The Chaos Theory

Entropy sat alone in the dimly-lit archives of the castle, frantically flipping through a worn book, determined to seek the answers he was looking for. The dull light above flickered, forming a migraine in the back of his head. With an exhausted sigh, he sat back and leaned against his chair, focusing on the flickering light as he thought back on what happened yesterday.

Entropy grinned as his eyes sparkled with stars, hopping from stone to stone, avoiding the cracks in the masonry, arms pressed against the back of his head. Cadence and Celestia had to go back to Canterlot to do something, which was explained to him, but he quickly forgot about it. The mountain air quickly grew cold as the sun hid behind large, cotton like-clouds, prompting the two to huddle close for warmth.

“Ugh, if I knew it was going to be cold this afternoon, I would have brought a scarf or something.” Entropy shivered, rubbing his arms frantically.

“En, it's close to winter, you should know better. You're lucky I brought an extra scarf.” She scoffed, levitating a red and orange scarf to him.

“Why would you bring an extra scarf? You're ninety-nine percent fur.” He accepted the scarf and wrapped it tightly around his neck, using a part of it to hide his nose and mouth from the biting cold.

“Incase this one gets damaged or lost, you fool!” She wrapped an exact copy of the scarf around her own neck. “You really are an idiot if you didn't think of that.” With a scowl etched onto her face. A giggle left him, his breath steaming out.

“Huh?” Out of the corner of his eye, Entropy saw a figure standing in an alleyway clouded with shadow, its pure, milky-white eyes the only part that was visible. The figure looked much like himself, despite having no features that could be seen. It was bipedal and as tall as his mom, maybe a bit taller. Knowing it had been spotted it gave Entropy a disheartened wave, before it backed up and walked out of sight, vanishing behind a bend.

“Hey wait!” He shouted, running after the figure, as Sunset sent him a questioning stare. His shoes squelched against the wet, mossy cobblestone alleyway, sending shivers down his body from the disgusting sound. 'Can it be?’ He thought as he turned the corner from which the figure disappeared behind, slipping on a strange mix of moss and ice and almost slammed his head against the hard stone walls, dirt and greasy grime staining his sleeves. He shook off the pain and stood up, slipping slightly before continuing the chase after the familiarly-shaped figure. His legs burned and he found it difficult to breath in the icy air after a while, but he kept on running after it.

“Found, you.” He said, in between gasps of air as he eventually caught the figure, after what he thought to be hours of running. The figure had its back to him, finding itself trapped as walls of stone surrounded it in all directions. The figure turned and looked at the prince, sadness caught in its pupil-less eyes as they watched each other. “Who are you?” Silence ruled over it as it shook his head, shrugged his shoulders. “it doesn't know who it is?” Entropy asked himself Slowly, it began to fade away, strange black particles flowing off of it like steam. “What are you?” It's eyes lit up, as if clarity crossed it's mind.

“Human.” The figure finally said in a guttural, ghostly voice. It's body breaking apart until nothing remained, leaving Entropy in a stupor.

“Human?” He repeated, rolling the name over his tongue a few times.

“Is that what I am? Human?” He asked nopony in particular as he brought himself from the sudden flashback. He repeated the foreign name over and over again, trying to make sense over what it meant. 'Am I the only one of my kind? If that's true then where did I come from?’ His thoughts were interrupted when a stack of heavy books dropped onto the table beside him.

“That's every book that even remotely describes what you told me. However there was nothing on record about this 'human’ thing you spoke of. I did however find images of this weird triangle with a top hat, it does not seem to have a name though.” Sunset said, sitting beside him as she picked a random book and flicked through it, finding a few images of said triangular creature with its name scratched out. When she couldn't find anything else on it she shrugged and floated the book back to where it was. “I asked the princess if I could access the restricted area, but she denied my request. Sorry buddy.”

