A Tale of Order and Chaos

by Dawn Flower

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Slice of Life
Length: 2286

An age old story of the interplay between the equal and opposite forces of Order and Chaos.

One day, while Twilight Sparkle is sick in bed, Discord decides to stop by to tell her a story.

Just a simple tale.

Published 2020-10-19 16:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-10-19 16:10:01 UTC

The Story

In the beginning, there was nothing.

No matter. No energy. No universe.

Nothing.

Then after the big bang, there was everything.

Time started to flow, space began to expand, galaxies began to form, and life crawled out of the primordial ooze.

In that split second in between, however, was the birth of two entities: Order and Chaos.

At first the two were merely primordial forces of the universe, without form or thought. They moved on instinct, travelling the universe, performing only their most basic functions of spreading their namesake to all corners of existence.

As time flowed ever onwards, however, the forces began to take physical form, gaining sentience, and forming personalities. This did not lessen their power, but in fact made them more powerful and dangerous, as now they could act and use their great power consciously.

An unknowable amount of time later, the two beings would finally meet for the first time, and, each representing the opposite of their entire being, they could not comprehend the other. Order could not comprehend Chaos’ unpredictability, while Chaos could not stand Order’s rigidness and lack of change. Naturally, both sought to destroy the other.

However, as both beings were equal and opposite in power, no victor could be determined.

Their first battle ended with one of them fleeing, however, the universe would never and could never know which.

Chaos, acting on instinct, simply continued in its initial goal to spread itself across the universe, into every corner of creation and destruction, with Order always in the back of its mind, but never actively pursuing it, simply doing as it was want to do.

Order, meanwhile, being more logical, saw the threat that Chaos was to its own goal in making existence uniform and clean. Now with consciousness and the ability to think, Order did what it previously thought impossible: it learned. It used its prior experience. It began to plan. It began plan the destruction of its opposite. It began to plan the destruction of Chaos.

However, Order and Chaos, even with their physical forms, were the very forces of the universe itself. One could no more destroy them than destroy existence itself, and both were made equal in power for that very reason.

However, something had changed since the beginning of everything; something that now threatened to destroy everything:

Order had learned to think.

Order and Chaos’ powers were linked to the rules of the universe itself. They were the rules of the universe itself. If one wanted to destroy the other, one would simply have to change those rules.

And now Order had learned to do just that.

It’s ironic that Order had to think flexibly like Chaos in order to best them, but perhaps it was that contradiction in the laws of the universe that allowed such rules to be changed in the first place.

Chaos was far from Order on that day, and by the time Chaos realised what Order had done, it was already too late. Logically, Order thought, that Chaos could do anything that it could do; however, things were different now for the first time in the history of everything.

Order was stronger than Chaos.

The two fought once more, and this time, it was Chaos that was forced to flee.

Now with its eternal enemy no longer able to oppose them, Order turned its attention back to its original task of spreading itself to every corner of existence, making everything like it.

In the untold eons since their first meeting with Chaos, the universe was now filled with a different kind of life, which would come to be called Mortal. It was not immortal like Order and Chaos, and it was many instead of one. They lived and they died. They made more of themselves who would live and die, perpetuating the cycle endlessly. At first, this cycle seemed orderly and unchanging, but as time went on, Order saw that each new cycle would be different from the last. They looked different. They acted different. They thought different. They were different. They changed.

They were Chaos.

Order was truly angry for the second time at the sight of these beings. Order had changed the very rules of reality to crush Chaos once and for all, and yet now there was more of Chaos in the world than ever. ‘Surely this must have been Chaos’ plan’ Order thought, acting in opposite to itself as always. While Order sought to purge Chaos, Chaos had instead spread itself to every corner and crevice of existence; and simply in the act of knowing, more Chaos had been born from it.

Order became even angrier, but from that anger came reason. Order had destroyed Chaos before, and so logically it could do so again, in destroying these new beings. Order would break them down, strip them of every last trace of Chaos, and remake them as true Order: perfect and unchanging.

So did Order turn its gaze upon Mortals.

It would not be difficult, Order thought logically.

Order was eternal; Mortals were not. Mortals were weak; Order was not.

Order was unchanging; Mortals were not. Mortals could adapt; Order could not.

Mortals fought back. Mortals adapted. Mortals overcame.

Mortals overcame even Order.

Order was confused. How could Mortals resist? Why did Mortals resist? Why be Chaos when you could be Order. It was incomprehensible.

It was Chaos.

In that moment, in Mortals, Order saw the reflection of Chaos in their first meeting, and then realised this: Mortals were not infected with Chaos; they were Chaos. Chaos in another form. In many different forms, with many different faces. The many faces of Chaos. Many. Chaos.

Order and Chaos were now unequal yet still opposite.

Order was one. Chaos was many.

But Order was still stronger than Chaos. That was the new rule of the universe. Order could destroy Chaos. Order could destroy them. Order could destroy Mortals.

Order’s retribution came swift. Leagues upon leagues of Mortals fell before the power of Order, not reforming but total destruction.

Still, though, did Mortals continue to resist.

Chief amongst them was a particular Mortal; one amongst the many. A Queen, unafraid to do battle with Order directly – not out of hatred for something different, nor for a need to control, not in rage of loss or anger, or even a simple case of instinct. No, instead the Queen fought for a new reason: love. The love for others, so that they would not be made to suffer before another, acting in that moment not as a ruler, but as a protector.

