Corruption and Chaos

Chapters

Discordance
Chaos Risen
The Paintbrush of Destiny
Two Challengers Approach and Randomness Ensues
No One is Safe From Corruption
Magebots and Warfare
The Gathering of the Six
Return to Equestria
Last Minute Goodbye
Parent Appreciation Day
Go Go Pony Rangers
The Sun, Stars, Discord, and Nature
The End and A Historical Note
A New Beginning
On Towards The Unknown

Discordance

Once the news of Fluttershy’s disappearance reached the captain of the Wonderbolts everything happened. A royal guard told her the news.

“You tell me that my wife just disappeared? Your superiors told me that she would be perfectly safe!” The cyan mare fumed. She paced backstage, the show was going to be in ten minutes.

“Cloudkicker, Thunderlane tell Scoots that I will not be coming to her personal show today,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “But, I will be coming to her birthday celebration later.” Rainbow finished giving her orders and shot off into the air.

The two Wonderbolts just stared at each other.

“You want to tell our newest Princess the news?”

“Nope, you know how she reacts when our captain rushes off in a hurry.” Thunderlane shivered in remembrance of Rainbow Dash’s first and now immortal fan.

In Canterlot

Headmaster Twilight Sparkle heard the news while teaching about the history of Equestria.

“Now class, this was where the Thirteen Lords of Tartarus tried to escape using a thing called the Elements of Discord, which have been lost to time, and..”

Her Bloom Industries magiculus began to ring.

“Yes...this is she...what!...” Twilight looked worriedly at her class.

“Sorry everypony I have something that has come up...until it is solved, my assistant will be the teacher of my classes. Spike!”

Spike, now much closer to fully grown, appeared from Twilight’s office. “Again, Twilight? This is the fourth time this month.” Spike joked with the purple mare.

“Now, Spike you know that I only do this when I have a good reason.”

“I know, just remember to get Pinkie Pie as well. She always comes with you on Element business.”

“Off to Ponyville then!” Twilight disappeared in a flash of light.

Ten Minutes Earlier

Pinkie Pie had just finished a large order of cupcakes for a Canterlot party and sat down to rest. Everypony always had thought she had infinite stores of energy. Actually it was not true, she had always needed a break from partying and baking. It was easier now to take breaks because of her business help.

And that was when she got a doozy.

“Ear flop, spine crack, tail twitch...oh my gosh, Twilight’s going to be here in ten minutes with big news! I better pack my things. Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake I am going to go on an adventure! I leave the shop in your care.” Pinkie Pie raced up the stairs to where her things were stored.

“You think we should see what that was about?” Pound Cake asked his sister.

“Don’t you remember all the times that we had to go get psychological testing because of her? I think we will be better off leaving her be.” Pumpkin Cake groaned.

Ponyville

Rarity was worried about Fluttershy. She had looked forward to the spa dates that the yellow mare and her continued to have. Even Applejack, with a lot of prodding, had begun to go with the pair.

But with Fluttershy in the hospital...there were bigger things to worry about. And hiding a mental illness for ten years, to Rarity, was scandalous.

“I knew she was seeing Doctor Whooves for the dreams she had about Samael, but to have a complete break with reality...that just isn’t Fluttershy. She loved her animals; Chroma having to see her mom like that...horrendous.”

Just then Applejack burst into the Boutique. “Sugarcube, Ah can’t believe this, but Fluttershy has gone missing! The nurses couldn’t believe it...” She trailed off and attempted to regain her breath.

Rarity’s eyes twitched. This was the worst news she had heard all week.

“We just have to call the others...”

With that, three mares appeared: two out of thin air and one by crashing through the window.

“I may have spoke too soon.”

In a Faraway Place

Psyche, in the body of Fluttershy, had finally got to the meeting place of her cohorts. The other five had been waiting for her to arrive.

“Sorry my brethren I forgot how slow flying was compared to teleportation. I hereby convene the meeting of the Elements of Discord. I your leader Psyche, previously Hate, call war on the evil Elements of Harmony for destroying our master Samael and bringing peace to our land.”

The other five balls of light moved in a way to show their agreement.

“My brothers and sisters it is time to corrupt these “Elements of Harmony” and use them against Equestria and release the Eternal Herd on these non-believers. Power, Depression, Betrayal, Greed, and Falsehood bring your enemies down; and with it the barrier between these worlds!”

Fluttershy, under Psyche’s control began to laugh evilly.

The five winked out ready for their mission.

In Canterlot

Princess Celestia was worried. She kept feeling discord and chaos moving slowly throughout the land. The news that Fluttershy had also disappeared from the hospital after being in a coma trouble the ruler. Celestia did not know how the loss of Fluttershy or why a simple mental illness weakened the Elements of Harmony.

Unless...

“No, that can’t be the reason...we sealed the Discordant Stones in the deepest pits of Tartarus. Even with the breaking of the gates of that place by our brother they couldn’t have escaped. I shall have to talk to my brothers Morning Star and Dark Star about this development.”

Celestia looked worryingly towards the sky. “I hope that tonights passes smoothly because, if my fears are correct, the Discordant Stones will move quickly.”

In Ponyville

The five disembodied Elements of Discord were very happy about how the Harmony mares had gathered to search for their lost friend. They had had to wait for the five mares to fall asleep. For as they had discovered through the years their possession magic worked the best on sleeping creatures .

The five slipped into the bodies of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.

Not surprisingly, the mares woke up and looked around at each other ready for their work.

Psyche walked into the room ready to get down to business.

Nothing could stop them now.

Everypony in Canterlot besides Luna and her night court had gone to bed. So only she could hear the sounds coming from the chamber that stored the Elements. Luna never thought she would hear that sound again. Only once before had she heard that sound...

The Elements had broken.

“Our Royal Presence remembers the last time in great antiquity where we had to replace these stones with ones similar to them with greater power. With that sound comes an end of an era...change is the hardest thing for ponies to come to terms with.”

With that said, Luna left her court to go wake up Celly. She had to learn of the news.

In Equestria there was a cloud of instability forming on the horizon. Only six ponies could stand up to the coming storm. The ponies that were capable of saving Equestria were the ones created by the mistakes of their elders. Defeating Samael was only the beginning of their problems.

To the six foals listed below:

I Princess Celestia hereby order, Chroma, Midnight Snack, Zap Apple, Apple Cider, Scale Harmony, and Prince Eros to Canterlot to discuss matters of national security.

If you do not comply, I will have to send my Royal Guards to pick you up. I do not wish to, but I am worried for the safety of Equestria. You six are the only thing I believe that can stop this threat. Do Not Tell Your Parents!

Come Quickly,

Princess Celestia

Sweet Apple Acres

The six foals to which the letter was addressed were standing in the barn of the Apple Family. They were unsure of what to make of the letter. Finally, Chroma spoke up.

“I guess we just have to go to Canterlot then.”answered Chroma.

In the back of her mind, she was wondering if the letter was because of Fluttershy’s disappearance.

And why did she put that last part in? Their parents would never hurt them.

“Alright everypony, tell your parents. I heard they all came to Ponyville!”

The six foals ran off to tell them of the news.