“It's okay, Sunny.” He slouched in his chair, leaning his head on the open book in front of him, using it as a pillow. “Question, am I crazy? I mean, shadow creatures and creepy dreams aren't a good thing are they?” He watched for her reaction, barely moving his head.

“Its weird, yeah, but I don't think you're crazy. I've heard much worse stories. It could just be a case of magical build up, or your matrix is responding to an outside force that's stimulating it, thus seeing weird things. I've heard that some ponies can even view the memories of others if the stimulation is just right.”

“Have you ever had it?” She shook her head with a saddened gaze.

“‘Fraid not, my friend. It seems you're the freak of this little duo.”

“Gee thanks, that really helps my problem.” He said with a deadpan stare, to which Sunset replied with tongue sticking out. With a smile, Sunset returned to her research, occasionally glancing over at Entropy as he did the same.

'I wish I could help him more.’ She thought, breezing past pages of the thick book held in her aura with ease. Entropy sighed as he closed the book he was reading, setting it aside as he levitated another over. His aura flickered slightly, trying to compensate from the taxing use of magic. He grunted as his spell gave out, plopping the book onto the table with a heavy thump.

“Why does that happen with your magic so much?” Sunset asked, as she rested the book she was reading down. “It's expected with newcomers of magic, but the amount of times you have practiced that spell alone is enough to mostly master it. Why does yours give up?”

“I don't know, Sunny. Another thing that's wrong with me I guess.” He said with a nonchalant shrug, barely focusing on the book in front of him.

“Hey, do me a favor, would you? Turn that frown upside down, I'll do as much research as I can to help you ok?” With a sigh, Entropy pulled himself from the book and focused on his friend and gave her a nod before leaving.

“Entropy, you've been moping about all day, what's wrong?” Celestia asked, washing down her lunch with a glass of cider. Entropy poked at his pasta with a fork, watching the tubes of wheat deform under the pressure while leaning onto the table, resting his head on an outstretched arm. “Are you worried about something?”

“Kinda.” He replied, distant as stabbed the slightly cold food. With a concerned look, Celestia draped her wing over him, nuzzling his neck.

“Speak to me, please.” She begged, looking into his eyes with her own pleading ones. With a frown, he let go of the metal fork, wincing as it clanged against the plate. He sat up, smiling from the warm contact from her wing.

“It's just. I don't know what's happening to me anymore. My magic is being weird, I'm seeing things I don't understand and I'm freaking out!” Tears leaked from his eyes as he vented to his mother, quivering as he let his stress pour out as his mother held him in her wings. “So many things are happening and I don't know what to do, I'm so confused and scared.”

“Hey, shhhhh.” She cooed, rubbing his back gently. Tears stained her fur as he let out built up stress and worries. The two sat like that for a while, with Entropy just crying into his mother as he explained what was happening. Eventually, albeit hesitantly, he pulled away from her comforting fur and heat, wiping away and residue tears from his face, blowing his nose with napkin.

Celestia's wing never left his back as he gained his composure again, taking a long gulp from a glass of water, choking slightly as it dripped down the wrong passage, making his eyes tear up again. After the vent, the two made small talk, to take a break from the heavy stuff and to cheer Entropy up, if only slightly.

With all things said and done, and with his belly stuffed with reheated pasta, Entropy made his way from the dining room and up the stairs to his room. Too emotionally drained to study or to research what he is, he collapsed face first onto his bed with a heavy sigh, kicking off his shoes as he turned his head to watch the setting sun. His eyelids grew heavy and before he knew it he fell asleep.

“Z….n” A faint voice spoke up as Entropy regained his bearings. Startling him as he recognized the voice as the same one that screamed at him in the other dream he had. The void he found himself in was dark and fuzzy, as if looking through an unfocused camera. 'Here again?’ He thought, taking a quick note of his surroundings. He checked himself over, no wounds or blood or sweat, his toes dug into the carpeted floor. A strange anxiousness ran through him. 'No, something's different, but what?’

