Dancing With the Devil by Alchemical Night

It was a cold night In Canterlot. The nights were always cold, courtesy of the city’s elevated location. Trees were sparse up here, and animals sparser. The silent chill of the starless night permeated the walls of Canterlot Castle, ensuring none inside would find sleep easily.

And for one sobbing mare, it ensured that she would not find sleep at all.

Celestia lay atop the fabrics of her bed, not even feeling the small amount of warmth the contact granted her. Her mind was consumed with guilt, repeating her greatest mistake ad nauseum. What little rest she had in the past week was plagued with nightmares; a torture she knew her subjects were experiencing as well.

She had resigned herself to the fact that exhaustion would accompany her the next day. There was nothing she could do. Nothing she wanted to do. As far as Celestia was concerned, this was penance for ripping the princess of dreams from the world. And she would bear this burden for the rest of her days. And… her nights.

“Celestia.”

Celestia reacted on instinct. She wasn’t sure exactly what happened next, but the pained face of Anarchy and the patch of scorched fur on its chest painted a very clear picture. Her heart dropped. She had attacked a draconequus. Again. And this time, she didn’t have her sister.

Equestia was doomed.

“Nice to see you, too. That hurt, by the way.” With a snap of its fingers, new fur grew out to replace the blackened crisps of burned hair. “If you’re done attacking me…”

When Celestia realized that she had not started a new war, she took the time to calm her heart. Anarchy watched on, motionless, as was its tendency. With her emotions under control for the moment, Celestia began.

“What art thou doing here, Anarchy?”

“You invited me to tea. I’ve decided to take you up on that offer.”

She… had done that, hadn’t she? Over the decades since Celestia had last seen Anarchy, she forgot her fumbling attempt at civility with it. But for the draconequus to show up now? So soon after… it was cruel. Some sick joke.

“Thou knowest.”

“I know what?”

“Don’t. Play. Stupid. Dost thou know?” Celestia growled.

A pause from Anarchy, but not for long. “Your sister.”

“Thou –” Celestia rose from her bed with violence in her eyes “– wouldst dare come into our home and request tea of all things, knowing what we have just gone through? Thy lack of tact would be appalling if it were not entirely insulting!” She approached it, coming much closer than she ever dared to during their previous encounter.

Perhaps she wasn’t thinking clearly. Perhaps she failed to care about the possible consequences. Whatever her reasoning, the now-sole Princess of Equestria leaned forward until she was nearly nose-to-nose with the draconequus stood in her room.

“Thou art a monster. Dost thou not see the pain we are in? Dost thou not care? Has thy chaotic magic corrupted thy head? Answer me!”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

The two remained like that for some time. Celestia searched Anarachy’s eyes searching for some flash of emotion, some betrayal of his emotions. But she found nothing. She wondered if there was anything in there to find, if all draconequui were as uncaring as the two she knew.

Celestia was growing tired of the silences. This time, she would act first.

“If thou hast nothing to say to us, then thou art not welcome. Take all traces of thine existence, leave our sight, and never dare to show thyself here again.”

Nothing.

“NOW –!” Celestia had barely finished the word when she felt a bone-crushing grip on her lower jaw. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Anarchy’s draconic arm bent at the elbow. When she tried to shut her mouth, she realized that she was not even able to do that – a single claw was resting between her upper and lower teeth on the left side.

It spoke with measured coldness that Celestia was still able to feel through her burning anger. “I said don’t. Tell me. What. To do. If you do that again, I will rip your darling little kingdom apart at the seams. I promise you, I am not as inept as Discord.”

And with that, Celestia was released. Anarchy strode past her and snapped its talons, the tea set that lived on Celestia’s small tea table coming to life and operating itself. As if nothing had happened, Anarchy spoke again.

“I’ll be having tea. Join me if you wish.”

As if she had a choice. Celestia watched the creature make itself comfortable with hatred burning in her eyes. Yet if she did anything… who knows what would happen?

Reluctantly, she sat opposite of Anarchy. She had just magically gripped the piping hot teapot when it held its claw up.

“The tea’s in the creamer. The soda’s in the pot.”