Chaos Risen

Never let the Elements break for Chaos, not Discord, rises. If anypony stared into the eyes of Chaos they would surely go mad. For there is power hidden away; buried under the guilt of their rulers, the alicorn royals. Chaos and Harmony were part of the Elder Gods. They had always existed, exist, will exist eons from now...and the puny races of the planet always bowed down to them. They were above what the mortals called ethics. The Elder Gods were what the world was made of...and that’s the beauty of the matter. The races of Equestria were literally standing on the shoulders of giants.

Chroma felt excited. She could finally show Rainbow Dash her skill at flying. She quickly opened the door and stopped. Something felt wrong. All of the lights were off in the house.

“Mom? Mom? Where are you?”

“Right here sweetie...come to your mother.” Rainbow Dash stepped out of the shadows. Chroma definitely knew something was wrong. Rainbow Dash never talked like that. She talked much more informally than that.

“You are not my mother. What have you done with my mother?”

“I have not been in a female body for a long time...since we got banished by those upstarts. those Princesses, and it feels good to be back. So good, in fact, that I feel a family reunion is in order. Psyche!”

Chroma was worried. She knew that if she stayed here she would be cornered and something...bad would happen to her. So she did what any sane mare would do. She ran as fast as she could.

Psyche walked out of the cottage’s kitchen. “I knew that would happen. Betrayal,” she looked at Rainbow Dash, “it seems our daughter will soon have to be grounded.” Psyche began to laugh at that little joke she made.

“The Eternal Herd is moving. Betrayal get ready to call the others into session. We will call the Ancients in order to avenge our Lord and Master, Samael...the rightful Aspect of Death. Not the impostor, Scootaloo...Princess Fortuna.”

Betrayal piped in. “It seems Rainbow Dash had a connection with that brat. Oh boy, I can’t wait to mess with her head.”

Chroma called out to her friends, and surprisingly they heard her. They all rushed towards the sound of the crying filly. After a while she finally calmed down enough to tell them what had happened to her parents.

And so, our true adventure began.

The foals began the journey towards Canterlot.

In Carousel Boutique

The Six Discordant Stones showed their faces.

Psyche was the leader because she was the oldest. She forced ponies to learn to hate each other by whispering into their ear.

Next was Betrayal, who was currently enjoying being in Rainbow Dash’s body. He caused ponies to backstab each other with a look.

Following him was Power, corrupting ponies with their secret desires, in the body of Twilight Sparkle. She was grimacing at the display that Betrayal was subjecting them to.

Next youngest was Greed, in Rarity’s body, he corrupted ponies using riches and wealth. He was one of the strongest because nopony could resist money.

Next, was Falsehood, in Applejack’s body, she corrupted ponies with her lies. Lies that always led to bloodshed and grief.

Finally, there was Depression, in the body of Pinkie Pie, he corrupted ponies with their own feelings of wrongdoing. He was the most powerful in the group, but he followed Psyche’s lead because he was the youngest of all of them.

Psyche spoke up, “Now we must go down to business...we must find a way to accomplish two things: First, we have to deal with the little ponies that are stopping our plans. Next, we need to show the wrongdoing of the alicorn sisters. We need to perform the ritual to free our Mistress Chaos and bathe the world in fire.”

All the ponies present but one agreed with her. Depression, with his strangely limp mane stayed silent.

“Ok then, from the geography of Equestria and with Power’s help, we discovered that Canterlot is the seal on the Elder Gods. Therefore, we will head out in order to destroy the alicorn sisters tonight.

With that, the six teleported out of existence.

In Canterlot

Celestia stared down at the foals in her chambers and felt sad. They had done nothing wrong. It was all her fault. It was time to tell how the things came to Equestria.

“My dearest subjects, you know of our destruction of our original home, Elysium, but we had not told you about how alicorns came to Equestria...”

“It was when we were drifting out in space that we met another like us, but different. He was our savior and he told us about his planet that was also destroyed. Gallopfrey, he called it. Also, he told us about the race of Time Ponies. He said they were the oldest race in the galaxy and that he was the last of them. He also said he had...certain differences in biology. He could regenerate into a new body once he died and he had two hearts."

Midnight Snack spoke up. “Princess, I don’t think this has to do with about how you got to Equestria.”

“My little pony, you are incorrect, he has to do with everything. You even see him around town- The Doctor. I’ve even heard he has a family with that mailmare...but I digress.”

“You’re saying that Dinky is...”

“Well back to my story, we finally reached the space of where Equestria was in the multiverse. As The Doctor put it, there were many versions of me all around us just in a parallel dimension...but nonetheless we arrived in the land ruled by Chaos, one of the Elder Gods...”

“But, this isn’t in any books of antiquity, how is this even possible?”

“I think the colt doth protest too much...be quiet. Ok, skip that part...I am talking to children for Faust’s sake. As I was saying, Luna and I couldn’t defeat the Elder God so we enlisted the help of Harmony to seal it. And to make sure nothing happened, we built Canterlot on top of the tomb of Chaos.”

The six foals cried out in unison. “What the buck did you do?”

“Manners my dear ponies...”

Then the ground began to shake.

Beneath Canterlot the Elements of Discord were deep in ritual. They were almost done with it...they just had to chant the spell to break the chains on Chaos.

“Mirabar quid amicitia posset est. Donec omnibus vobis participatur eius magicae mecum. Magnum valebat, sortium ludum, et pulchro cum pectore, fidelis et fortis, communicansque benignitate, suus facilem gestum. Et magicarum facit eam perfecta est.”

With those words said, the pentagram lit up an Chaos began to stir.

The horn of Chaos, the mountain, began to rise.

The Elements of Discord teleported as far away as they could.

Celestia paled as she realized that the mountain was moving. “Everypony run away! The mountain is going to move! Run, run, run!”

She stared at the foals. “I did not tell your parents all of these years but the alicorn magic worked on you too. You have powers as well. I believe that awakening them might save us.”

Zap Apple spoke up. “Why tell us now, of all times! But, if that means we could stop this thing, how do we awaken our potential?”

“You’ll figure it out...just go!”

Celestia teleported them as far as she could...far away from the borders of Equestria into zebra territory.

“Ok Chaos, come and get me.” She saw the Elder God raise its leg. “Oh horseapples...” The hoof came down and the entirety of Canterlot was crushed underneath.

Equestria has no government now. Anarchy now ruled. The Elder God stared down at the specks of harmony running away from it. One thought ran through its head. “Transform into one of these pony creatures, best disappear.”

Chaos transformed into an earth pony foal. It was red with a green and purple mane. “Now why did I transform into a shape with such ugly colors...green, purple and red don’t match. Oh well time for Chaos’ reign.

She walked towards the remains of the Canterlot sculpture garden to pick up her cargo.

The Paintbrush of Destiny

Eros groaned about his dilemma. Since he had nothing to do he remembered back to when he was thrown across the mana stream to Zebrica.

Early Yesterday

Eros shivered. Alicorns. while extremely powerful and revered by most intelligent species in the plane of existence, were cursed to see the mana fields while teleporting.

Let’s just say the mana fields brought them pain.

He was disoriented and by the looks of it, he was in the Leonine Kingdom. There were two words on his mind:

“Sweet Celestia.”

The Leonine Kingdom and Equestria were not on speaking terms. Not after Prince Blueblood acted rudely to one of the Lion King’s religious advisors. Eros had to facehoof himself. “Of all the things Blueblood had to do why did he have to act so dishonorably towards the religion of Abdul the Red? He must have fell asleep in Zebrican History class because to insult the Prophet of Zebrica is blasphemy!” Eros grumbled as he walked along.