Order cared not the Queen’s reasons, however, for she would fall as all other Mortals had before.

It was then in that moment that Chaos did appear.

While Order hated the way in which Mortals were all different – as equals and opposites, it was for that very same quality that Chaos found them intriguing.

Some could be kind; some could be evil. Some could be smart; some could be stupid. Some could be exceptional; some could be bland.

Unlike Order, Chaos would not change Mortals, for they were already constantly changing.

And so the battle was joined.

In the sight of Chaos, appearing alongside Mortals, whom Order had assumed one in the same, a moment of doubt had appeared, but quickly vanished when Order remembered the facts:

Chaos was many.

Order was one.

Order was stronger.

Chaos would fall again, as it always was, as it always would be.

Unchanging.

Though, the Queen did fight alongside Chaos in this battle, she did not truly side with Order or Chaos completely, as in her Mortal mind, the Queen could see what they could not: the need for Balance; for Order and Chaos in equal measure, as was always needed to be.

True Balance.

So the battle did continue between Order, Chaos and Mortal.

The Queen was Mortal, unlike Order and Chaos. The Queen was not eternal or all powerful, unlike Order and Chaos. The Queen could not contribute as much to the battle as Order and Chaos. But one million plus one is still more than one million, and so this Queen, this Mortal, though insignificant in comparison to both Order and Chaos was the deciding factor in the eternal battle between them.

This time it was Order who was defeated – defeated, but not destroyed, as Order was still needed for the universe to truly exist.

True Balance.

In defeat, Order, the unchanging force of everything, was changed into another form, one without thought or mind, as it had once been in the beginning, once more exerting its force to the world without intention or agenda.

The battle was not without its losses, however, as like all Mortals, the Queen would fall, saving the world from a state of pure Order.

Though this is not yet the end of the tale, as even with Order defeated, the effects of Order’s previous triumph still lingered, and the universe itself was still out of Balance. Order was still stronger than Chaos in the threads of reality, and so Chaos did once more venture out into the world, spreading Chaos as was in its nature to do.

However, as Mortals change they so also forget, and without the Queen to guide and inform them, the truth of that battle faded from memory, and as Chaos continued in its singular goal of spreading itself across the world, the Mortals merely saw another Order enforcing its will upon them, and just as Mortals change, so too do they stay the same, and they once again stood up to face Chaos just as they had faced Order before, in the name of their own choice and free will.

Mortals.

Order and Chaos together in one.

The charge against Chaos was lead by two Princesses, daughters of the Queen, who unbeknownst to them now faced down the one whom their Mother had once fought alongside. However, while the Queen knew the secret of the true Balance needed between Order and Chaos, the Princesses, now facing down Chaos, did so instead with the opposite power of Order, and with it stripped Chaos of its thought and changed its form to one that could no longer act consciously.

So it was that Order and Chaos were both sealed. Both once again as forces without form or thought. Both spreading themselves across the universe. Both without thought. Without ambition. Without plan. Without agenda. Without want. For the sake of the universe.

And so did the world pass on to Mortals, who would bring about Order and Chaos into the world in equal share.

Perfectly Balanced as all things should be.

The Storyteller

“But the hour is late, our cups are dry, and my tale is told.”

“Discord!” Twilight Sparkle yelled in frustration.

“Yes,” the Draconequus replied, looking up from the large book he held in his misshapen claws, elongating the word as he spoke in a coy tone.

Twilight, who had been lying sick in bed, had to place a steady hoof to her forehead to try and quell the intense headache that was Discord, in addition to her high fever. “Fluttershy just asked you to bring me a glass of water for my fever. Instead, you walk into the room, poof up a book and stool and start reading a story out of nowhere, all the while I have been constantly asking you to stop so that I can get some rest.”

Discord, his expression not having changed at all during her rant, simply stared back at her as she spoke. “Yes,” he repeated, in a slightly more subdued tone this time.

Twilight let out another exhausted sigh as she continued to rub her forehead to quell her never-ending headache, with both hooves this time. “I swear, Discord, with how you’ve been acting, I’m willing to bet that you just made up the whole story solely to get this kind of reaction out of me just because you were bored.”

Discord simply stared back at her for several seconds in complete silence before he suddenly threw his hands up in the air joyfully, making the book disappear as he did so. “You got me,” he answered, as he laughed jovially to himself.

Twilight, meanwhile, could only glare and growl at him softly, before her fever caused her to begin coughing once more.

Snapping his fingers and conjuring a glass of water, he passed it to her so that she could take a drink and clear her throat. “Here you go, Twilight, stay safe,” Discord spoke calmly as he patted her on the head to comfort her. He then made his way over to the door to leave. “And in the future, remember to social distance,” he spoke back to her just before closing the door behind him.

After she taken a drink of water, Discord was already out of the room before she could properly respond.

Now that he was alone in the hallways of the Castle of Friendship, Discord leaned back against the door to Twilight’s room, with a giddy expression on his face, trying to hold back roaring laughter, like he always did when got to mess with Twilight.

A moment later, however, he then reached into the tuft of his chest fur and pulled out a warped piece of metal, which vaguely looked like a crown, which had been weathered by the passage of time. He stared at the crown longingly and with an uncharacteristically content expression on his face.

And he smiled.

“I will always remember you fondly,” Discord said quietly to himself, looking up. “My Queen.”

Then with a snap of his fingers, he disappeared.