“What is soda?”

It stared at her blankly before sighing and snapping again. “Hot water’s in the pot. Go ahead.”

As Celestia fixed herself a cup of tea, she thought back to her encounter with Discord. He had activated his chaos magic by snapping as well, though only for grand changes like transforming a pony into a tree.

That had been a truly horrific sight.

Anarchy, however, seemed to be snapping for every minute spell. Even the simple telekinesis required to move her teaware had needed one.

“Tell me something,” – Celestia’s line of thinking was interrupted by Anarchy’s voice – “were you born?”

What?

“We… yes?”

“That’s good.” Anarchy slowly nodded its head, eyes closed.

Where there was fury previously, confusion now reigned in Celestia’s mind. Thankfully, she did not have to wait long for an answer to her unspoken question.

“I was not.”

“Thou were not… born?”

“Correct. No draconequus is.” It took a sip of tea. “We are created.”

“By what means?”

It shrugged. “Chaos, I suppose. We aren’t, and then we are. Simple as that.”

Despite her lingering anger towards this creature sat in front of her, Celestia couldn’t help but be intrigued by this concept of draconequus creation. “When was thy creation? If it is not rude of us to ask.”

“How long ago was our first meeting?”

Celestia struggled for a moment to remember how long after Discord’s defeat Anarchy had shown up in the garden. Only a few months if she was not misremembering. “Just over forty years, if we are correct.”

“That old, then.”

“That was the day of thy bir– creation?”

It snapped and dropped two cubes of bright green sugar into its cup before continuing. “Correct. Draconequui do not grow older. Physically, at least. Our minds mature. Although I would consider it less ‘maturing’ and more ‘learning to process everything’.”

Something clicked to Celestia. “Thou have not been pausing as often as thou didst before.”

“We see things differently than you ponies. There is an indescribable amount of information flowing into our brains at any one time. It can be hard to discern what is important at the moment and what is background noise.” It took a noisy sip of tea. “I wanted to make sure I had a grasp on the basics before coming back.”

“Thou… practiced talking just to have tea with us?”

“Not talking. Filtering. Being able to hold a conversation without getting distracted. Honestly, it is still sooner than I would have liked, but I heard about your sister.”

The sudden mental whiplash sent Celestia’s mind reeling.

“I can see you are shocked,” Anarchy continued while Celestia cursed her momentary loss of calm. “I think… Perhaps Discord did not leave the best first impression. Nor I, for that matter. Draconequui are not evil, Princess. We simply live by a different set of rules than other creatures. I have no reason to be your enemy, so I will not pretend to be.”

Celestia felt the phantom touch of Anarchy’s claw wrapped around her jaw. “With respect, we do not trust thy words. But that is not to say we dismiss them as false. Pray, do not take offense when we say thou must earn that trust.”

Even as she spoke, Celestia’s mind was objecting to her words. A draconequus had attacked her nation, made the lives of its citizens a living hell until the sisters had found a way to imprison him. And now another shows up and she speaks of peace? The uproar were the public to find out would be overpowering.

“Understandable.” The creature in question leaned back and took a bite out of its teacup. Celestia could see that the cup – and the tea inside – were now cake. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds as if you just offered more meetings between us? After all, how else would I possibly ‘earn’ that trust of yours?”

“It would seem that I –” Celestia froze for a moment as Anarchy’s lips pulled back into a grin “– did.”

“You are a very surprising pony, Princess Celestia. And very interesting. I almost feel I should thank Discord for being so overconfident.”

“Discord’s overconfidence is the reason thou find us interesting?”

“Discord’s overconfidence is the reason I’m here to find you interesting.”

“We don’t understand.”

Anarchy slowly munched on the remainder of its teacupcake, eyes closed and minotaur fingers tapping a rhythm against the arm of the chair. After a few minutes, Celestia realized that her tea had cooled down considerably. Sipping on her drink, she watched Anarchy closely. She watched, and she pondered.

Why? That was her most pressing question. Why care about her after the loss of her sister? Why continue talking to somepony who fears and hates you? Why openly discuss a secret of draconequui that likely no other creature on the planet knew? Was this creature trying to trick her, to get Celestia drop her guard so it could strike when she least expected it?