Then he fell right into a trap.

The next thing he remembered was moving around and finding out that he was cuffed to a jail bar. And that it was moving. “Little Pony wake up yet?” a lion growled from the front.

“Who are you and where are we going?” Eros said with full on authority in his voice. The vocal training he was dragged through helped now.

“Oh ho ho Little Pony is a true man. Only lions say things is such tone. I might need to go see the guard because of this.”

“I demand to know where we are going!” Eros yelled in full Canterlot voice.

The lion squinted his eyes and grimaced. “That was painful Little Pony and I am not amused with that. We are going to Leopolis and you are getting royal treatment.”

“You mean you know I’m a Prince.”

“No, that was joke. I mean you will be hanged because of intrusion unless you talk to King.”

“Oh boy.”

Eros was stunned at the looks of the culture. It was completely militaristic but there were almost no males in sight. All of the military duties were done by females and few were out of uniform.

Throughout the city was a smell of meat. Lions, in old stories were thought of as unclean, unnatural cannibals and therefore their history was usually never explored by pony historians or explorers.

Eros just hoped the Lion King was nicer than the jailer.

Equestria was in chaos pure and complex, everything and nothing, brimming with life and devoid of all.

This was a normal day for a loving family.

“Dis come bring me all our little ponies that we so lovingly have shown the light.”

“Okay, mom, I will. Do you want them slightly crazy or full on deranged? Oh well whatever strikes my fancy. Discord poofed off in a cloud of bombs.

“Oh my boy, always the carefree type of son. I can’t believe how much he has grown up already.” Chaos smiled and because of the smile the clouds went dark.

“I can’t wait until we conquer Harmony’s resting spot and destroy him. He was a good father to Dis though...”

Ponyville was not what it used to be. The Elements of Discord had changed it into a grim and dark place. The Element Bearers had started to show their darkest, most twisted sides. Mayor Mare had disappeared two days ago and, unbeknownst to the common ponies, had been used by Depression to make some baked goods.

Other ponies had disappeared thanks to Psyche. She had twisted Fluttershy enough so that Kindness had become death. Fluttershy in one of these moods was compelled to perform “kindness” to everypony in the Ponyville General Hospital.

Power was keeping Cheerilee locked in her attic for private study sessions. The irony was not lost on the teacher and she wished whatever had caused this to stop.

Greed had become the richest pony in Ponyville after stealing all the bits of Filthy Rich and the other ponies.

Falsehood claimed she was visited by aliens and they told to start a religion called Magicology.

Betrayal had a lot of fun in two days. He had found all the females in town and had his way with them. Ponyville now had the highest divorce rate in Equestria.

All in all, Ponyville was great for the Discordant Stones.

The Lion King was looking down on Eros.

“So tell me how you came to this place, little alicorn.”

Eros told the king about everything that had transpired since a week ago with Fluttershy going crazy and ending here.

“Well, come with me, I will tell you about the story of my people.”

The Lion King pressed a button near his throne and a secret passageway opened in the floor.

“Uh, Your Majesty, can I grab a quill and paper? I just think if you are showing me this I should write it down because most ponies view lions in a harsh light.”

“Whatever you prefer, Crystal Prince. I have always tried to reach out to normal ponies but your people have probably the worst societal case of xenophobia I have ever seen. So yes write ahead.”

“Uh, did you just...” Eros looked away before levitating a quill and a lot of parchment out of his bag. He was still trying to comprehend what the King had just said when The Lion King began to speak.”

“Our country was created in a special way. We did not always call this place the Leonine Kingdom. We used to call it the Golden Plain. We never had wants for it was provided by our Creator, a being we called Walt Disneigh. Ok, so that isn’t his name but that is as close your tongue can get to his true name.”

“Well, our Creator after leaving us be had met Chaos and her beings of madness and so he brought out a thing he called the Beam of Retcon and he blasted it towards the beast. In doing so, he sealed off his dimension and he was trapped there for all eternity. Chaos let us be because something dragged her towards it.”

“I later discovered that the beam had created a weapon. We call it the Small World’s Paintbrush. It can only be held by a being of pure intentions and motives. Well I have never seen it move from this spot because if it did then the holder would be a Light of Reason and...”

“You mean this sword here? Kinda weird for a nice God to make a weapon of war.”

Eros began spinning the sword carefully with his magic and playfully tested the tip. He was bouncing around with it and was pretending that all of the furniture in the room were bad ponies and he was Errol Flying or Robin Hood.

“By all that is holy...I definitely need to give you my blessing.”

Eros looked confusedly at the Monarch. “I don’t understand...”

“My boy, you are a Light of Reason and are destined to stop Chaos for that weapon is only able to start back up when Chaos restarts.”

Eros was nervous for the procedure to bring out whatever he had inside him was painful.

“Ok, time to start.”

The Lion King waved his arms and chanted. “Wimoweh...Circle of Life...whatever...boom.”

“THAT was it! You gave up during the chant!” Eros almost fumed.

“Well, you do know what they say about male lions...we are really, really lazy.”

“Whatever”

“I now pronounce you pony and Light of Love. You may now kiss yourself.” Leo the Lion King grinned.

“Nope, have to go now. Bye.” Eros ran off as fast as he could.

“Na Zevenya, my little pony.”

Chroma’s feet and wings hurt. She had been travelling for miles. But she knew she was getting close to Eros and she hoped that he other friends were fine.

She walked towards the sun and hoped that she would find them.

Apple Cider looked up at the castle of the Giraffe Democracy and he entered.

“Ah jus’ hope that this here “Demos the Long Necked” isn’t jus’ some silly ruler and can tell me what all this here idea is about.”

With that Apple Cider pulled out some dynamite and began to blow the doors wide open.

“Curiosity killed the cat they say.”

Then he was arrested.

Two Challengers Approach and Randomness Ensues

Apple Cider looked up at the King of Giraffes. He was slightly angry that he was caught...he was just trying to show that these all-knowing giraffes were dumber than they looked.

So what if the entire front of the Parliament building had blown up? He wasn’t trying to kill the King of this “constitutional” monarchy.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uh, nothin’”

“What? Surely you jest. I knew you ponies were about as stupid as posts but you have to know reason...unlike some of our citizens like that George Walkington and his band of rebels in our distant land of Marica.” The King grumbled and continued.

“They, to spite me, even call they form of government “New and Better Democracy”. I, Demos the King of Giraffes, sent my Horsan mercenaries and we shall win against these turncoats and savages and my kingdom shall stretch from one edge of the globe to the other.”

“Yeah, yeah I say they will win.”

“I challenge you to a test of wills...I bet that if they lose you will become my chief advisor.”

“And if they win?”

“If they win, I shall give half the treasury to Equestria as a show of my goodwill.”

And that became known to the Giraffes after they lost the Marican Revolution as the loss of the Empire. Six years later, Princess Celestia was baffled when both Marica and the Giraffe Democracy sent ambassadors, one in celebration- one in anguish, to give thanks to an Apple Cider of Ponyville. In retaliation for losing, the Giraffes poisoned their monarch and their government devolved into complete anarchy.

But that is all in the future.

“Now what do you want to know?”

Apple Ciders brows furrowed into the business stare that all Apples had. II meant that it was time to get to business.

“What do you know of a Light of Reason being here in your land?”