“Zyon.” A gentle, voice whispered in his ears.

'What? Who is that?’ Entropy thought

A voice steadily growing more and more clear through the fog. “Zyon, do we have a deal?”

'who in the world is Zyon? Who the heck is talking?'

"The answer to the first part of your question is that I am Zyon.” Time froze as an older copy of Entropy strolled out of the fog and into the clearing, standing directly next to a shadowy figure that manifested out of thin air. “If it eases your mind, nothing you say will affect anything, the decision was already made.”

“You- i- what the fuck is going on?” Zyon chuckled, evolving into a bellowing laugh.

“Jeez, not even an hour and you're already swearing. Fucks sake, guess even D’ ain't perfect.”

“D? Who's D? Can you please just tell me what's going on!?” Zyon held a hand up, shaking his head.

“Everything will be explained in due time. And in time you'll remember a lot, maybe not everything, but a lot.”

“Remember? What are you talking about.”

“Where do you think you are, Entropy? You're in a memory. How else were you able to remember things that you haven't even seen or heard before” He shook his head again, scoffing slightly. “Geez, if I knew I'd be a moron, I'd never taken D’s offer.”

"You still haven't told me who D is!"

Zyon shook his head once again and gestured towards the shadowy figure, "This is D, the one who offered me a deal. Asshole didn't tell me this would happen though"

"Accept the deal, accept the deal, accept the deal" D kept saying this over and over again until Zyon got too annoyed and hit the apparition making it disappear.

"That was annoying, you're not even supposed to really be here, not yet anyway" Zyon and walked closer and pinched Entropy causing him to whine in pain. "Huh, thought that'd work"

"Stop being a jerk"

Zyon rolled his eyes and made his right hand glow with magic, "Don't Tell me I've also become a wimp" before Entropy could do anything, Zyon grabbed his shoulder and Entropy felt some type of surge go through his body and he started to wake up.

Entropy saw Zyon smiling as he walked backwards, letting the fog eat him up as it grew closer and closer to Entropy.

“I'll see you again someday, Entropy. It's only a matter of time.”

Entropy woke up to find that his face was buried into his pillow, he stared blankly out the window, the recent events playing clearly over and over again in his mind.

“Well, shit."

Entropy stared at the hypnotic lava lamp that he teleported into his room, once he learned how to that is. It took immense amount of power and concentration just to get over the 'limiter’ as he dubbed the magical block on his matrix. The teleportation of the lamp almost hospitalized him, apparently the spell almost tore his heart into thousands of pieces.

“Ugh, that was painful. Lucky for me Sunset was around, huh?” He asked the lamp, watching the blobs float up and down, bouncing off of each other. He learned that day to never ever go beyond his limiter, especially without Sunset or his mother around.

It's been quite some time since his dream and since then nothing had happened. No other dream about his 'past’ nothing to do with a
Zyon. He's been left with more questions than answers, with every day that passes, with every hour, more and more questions poured into his brain. Propping his head up with a fist, he dragged his across the warm glass, following a particularly large blob as it floated to the top.

“What...who am I really?” He asked himself as he opened his window with magic, replacing the stale air with clean, fresh air. He leaned away from the lamp, lifting and resting his feet on his desk as he cupped the back of his head with his hands. “More importantly, who the hell is this ‘D’?” A hard knock drummed on his door, scaring him from his thoughts as he tumbled to the ground, cursing as he hit the ground with a hard thud.

“Just a minute.” He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his back. With a painful crack, he stood up and dusted himself off, shaking his head as he quickly walked over to the door and opened it. Rose stood on the other side, her mane done up in a bun, a pink hair clip holding her bangs out of her face, a pink flower in a sea of darkness.

“That sounded painful, you okay?” She tilted her head up slightly so that she could see his face better. He'd suffered another growth spurt, making him the tallest in the class and making him just short of being eye level with the adults. With a huff, he nodded, leaning around the door to pick up his coat that was meant for the more colder months of the year.

