's room. “But anyway, visiting hours will last until dusk so take however long you want. Just remember to stay out of our way when we come to check on her later. Just around the corn...” She was interrupted by a wailing screach, accompanied by an incessant beeping. The nurse immediately held a hoof out to the six friends, commanding “Stay here!” as she sprinted down the rest of the hall and around the corner she had been leading them towards. They all shared various looks of worry, most wanting to follow and see if they could provide any help. Before they could decide what to do, a deeper scream rang out followed by a yell of “Catch her!” Applejack and Rainbow, followed close behind by the other four, were most of the way to the corner when a green and silver ball of fluff and bandages rocketed out of the side corridor, slid clumsily along the floor and slammed into the wall with a small grunt of pain. All six stopped and stared, confusedly wondering what was going on. The sound of galloping hooves came from the side corridor as the filly's head snapped up, looking unfocused at the six friends. Slightly glowing lime-colored eyes with pinpricks of black for pupils tried to focus on any one of them, seeming to fail entirely. Rainbow and applejack both thought quickly, realizing that the filly was trying to run away for some reason. Applejack lowered herself down to jump in her way if need be, while Rainbow quickly flew closer, spreading her hooves to grab. The filly's muscles tensed faster than either could react to, exploding into motion underneath Rainbow's outstretched hooves. Applejack tried to get in front of the running filly, but another sudden motion had her overshoot as the little one's direction changed in an instant. They both turned around to see the filly zigzagging towards the others faster than either of them could have ran at such a young age. Rarity began rapidly backpedaling as Twilight's horn began to glow. Fluttershy tried to make herself as small as possible, and Pinkie stared open mouthed at the rapidly approaching filly. The filly darted underneath Pinkie, barely missing her legs. One of the filly's hind legs pulled up close as the other one pushed downward powerfully, propelling her up on top of Fluttershy, who was then used as a springboard to leap at Rarity's face. With a yelp Rarity fell backwards as the rocketing filly landed on top of her head and sprang even further down the corridor behind the group. The filly landed awkwardly on her front legs, stumbling onto all fours and screaming out as her broken hind leg took too much weight and collapsed. The only sounds in the corridor for a few seconds were the filly's heavy breathing and the nurses starting to catch up. The filly tried to lurch back into motion after only that short rest, but could only push herself back onto her front hooves before Twilight's magic finally caught up, lifting her off the ground. She continued to try to pull herself forward for a while more, before being gently floated back to the group. She blearily looked around, obviously confused. Everpony else there, including the just arrived nurses, took the same time to look around as well at the spots of blood all around the corridor. Rarity especially was staring cross-eyed at a large patch of red just above her nose. Before long the filly turned slowly to look at Twilight's frowning, wide-eyed face. She stared until they were closer to each other before breathily speaking “Svabol wer uoinota.” and passing out. Author's Note Betchya nobody knows the language i'm using. Well, admittedly i don't either, i'm just using an online 'translater' for the fictional language. But anyway, hope people at least find this interesting. I'm trying to update at least once a month.