“Uh...I am not allowed to tell you what it is...”

“Oh really, because if y’all don't tell me the whole world is going to be destroyed by Chaos and it will be yer fault you lily-livered fool of a monarch.” One thing about Apple Cider, he knew when anything lied and how to push ponies’ buttons.

“Ok, ok I’ll talk...”

Ponyville

Depression was having so much fun. He was loving how the cupcakes came out when he added the “special ingredients” and it was not love he put into the cupcakes...it was ponies.

He was surrounded by a plethora of tools for cutting, sawing, smashing, and crushing and he was proficient in all of them.

“Lalalalaaalalalala.”

Chunk

He broke out into song. The knife falls provide the backbeat to the song, a dark and twisted parody of a song our dear Pinkie Pie had sung so long ago.

“My name is Depression, hello

And I am here to kill, how ya dying?

I’m going to make you cry

And it will brighten up my day

It doesn’t matter now, What’s up?

For I will do to you, Ha Ha!

For eating up my “friends”

Is what I’m here to do

‘Cause I love to make you die, die, die.

Yes I do

It fills my heart with darkness all the while

Yes it does!”

Chunk Chunk

The mare that was tied to the table began screaming in pain.

“Nuh, uh, uh I can’t have you ruining my song.” Depression bound the ropes tighter against the mare getting small grunts of pain in response.

“Good girl, you won’t remember much more because of blood loss, so...”

“Cause all I really need is pain, pain, pain

From these “happy” friends of mine

I’d love to see you grin, awesome.

I’d love to see you scream! Clock on!

The temperature of the oven turned up

Is always my dream! Hoof Punch!

But if you're kind of worried

And your face has made a frown

I’ll work real hard and do my best

To turn that sad frown upside down!

Cause I like to see you bleed, bleed, bleed

Yes I do!

Bust it out from ear to ear!

Let it begin!”

With that, Depression hit the mare with a baseball bat and began beating her unconscious.

“Just give me a painful grin, grin grin!

And you fill me with bad feelings

It’s true all days are dark and lonely

And maybe you feel sad?

But Depression will be there to

Show you it is all that bad!

There is only one thing that makes me “happy”!

And makes my whole life worthwhile

And that’s when I talk to my friends and get them to “smile”!

I really am so happy!

Your smile fills me with glee.

I give a smile, I get a smile

And that so special to me

Cause I love to see you scream, scream, scream

Yes I do!

Tell me what more can I say to make you see,

That I do?

It makes me happy when you scream, scream, scream

Yes it always makes my day!”

The mare was dead and yet there was a change in Depression...his, her, his, her hair was becoming poofy again. Depression was fighting against this entity and losing.

“Come on everypony

Smile, Smile, Smile

Fill my up with sunshine, sunshine

All I really need's a smile, smile, smile

From these happy friends of mine

Yes the perfect gift for me

Is a smile as wide as a mile

To make me as happy as can be!

Smile, smile, smile, smile,smile

Come on and smile

Come on and smile!

“Yay, I’m back!” Pinkie Pie laughed until she saw her kitchen.

“Oh Sweet Celestia, Luna, and the Elements of Harmony what happened!”

Apple Cider groaned. “So you are telling me that you’ll give me some power by casting a spell on me?”

“No, my dear and most terrifying boy, I’m unlocking your potential by singing a song of my people.”

“Fine. But, if you turn me into a cloud of dust, I will find a way to kill you.” Apple Cider threatened.

“Mama say, Mama sa, Mama ko sa, oogly boogly!”

“You are such an idiot.”

“I now grant you a title of Light of Invention and a position in my royal army.”

“I’ll be taking this sword and leaving. I won’t be part of any army. I’m a scientist not a warrior.”

In the Ruins of Canterlot

One white unicorn and a black pegasus climbed out of the sewers of Canterlot.

“Come on Sunny Skies, we have to get out of here.”

“Yeah Night dancer, totally. My job is no longer important anymore. I mean look at this everything is destroyed.”

“Yes but our brothers Law and Order need us.”

“Nightdancer, I am sorry for all the mean things I have ever said to you because when you moved away, I felt horrible.”

“Sister, both of us said things we didn’t like. I have always been a little, um...what’s the word, childish and you have been the voice of reason.”

“But, when mom left us because of the accident, I remained cold and aloof. Look what that has got us.”

Nightdancer reached out her hoof and bucked her sister in the face

“You, my dear sister, remind me of that Sparkle girl Celestia always talked about.”

“Well, Nightdancer! If I remind you of Twilight, you remind me of that Rainbow Dash!”

Nightdancer laughed.

“Thank you for the compliment because I am the fastest pony in Equestria.”

Sunny Skies breathed deeply and rubbed her temple.

“Well, since we got that spat behind us...”

The two mares looked at each other and grinned. “Road Trip!”

“To Ponyville!” Nightdancer yelled at the top of her lungs.

“What have I told you about yelling?”

“Oops?”

No One is Safe From Corruption

Zap Apple looked around at the scenery of where she landed. She was surrounded by lots of trees that most definitely were not apple and grumbled as she was led along by the guards flanking her sides.

The guards led her to a large door and shoved her inside.

“Well I’ll never, that is no way to treat a lady!” Zap Apple yelled at the retreating guards. Before she turned around, she heard a voice talking to her.

“Now what have my guards done to you my fair damsel?”

Zap Apple blushed for she had never been spoken to in this way. Little did she know that in a few years she would be one of the most talked about mares in Ponyville because of her beauty.

“Um, nothing that bad.”

“Oh. because the last time a beauty like yours came here it was a long time ago. It was your dear Princess Luna and she had me entranced with her face. It was love at first sight, but we were star-crossed lovers because I was a hippo and she was a pony.”

“What! I would love to hear of your adventures. I was raised to love a story as much as the other mare.” Zap Apple happily said because she could tell that this King was very lonely.

“Very well, it was the days of the Titan Wars and 3000 years before that Nightmare Moon Incident that you ponies made such a big deal out of that me and her fell in love. “

“Wow this is the gosh darned oldest tale I ever did hear.”

“My fair damsel, you seem to be the conglomeration of a regal pony and a country pony. Who pray tell are your parents.”

“Jus’ the best most beautiful mares in Equestria, the Elements of Honesty and Generosity.”

“Oh...that is not good. The last time the Elements married, Chaos erupted. Not because of anyone’s fault; it just is a portent that the barriers on the gates are weakening. Is Chaos out of her chains?”

“Uh...maybe”

Roland the Hippo King blanched because he still had emotional scars from when Chaos escaped the last time. It was almost the end of Terra even with prayer to the benevolent Faust.

“Once upon a time there was a King and a Princess, me and her, we were so happy but we could not have children you see. Our anatomy was much too different, while we were both distantly related to every immortal creature in Equestria.”

“It was what later inhabitants, the first mortals, would call the age of gods. What most do not know is that while we were gods, we were not exempt from mass murder and death. One rose among us, Chaos and her brood of abominations, that brought us to our knees. We had lost hope until three more god-like beings came from the skies in a blue box.”

“What? You mean to tell me that all ponies are space aliens?” Zap Apple gasped. She and all the other Equestrians believed that they were originally on Terra and scientists could never understand why there were no pony skeletons until around four thousand or so years ago.