“Yeah, just fell over my chair, Christ that hurt.” He said as he wrapped himself up. He noticed that Rose was dressed up in a forest green sundress that rested tightly against her barrel. A more appropriate attire for the beginning of summer.

“Who's Christ?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Absolutely no idea.” He strolled down the hallway, resting his hands in his pocket, leaving her confused. Snapping out of it, she quickly caught up with him. “So, what's the plan? Since it's the holidays 'n stuff.” She shrugged, blushing out of embarrassment from the deadpan stare he gave her. “Well, You're useless huh?” He joked, patting her hair, smiling from the soft squeak she made. “Well I guess that means we'll just walk around till we find something, huh?”

She smiled and nodded, leading Entropy to do the same. A sudden thought breached his mind as he quickly patted his sides, the soft clinking if bits reassured him. 'Thank goodness I didn't forget my bits.’ With a mental chuckle and a shake of his head, the two of them made their way to the main doors, the guards saluting as they walked past. It was midway through autumn, so the cold air wasn't that bad, but the sudden chill sent shivers down his spine. Snuggling deeper into his coat, he breathed in the autumn air, watching the orange leaves drift along with the breeze.

“E-e-excuse me, young lord?” A stallion stuttered behind him. With a confused hum, Entropy turned to look at the pony as he straightened himself. A young-looking guard stood motionless, saluting Entropy as a lock of multi-blue-coloured mane hung in front of his face, the rest of it hidden behind his golden helmet, a white horn jutting out. His coat was the same as the other guards in the castle. His cutiemark depicted a blue shield with a purple six-pointed star in the centre. Three white, five-pointed stars were above the shield. It was obvious that his special talent was in defensive magic. “Private Shining Armor, at your disposal. I've been tasked to follow you.”

“At ease, Shining. There's no need to work yourself up.” Entropy chuckled, noticing the stallion relax rather quickly as he quickly brushed his mane out of view. “You're new the the royal guard aren't you?”

“Yes sir!” He saluted, before cursing under his breath as he relaxed. “I finished training not that long ago.” He said with a proud smile.

“Cool, you can help us decide where to go then.” Entropy said nonchalantly as he made his way to the gates, Rose plodding along beside him. Stammering, Shining quickly caught up to them, listening and answering any questions. Captain Cross watched the trio as they walked from the castle balcony his one good eye watching for any excuse to rip into the newbie as they made their way out of sight. With a sigh, the old stallion sat on his haunches.

“Your son sure has grown, princess.” He said, turning his head to face Celestia as she sat down next to him.

“I see you noticed too, huh?” She giggled, watching the pegai push their clouds around for an oncoming storm. “It's a strange thing to witness, I wonder how big his species grows?” She asked herself, lifting a hoof to her chin. Allowing a small smirk, Cross shook his head.

“Who knows, he could be as tall as you one day.” A small chuckle left him, his tired eyes concentrating on a leaf as he thought about what he was going to say to her. “Listen princess, I'm getting on in my years, I've been a captain for a long time and I've stuck by you whenever you needed me, but, I can't go on anymore.” Celestia gave him a questioning stare, but otherwise said nothing, motioning with a hoof for him to continue. “I'm hanging up my armor, setting my sword down. Yadda, yadda.” He waved his hoof around. “I'm just too tired. I'm not a spunky, arrogant teen anymore.”

“Are you sure, captain?” She asked, placing a hoof on his shoulders. He nodded, staring her in the eyes.

“Yeah, the world doesn't need me anymore. They need a pony like Shining Armor, he's got the devotion that I don't. Unlike me, he could go beyond the rank of captain.”

“You do realize that I could've promoted you countless times, right? You could have been a Major general by this point, all you needed to do was ask.”