And yet, Celestia found herself grasping for reasons to distrust Anarchy’s claims. Yes, it was a draconequus, but that would be like branding all griffons as irredeemable criminals simply because she had a bad experience with one. As a ruler of Equestria, it was her responsibility to set an example for her ponies. And speciesism was not an example she wanted to set. After all, she had made friends with a manticore once. Surely a draconequus wouldn’t be that different.

Celestia resisted the urge to facehoof as she realized what she was thinking. Ignoring the blatant comparison of a draconequus to a manticore, she couldn’t really be considering trying to be friends with Anarchy, could she? It hadn’t actually done anything to her – or her ponies as far as Celestia could tell – yet. But something deep down inside Celestia told her that she was being foolish.

With a sigh, Anarchy took the final bite of its tea.

“Why do you think I was created? Go ahead, take a guess.”

Celestia racked her brain, but couldn’t find an answer. Anarchy opened its eyes, staring down Celestia.

“Fine, I suppose a guess isn’t required.” It sat forward again, hunching its back. “I was created because I was needed. I could wax poetic about the ‘beauty’ of only being brought into the world when you have a purpose instead of being forced into it because of somecreature else’s lovemaking but… It really don’t care to. Discord was taken out of the world – if only for a time – and I was smashed together to take his spot.”

Every muscle in Celestia’s body tensed. A number of spells much stronger than the one that singed Anarchy’s fur ran through her mind.

“Harmony and chaos are two sides of – Harmony as in like, Elements of Harmony.” Anarchy waved its claw in a somewhat circular motion. “Because harmony is like, your whole deal. Controlling the weather, organizing energy into spells, working with the land. Even other creatures like dragons and stuff. You all are harmonic. I’m going to assume you already understand this.

“Harmony and chaos are two sides of the same coin. They both must exist. You can’t have a coin with only one side after all. The world has ways of spreading harmony – the elements of harmony are an obvious example – and the world has ways of spreading chaos. When one of those methods gets nixed,” – Anarchy dragged a claw across its throat – “then the world whips up another to take over. You went ahead and cockatrice’d Discord. You can connect the dots from there.”

Celestia and her sister had created another draconequus by defeating Discord? The idea seemed absurd, yet it wasn’t like Celestia had any evidence to dispute it.

“If thy purpose is to replace Discord, then certainly thou art putting thyself at a disadvantage telling us this?”

“Not really.” Anarchy shrugged as it rose from its seat. “It was Discord’s job to mess with you. I’ve got my hands busy stirring the pot in other places.”

“Thou wilt not spread chaos in Equestria?”

“Won’t need to.” It snapped, and the doors to the balcony flew open, letting the mountain wind dance through the room. “You ponies will take care of that on your own.”

“What dost thou mean? What is going to happen?” Celestia rose opposite of Anarchy in a panic.

In response, it just shook its head and began to make its way over to the night sky.

“It’s time for me to go. Next time I want to talk, I’ll leave you a note. I’d rather avoid getting blasted again.” It stopped in its path and Celestia saw Anarchy sway slightly back and forth, as if it could not decide which way to move. Suddenly, it turned back to Celestia. “Close your eyes.”

She was immediately on guard. “We shall not.”

“Relax, I’m not going to do anything bad. Just a little… trust exercise. I’ve got to start somewhere, after all.”

There did not seem to be any malicious intent behind its words. Curiosity overtaking common sense, Celestia warily granted Anarchy’s request. Her ears swiveled, listening for the slightest sound of movement.

A loud snap echoed out. Eyes flying open, she locked her gaze onto the place where Anarchy had been standing. Nothing. Spinning wildly, she tried to locate the creature.

It was gone.

Now that she was starting to calm down, Celestia noticed details that she had missed in her frantic search. Her tea set was clean, as if it had never been touched. The doors to the balcony were still open, allowing the soft chirping of crickets to float inside. If there had been any signs of creatures other than Celestia being here, they had disappeared.

It was not sadness that kept Celestia from sleep that night. It was worry.