“No, they are space aliens, your race was created out of the dust of Terra and given life by the Princesses and that Time Pony. They brought down Chaos with help from Harmony, the husband of that creature, before she could call on help from the Elder Gods between the worlds.”

“Finally, to keep our world safe we all helped create the Lights of Reason and you, my dear, are one of them.”

Nighdancer groaned. She wanted to see her sister be happy again. It was nobody’s fault that Chaos escaped...at least not the fault of the Princesses. When she saw the beast move they did the most rational thing they could; they hid in the sewers.

“Sunny Skies, are we there yet?

“Are you that addicted to sugar that much that even knowing that the original Sugarcube Corner is in Ponyville that you can’t shut up?” Sunny Skies growled. Her sister was getting on her nerves after five hours of talking.

“Yep, after being on the other side of the world and rediscovering sugar, I am both addicted to and craving sugar.”

“Ok, I have a plan. I will teleport to Ponyville and you will fly there.”

“Fine.”

“Ready, Zap Apple?”

“As I will ever be.”

“Ok”

Roland activated the magic circle once he began speaking. “Tunak tunak tun tunak tunak tun da da da”

“What’s that?”

“This is the love song of my race, you are now the Light of Beauty.”

“What do I do now?”

“Well...can you pose for me. I need a model for my paintings.”

“Will I be wearing clothes?”

“Yes... that was done 4000 years ago.”

“Then no, in 4000 years tastes have changed. I would not feel comfortable doing it.”

Roland nervously spoke up. “Well, I want to show my thanks because you kept me company.” The King grabbed a chain and pulled it towards Zap Apple. On the end was a gun and it was unlike anything she had ever seen. Its barrel was made of some stone and its its grip was made of the blackest wood she had seen.

“My dear this is the Tartarus Cannon and the Chain of the Reaper. We created them from materials from Tartarus and bound a demon to the weapons. The metal is from the meteor that hit the world and unleashed Tartarus. With this weapon you will win against Chaos if and only if you bond with the demon.” Roland looked sadly at Zap Apple.

“Ok...thanks, no pressure then.” She quickly began to walk out of there as soon as possible and cautious of his words.

Once she left Roland spoke up. “Oh Luna why have I given her the weapons that turned you into Nightmare Moon? Are we that desperate? I hope that the Light of Beauty can find her friends. ”

The walls only echoed what he said.

Ponyville was now the worst off city in Equestria and Pinkie Pie was in the middle of it.

“What do I do? I can’t see any of my friends because they are corrupted by those things. Pinkie Pie thought back on all the times she saw Depression make ponies into cupcakes and she felt dirty.

She looked around and saw two ponies she had never saw before...but they looked very familiar.

“Are those the Princesses? I definitely need them to be because they might know what to do.”

Sunny Skies and Nightdancer looked at the pink mare coming towards them and were shocked. Unless they were hallucinating, Pinkie Pie was walking towards them mumbling incoherent things that made no sense.

Nightdancer looked at Sunny Skies and yelled the first word that came to her mind. “Zombies! Oh my goodness! George Roamero was right.” and proceeded to run in the other direction as fast as possible.

“Please princess-like ponies help me. My friends have been corrupted by Discord magic.” Pinkie said before fainting from exhaustion.

“Can we please stop hiding our identities? I think Pinkie’s words dispelled any ability to hide in plain sight. We need to stop the Discordant stones as soon as possible, without the Bearers fighting Chaos is much more difficult."

“Fine, whatever you want...but can we do this again I actually was having fun.”

“Sure, sister. I know that you said we should embrace life and that our normal forms stifle our fun.” Nightdancer said before both of them began to glow. Nighdancer gained a horn and Sunny Skies gained wings.

“I hate that we aren’t able to switch into our civilian forms as often as I would like.” Celestia groaned. She looked around and felt that the Discordant Stones were actually in Ponyville. “Drat and I hoped we could have some sort of vacation.”

“And this is why Canterlot was destroyed...” Luna snipped at Celestia.

“Lay off me you mare! Do you know how many vacation I have had in 4000 years? Two. This one and the first time we came here from Elysium and you know how that turned out.”

“So what if we got roped into the natives problems with Chaos at least I can rule over ponies with an iron hoof and all because I seduced every tribal leader we met. Every one sister, how do you think Cadance got so good at her job? Tell me again why ponies usually procreate under my moon and not your sun?” Luna smirked and waited for Celestia to have a fit.

“If you hadn’t almost killed me with those weapons that that stupid hippo gave you we wouldn’t have this discussion right now. We would be having this discussion a thousand years ago in our old castle that you destroyed you good for nothing floozy!” Celestia, for the first time in five hundred years, used the Royal Canterlot voice.

“And really my sister, who have you been with in 4000 years? Hm, who was it? Oh yes, Starswirl the Bearded and you even had kids. A perfect little family that you watched over as it degraded and has slowly died over the years. Cadance I respect because she shows that the master race of alicorns is still alive and kicking while your oaf of a relative, Blueblood, is the only male that is young enough to have foals of his own. But he is such a pompous fool that no one, not even Rarity, wanted him. We had to wait for Chrysalis to take a liking for him. King of Changelings, bah, more like King of Fools And you worked so hard trying him to be nice to her. Isn’t that just adorable!”

Luna was making kissing noises with her mouth and rolling on the ground barely containing her laughter.

“Well you are not fit to have children.” Celestia grabbed at the words that Luna hated hearing. For she was both flighty and infertile.

Luna began sobbing uncontrollably at the words that both her and her sister said. She had realized that even they, the all-powerful rulers of Equestria, were being corrupted by Chaos.

Zap Apple was walking alongside the road to the next Kingdom and saw three figures in brown cloaks come towards her.

“Uh, who are y’all cause I don’t wanna beat you up.” Zap Apple stammered.

“We have being looking for you, Zap Apple.” the leader said ominously as the group took off their hoods.

Zap Apple looked up from she was cowering and saw the faces of Eros, Apple Cider, and Chroma.

Chroma was puzzled. “Now why are you staring at us like that? Get up...we have a mission to complete.” she said while staring off into the distance. “And I have found Midnight Snack and Scale Harmony. Come on boys let’s go.”

Zap Apple was shocked. What had changed Chroma and her friends so much?

In the distance a coming thunderstorm began to be heard.

Magebots and Warfare

Midnight Snack stared at the devastation in front of his eyes. Large swaths of earth were jutted at strange angles and the houses of the area were all flattened. He was confused because he had never heard of such widespread destruction. He noticed some movement in the rubble and began to walk towards it.

“Hello? Anypony or anybody here? I am just wondering how I haven’t seen anybody for a couple hours and I believe that the Rhinos are around here somewhere. If you need help with any medical attention I can attempt that.”

“A pony? I haven’t seen those in a long while. Any Equestrians that arrive either die or turn on back home. What is your name and creation myth?” Midnight was surprised because the creature was one of the allies of the Equestrians when it was the first attack of Discord.

“A Rhino? I thought you were myths and legends. The Rhino Republic was once the largest countries on the face of the planet. It was widespread peace in the land.” Midnight said reverently.

“Yes, yes. It was, my little pony, you have most definitely read up on history. I am Queen Ramad, and the word has spread of a pony from the north coming to get some knowledge. Is that you?”

Midnight stared bravely into the eyes of the Queen. “Yes, I need to know how to stop Chaos. If that thing isn’t stopped then what will we all do?”