“I know, but like I said. I'm not as devoted as I once was.” He took off his helmet, letting his navy blue hair fall over his dead eye. “Besides, I've been looking forward to my retirement for a long time.” He stood up, walking towards a pair of doors. “It's been a fun ride princess, till next time.”

“Goodbye, Cross.” Celestia watched as he left, thoughts running through her head a hundred times per minute. A cold chill run up her spine as she snapped her gaze to the sky with hard, cold eyes.

“....Well since I couldn't make it to your tenth birthday, I was thinking we could, I don't know, have a picnic somewhere?” Rose blushed, looking away from Entropy. The blush went unnoticed as he took another bite of the steaming hot blueberry pastry, humming from the taste. “I could give you a late present while we relaxed.”

“Come on, you don't have to get me a present, but a picnic does sound nice. Oh! We could do it In the statue garden! It always has a great view!” He smiled, holding the pastry in his magic as he turned to his companion, raising an eyebrow at her as she missed a step and nearly fell on her face, a scarlet blush spreading from her cheeks to the tops of her ears.

“Yo, you alright, Rose?” Entropy asked, concerned as he held a hand against her shoulder, inches away from her face, causing her blush to deepen in colour. With a nod and a hum, she quickly looked away from him concentrating on anything other than Entropy. With a shrug, he turned to the armor-clad stallion who stood stiffly, a sentry scanning the environment while also keeping an eye on the two. “You alright there Shiny?” Taken back a little, Shining Armor snapped to the prince as if somepony slapped him across the face.

“Yes, my Lord!” he saluted before resuming to scan the area.

“Um, oookay.” Without hesitating, Entropy devoured his treat before taking off back towards the castle leaving the two in a cloud of dust, laughing at their wails and pleas to slow down. He made it to the castle gates in record speeds and, albeit breathless, walked proudly through. As he entered the castle shortly after, he waved down a member of staff and relayed his plans to the pony, who nodded and began to prepare for the picnic. He walked back outside, and with a skip to his step, made his way to the statue garden, weighed down with a blanket under his arm.

Halfway down the path he spotted a strange, mismatched creature that was somewhat familiar to him. A smorgasbord of different animal parts, some of which he couldn't quite describe. Frankly it kinda hurt his head as it tried to make out what it was. It had the head of goat with a deer antler and a goat horn; a long, thick noodle-like body ending in the tail of a dragon. It had a lion's paw and a eagles claw as well as a lizard’s leg and pony leg. It's mane was styled like a zebra's with big bushy eyebrows and goatee. It also had a single, sharp tooth.

Entropy dropped the blanket in fright as an ominous laugh permeated through the air, seemingly coming from everywhere. Something brushed against his back, causing him to spin around and began to back up. An unearthed root tripped him up, smacking his head against the statue, a thin trickle of blood leaking from his head. Groaning, he looked up from his position, scaring himself greatly from the rather evil looking face of the statue. He crawled backwards from it, gasping for air as he kept his eyes on it.

Once he was far enough away, he took a moment to compose himself, reassuring himself that it was just a lump of stone. Something shimmered within the vegetation that consumed the base of the statue, piquing his curiosity. With a calming breath in and out, he slowly walked towards the vegetation, making quick glances to the statue every now and then. With a deep breath, he grabbed a handful of the plants and pulled them away from the stone, tearing leaves and branches to get to his goal. The bright golden plate shimmered in the sunlight, blinding Entropy ever so slightly as he read the title of the plate.

‘Discord, the spirit of chaos. May his reign of terror never come to pass again.’

“Discord?” He said to himself. As he stared at the statue. “Why does that sound familiar?” A shiver ran the length of his spine as he could hear laughter drift along the wind. Something wasn't right with this statue, like he knew there was more to the cold stone than meets the eye. Floating the blanket towards him he slowly walked away into a clearer area, far away from Discord's statue, occasionally passing glances at it as he walked.

Regardless if it was just a statue or not, that thing creeped him out.