“You raise questions I can not answer. The best thing you can do is follow me.”

The rhino queen turned and walked off with Midnight trailing not far behind.

The outskirts of Ponyville

It had been a long and hard week of gathering forces and, as such, the Diarchs of both the Sun and the Moon were exhausted. From flying to each city asking for aid for this attack on their own soil, a civil war of sorts, and making sure this raid on Ponyville would work was hard work.

Getting the required was difficult enough, getting Shining Armor to come was worse. Only with the help of Cadance and a powerful sedative made him able to fight against his seemingly possessed sister and her friends.

Four Days Ago in the Crystal Kingdom

Shining Armor was holed up in his stallion-cave and didn’t want to come out. The story Celestia had told him seemed like a madpony’s ramblings and it did not help that she had brought Pinkie Pie with her to explain the situation in Ponyville.

“No way can my sister be that messed up, I mean, there were signs that she had something wrong with her but...her with that nice teacher pony that she now kept in her attic and whatever Pinkie Pie was inhabited by as marefriends blew his mind. And all the rest of the Elements being similarly possessed causes some types of chaos in government.”

He was pacing back and forth when he heard the tell-tale knock at the top of the stairs.

“What do you want because I am not leaving this room.” Shining sighed, his shoulders falling.

“It’s me, Shining, it’s your wife.” Cadance called from above the stairs.

Shining worriedly looked at the door and said the first thing that came to his head. “Dear, you can’t come in. I...uh, locked the door and currently doing very manly, very private things. Thing that mares just can’t do.” Shining became white as a sheet when he realized what he had said.

“Oh, really,” Cadance said seductively, she had been trained by Luna and was the Goddess of Love so she could be as seductive as she wanted to be, “I seem to recall that there is one Alicorn up here who is your wife and is really good at doing very private things...oh, and forget about the door being locked I can just teleport in. But that door will come in handy when we begin the fun session.”

Shining had two thoughts in his head: “Why did I marry an insane nymphomaniac?” and “How do we not have more kids, we totally have sex all the time.”

Those were the last two coherent thought he had until twenty-four hours later.

“Did you hear something sister?” Luna quickly asked.

“Nope” Celestia smirked.

Shining Armor walked with a pronounced limp while giving what would become the speech of the Battle for Ponyville.

“Everypony, this is the day we have been waiting for, a day where the meekest in this battle when around the bars and taverns on this day years hence; they will say ‘I was there on the day of the Battle for Ponyville, see these scars and rejoice because I for for Equestria and the honor of battle and this day, St. Clover’s Day, these scars I was given on this day.’ Our names, the Apples, the Pies, the Bravehearts, the ponies who are brave of character and steady of hoof will always be remembered. Ponies who shed their blood today will be my family this day, the day of St. Clover.”

Shining Armor looked out and coughed because for once in his life he had brought complete silence to all that listened to his speech.

“Well then, everypony. Let’s get ourselves ready! One...Two...Three. Charge!”

The wall of ponies descended the hills towards a slaughterhouse. For the defending army was five mares, five mares that were angry.

The Ponyville Streets

“Depression seems to have left our little band of evil and those Princesses are standing at our gates, but if this plan works we will be completely fine at least for another round.” Psyche grinned.

“I have collected the Everfree dragons using fear, Greed has coerced the Diamond Dogs, Betrayal found a rogue cell of Changelings, and using our combined magic, have set up a forcefield around the city. Let’s see them get in.”

This was going to be a long day.

“Op, op, op, oppa gangnam style”

“Really? That’s the spell starter? I thought it was going to be something saying that cake and baked goods are good in moderation, blah, blah, you know what sounds good? A party!” Midnight continued rambling.

“Yes, you are right Light of Randomness, a party would sound nice. But, aren’t you forgetting something like fighting Chaos?”

“Oh right, well I’m off, oh and you are invited to my “Saved the World party...”

“Don’t be going just yet. You have a weapon that reflects your personality. An ancient artifact from before the Princesses, a construct made of metal and magic. What, as I can figure out, ponies now would call a magebot.”

Midnight’s face lit up when he heard the words. A magebot was in the testing stages with Bloom Industries, but it was very basic. To find a working magebot from before Equestria was a special moment. There was just one question on his mind.

“What does it do?”

“Well, it has six seats for the other Lights, and their weapons can be used with your magebot and there are enchantments to shrink the robot down for you to be able to carry it in your bag.”

“Thank you and now I’m off.”

“No, thank you little pony for protecting the world is a job I would not enjoy.”

Scale Harmony stared up at the towers of the Elephant castle and begrudgingly entered the stronghold of the elephants.

The weapons and their masters are coming together, the final trek and battle is coming. Fate’s course drives ever onward and neither mortals or immortals can fight against the wheel, for once it is in motion few things can stop it. The song of creation and progress is being woven.

The Gathering of the Six

Scale Harmony looked at the cloud of dust quickly approaching her and waited patiently for the thing to stop moving. She was on her way to meet Ganesh the King of Elephants because from what she had heard when asking around, he was the ruler of this area of Zebrica. She continued walking with her belongings in her saddlebags except for her guitar that she carried in her magic aura and began to sing.

While she sang her song she trudged on towards the distant castle while dodging elephants that were busily going about their daily business. They just glanced at the sight of a small pony walking past them as an extremely rare occurrence and walked on.

She finally arrived at the palace after her journey that was arduous and she was ready to get this trip over with.

When I see Celestia and Luna again I am going to so totally speak my mind. I was going to start performing my music in Canterlot a week ago, but now...I guess Canterlot is gone, I wonder where the capital is going to be now with that thing being Canterlot mountain and all.

She was totally ready to meet this King or whatever.

Ponyville Siege progress

Vinyl and Octavia looked over the destruction of their music academy and were fuming. Well, at least one was.

“Vinyl, where is the Princesses?” Octavia asked as nicely as she could which in this circumstance her manners and poise were nonexistent.

“Uh, Tavi, that isn’t a good idea...you have to get past all those monsters. We are inside Ponyville after all.” Vinyl grinned sheepishly. She knew where this was going...after all her wife was banned from the Gala since five years ago when she single handedly brought the house down literally using her own strength.

“Vinyl, you do know that a few dragons, diamond dogs, and an entire nest of changelings won’t stop me. I am a part of the Stronghoof Clan and we pride ourselves on our killing arts, my family has been in the military for generations and any Stronghoof is required to learn our arts.”

“Oh, so that’s why you were talking to me about Scale Harmony needing to learn the family business, I thought you were just talking about music. Yep, gonna have to listen to you more often.”

“Now I just need a way to break the barrier. I know that shield spells can resonate with musical frequencies, but where can I find a loud enough instrument to break the bubble?”

Realization dawned on Vinyl’s face. “Hey, Tavi? I think I know where I can find such an instrument. Remember that experiment I created? That bass cannon...”

Fifteen minutes later

“Vinyl are you ready?”\

“Do you think I am? I was born ready for this!”

Vinyl checked that the dials were turned up to eleven and aimed towards the barrier. She slammed her hoof down on the large red button that said DANGER!!!

A song began to play and a beam shot out of the cannon and completely disintegrated any building in its way. A few dragons in the air were killed when the extreme pressure and volume went anywhere near them.On the other side of the now destroyed barrier Celestia and Luna’s army were slack jawed at what just happened.They saw when the purple magic barrier over the entire town exploded in a burst of sparks when the beam touched the construct.

Octavia turned to her wife and was stunned.

“What? Tavi, I told you that this was dangerous multiple times. I knew that once I used this in battle, our warfare would change forever. Now go on, you wanted to go see the Princesses.” Vinyl grinned.

Years later, the Bass Cannon 5.2 was first used in a military test against Equestria’s enemies in their first world conflict. Bloom Industries was generously given the patent by Vinyl with these words: “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

The two armies began to arise from their respective stupors and began their charge again with one addition. A brown earth pony mare known for her musical ability was quickly cutting down any enemies that kept her from the Princesses.

“So King, you tell me I just gotta stand in this here spot while you sing at me?”

King Ganesh, the King of the Elephant tribe, stood there grinning. “Yep, I have to sing so you can unlock your powers and be able to fight chaos...plus you get a weapon or two.”

“Cool, sign me up.” Scale Harmony jumped at the chance to be a super powered pony, from what she heard from her parents it was a pretty cool deal.”

“Trolololololol."

As the King continued, Scale Harmony felt as if the King was making fun of her for some strange reason..but she needed the power to stop Chaos at any cost.

After two minutes, he finally stopped his song.

“Okay I now name you the Light of Music.”

“What! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard!”

Ganesh just laughed. “Oh, little pony, your Elements of Harmony have the Element of Magic. Did you think that only unicorns cast magic. If so, you ponies are surprisingly racist and closed minded.”

Scale Harmony realized that he was right. She never thought that any pony except for unicorns could use magic...and now she didn’t know what to think.

“You’re right, maybe I was wrong. Can you ever forgive me?” Shre started to look as cute and sad as possible to help her get her way.

“Yes, yes. Just stop doing that!”

“Ok!” She quickly stopped giving him a cuteness overload. Ponies, as a defense mechanism, were given by their Creators a stare that could make enemies die from diabetes just from staring for too long at them when frightened.

“Here’s your weapon,” Ganesh quickly pulled out a guitar from a nearby table. “the Facemelter. It can create dangerous sound waves that can kill enemies if you want to.”

“You gave me a guitar as a weapon?”

“Actually, it doubles as a sword and can cut enemies in half if you aren’t careful.”

“Yep, that is a pretty cool weapon. Maybe this isn’t half bad. Sorry I got to go, you know, save all the world. Nice hanging out with ya and all.”

“You too, leader of the Lights of Reason, no that’s the Equestrian name, the Lights of Music.”

Scale Harmony was walking out the door of the city when a giant purple magebot crashed right in front of her.

“Wha-?”

“Midnight Snack! If you just killed Scale Harmony, I will personally end you!”

“Calm down Zap Apple! She’s totally fine.”

“Ah, hope so. This is the second time you crashed this thing. Ah really don’t want to keep fixing this thing before we fight Chaos.”

“Uh, guys I really think we should go see Scale Harmony.”

“Can’t we all just love each other?”

Scale Harmony continued hearing the five of her friends bicker about their problems. She finally moved and knocked on the head of the robot, which opened and Apple Cider stepped out.

“Howdy captain. Ready to get on this adventure with all the fun things we get ta do?”

“I guess so.”

So that's why the King started talking about the Element of Magic, besides the talk about the racist overtones it carries, I’m the leader of my rag-tag band of friends. Well gotta star acting the part.

“Now everypony, let’s go to Equestria and save the day.”

The magebot shot off into the sky.

End of Zebrica Arc

Return to Equestria

Start of Equestria Arc

Ponyville

The battle was not going well for the Discordant Stones. Psyche took note of her comrades from the mental links she had with her comrades. Greed and Betrayal were killed by the magical shockwave from that blasted sound cannon. Falsehood was captured by the Celestians and so was Power.

Therefore it was time for retreat. The others had been ordered their mission if they were captured. She had told them to cause discontent and fear in the populace when the news got out and it would.

Psyche ran off towards the largest creature of Chaos magic in the land...Chaos. She felt it near the northern border of Equestria.

Celestia looked over her ponies and her hopes rose. She could feel that the Element Bearers were almost all accounted for, except for Fluttershy. Well, first things first.

“Shining Armor have you found the Bearers that I had sensed?”

Shining quickly nodded and showed a hint of worry at Celestia.

“Yes. Shining. I will personally see to the cleansing of Applejack and Twilight. I do know what’s controlling them and I have seen such a possession before.”

“Really, what are they infected by?”

Celestia looked grimly at the destruction of Ponyville. “They have been infected by the sister elements of Discord. This occurrence had happened only once before, though those Elements have taken a less noticeable route.”

“Really this is less noticeable?” Shining Armor waved a hoof at the destruction of Ponyville and the surrounding area.

“There was a time before my rule, before Discord’s rule and before the Hearth’s Warming story. My sister and I had just entered Equestria from the stars and we had created the first ponies. When we were out one day, we found what we would know of as the Elements of Harmony and the Elements of Discord in a cave deep underground.”

“What happened?”

“War happened.”

Early Equestria- date unknown

Weeks after the discovery of the rocks from that cave of no real note except that it was made of crystal of white and black word spread of an army from the Chasm of Darkness.

“Luna?”

“Yes, mine fairest sister?”

“Let’s destroy these armies that threaten our peaceful nation and since we together control the Sun and the Moon of this planet, we can’t lose against weak enemies.

“Wait, wait stop the story!”

“Yes, Shining?”

“Your story doesn’t add up. You definitely don’t sound like that. You are extremely out of character!”

“Shining, on that point, realize how old I am. When this story is in time, I was a teenager in mentality and a young one at that. Don't you remember how you were as a teenager? Probably you thought that you were at the top of the world.”

“Point taken. Continue.”

Ok, skip some boring things...yadda,yadda,yadda....ah here we are!

The hellish army stared down its two enemies and laughed. Thirteen large commanders walked out of the group.

“Give us the Black Stones they were the things that spread the influence of our Lord and Master to here from his place above the stars.”

“What the stupid rocks?” Luna laughed at the skeletal demon.

“Give us them and we spare you the blasted evil place you call Equestria.”

That was when Celestia incinerated the army with a solar beam.

“How about no?”

Shining Armor’s mind had to come back from its vacation after what Celestia just said she did to that army of hellspawn. “You made them seem so powerful. How did you destroy the army that easily?”

Celestia just chuckled. “Shining, everything was that weak in the beginning. Soon after we came here every single monster of some power gained a large power boost. That army was unlucky enough to not have the boost. Actually I think that reports of Samael and the Elements of Discord happened almost simultaneously.”

“What does that mean?”

“We have a larger problem than I had realized. Show me the prisoners”

Both Falsehood and Power turned as the jail door opened in the ruins of the town prison. Celestia and Shining entered without a second glance at the Discordant Elements.

“Oh look it’s the Princess who lets the sun always shine on her flanks and her thrall.” Power laughed at the joke he made and Shining growled menacingly at him.

“If you weren’t in the body of my sister I would kill you.”

Falsehood piped up. “You know Twilight loves you...as a lover. Celestia, do you still have your harem of mares?”

Celestia’s face hid her true emotions. “No, never had one.”

Falsehood grinned. “Oh really, are you sure you are immortal? Because if you aren’t you have to get some backup plan when you kick the bucket. Start a family again, we know you’ve had one. Or is your “gift” more of a curse?”

Celestia finally had it. There were few ways to get the Sun Princess furious, but mentioning that her immortality never spread to her offspring. That was where it got personal.

“Okay you stupid little wretches! No more nice Celestia! You want to know how I want to destroy your presences and create the greatest nation in this world? Huh, huh?” Shining Armor just stared as the Princess he served for so long began to show signs of being a neurotic mare. His family always wondered where Twilight got the crazy from.

“No answer? Well, I guess it’s time for some mind crush! That sounds nice, right? Fun, fun, fun, tons of fun!” Celestia laughed maniacally as she powered up her horn and layered it with white magic and pressed it to the heads of both Power and Falsehood.

That was when the screams began. The last thing Shining Armor saw before he blacked out was the image of his sister foaming at the mouth from the shock of forcing such magic directly into her brain.

Octavia finally found Celestia bt waiting for a rush of Solar Guards run to a tent and carry Applejack, Twilight, and Shining Armor. Celestia followed shortly behind , her mane looked unkempt and a few strands of her ethereal mane were out of place.

“Oh, Octavia! How have you been? Was it you wife who built that cannon that took down the barrier?”

“You know why I’m here! You didn’t respond to my letters about where my daughter was! She told me she was going on an adventure and that was a month ago!”

“Well, I’ve kind of been slow in replying to messages, you know, all that Destruction of Canterlot and that business.” Celestia grinned sheepishly hoping that Octavia would stop talking. What I really need is a barrel of cider. Maybe I can acquisition some from the Apples, something about Royal Need or something like that.

“Don’t give me that. Vinyl has already been joking about that. Tell me when they are coming back?”

Celestia felt a presence flying towards them and as she turned her head she saw what it was. Those little ones seem to be just fine. “Octavia, I feel you’ll see them in about a minute or two.”

“What the buck does that mean?”

That’s when the ground shook from the landing of the magebot.

The camp stood around the new arrival ready to destroy it if some eldritch horror poured out of it and possessed every pony in a five mile radius. The Royal Guards had to be ready for every possible thing that could happen.

The cockpit opened and as everypony was ready to run away or slaughter the inhabitants inside, six small ponies walked out. The Guards were surprised about this because they were only small enough to be called foals. And as every Guard knew, you don’t send foals on a stallion’s job.

“Princess? Where are you and why is Ponyville destroyed?” Scale Harmony looked around hoping to see the family members of her friends and family.What she saw was her mother storming over to her with a stare that could kill a cockatrice.

“Where have you been, young lady? Do you know how long I’ve worried about you?”

Scale Harmony kicked at the ground. She didn’t think she was gone that long...

“But, Mom...I told you I was going on an adventure. And my friends and I are going to save the world from Chaos.”

Octavia just stared in shock at what her daughter just said. She was going to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors and be a warrior and be completely awesome. Her mind shut off from joy.

“Mom, mom, you there? Ground control to Major Mom?”

Scale Harmony just shrugged and continued acting in her role as leader of her group of friends.

“Okay everypony. With my mom being currently incapacitated I feel that this is a good time to rest and reflect on our next part of our mission.”

Every foal walked their respective ways to find their families. It was going to be a long day.

Last Minute Goodbye

The foals soon headed to the one place that held all or at least part of their families- the hospital. Or at least a tent that was called the makeshift hospital. It was right on Sweet Apple Acres given in the time of need and much of the equipment used by the said hospital was created by Bloom Industries.

This day would be very lucrative for the Apple Family and for Equestria since much of the “excessive” profits of the Apples were given to orphanages around the world by the request of one of the stockholders.

That said stockholder was flying in on a business meeting and an unexpected visit...to visit her “big sister” and her family and to ferry the souls of the dead to the Higher Plane of Existence.

Princess Fortuna, previously Scootaloo was coming to Ponyville.

Chroma stared at the figure of her cyan mother as she slept. Movement awoke her from her stupor and she glanced at the new arrival before falling backwards in shock.

She never thought she would see the Grim Reaper in person. It is NOT my time to go and if it wants mom, I fight it. She began to get ready to attack with her hoof blade.

“Hey, hey, hey! Chroma, it’s me! You know, Scootaloo?” The cloaked intruder began to undress in order to not get stabbed by the foal.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about mom here and Celestia told me that she believes that Fluttershy is near the Crystal Empire, and I-” Chroma began to cry because of all the stress that she had kept inside.

“It’s okay Chroma. Not everything can be easily fixed. Take it from me. I wasn’t always the awesome alicorn you see, has Dash told you completely about how she got her metal legs?”

“No, not really.”

“Well then you are in for a surprise. You and your friends were part of an Alicorn Magic accident and your mothers have superpowers, but Celestia created a limiter system on their powers, so they could integrate into normal life after their battle with a being called Samael...”

And with those words said, Chroma would always think that her family was awesome.

Vinyl’s Room in the Hospital

Scale Harmony finally left the room that her parent was in. She couldn’t say any words to the unicorn so she left the only thing that she believed was necessary.

A letter.

Hey Mom,

If you are reading this my friends and I have left already. Sorry for not telling you and all, but we need to stop Chaos or things like this will just keep happening. Now you are probably wondering what happened in my adventure...I will tell you when I get back.

Mom, you are much braver than I. From what I’ve heard, you single handedly took down the barrier that surrounded the town. You are a hero, I am not and will never be. True, I am the leader of this rag tag band of friends and they trust me completely, but I am scared.

Scared of failure, scared of death, scared of what could happen to the world. But mostly I am scared of what I could become. Already I see my friends becoming more distant and Zap Apple... don’t get me started on her. Maybe it was what Celestia told us about in Canterlot. We believed that an adventure would not change us. Heck, the only real adventures we had were in the Everfree. Never in my entire life could I foresee that I would leave Equestria for a second.

But Mom, if I don’t come back, don’t worry about me. I tried my hardest, my best,and I always thought of my family. We’ve had a good time together and don’t cry for me because I always wanted to be a pony that other would remember. Maybe I was just destined for it, but it has come sooner than later and I wish I had more time for what I believed was necessary.

From the first time I saw you and mom, I always loved both of you but I just haven’t said it enough, if at all, and i am truly sorry. Sorry for all the times that you guys had to scold me and only now do I notice I was wrong. I guess this is goodbye for now and I hope I come back.

Love, Scale Harmony

Your daughter and leader of the Lights of Music/ Lights of Reason

P.S. Sorry for taking your sunglasses.

Eight Hours Later

Octavia was tired after that going away party Midnight Snack threw the entire camp. She felt their was some ulterior motive that those foals wanted to hide from the camp. Nah, must just be be my imagination.

Octavia was ready to leave the hospital, but she noticed a piece of paper that she didn’t remember from her last visit. She thought it was just a nurse’s letter or something, but she finally checked the letter.

She was going to destroy her daughter when she got back.

“So no goodbye? Did you really think that this was a good idea?”

Across the hospital the other mothers of said foals were experiencing the same anger at their children.

Celestia’s Makeshift Headquarters- The Library

Celestia was completely out of it. While everypony saw her as a kind mare that had no issues that was not the case. Whenever she had an episode of crazy, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

Get completely drunk. Luckily for her, there was Sweet Apple Acres right in Ponyville or else she didn’t know what she would do. She was smiling and remembering the last moments before she collapsed in a drunken stupor.

That was when her hearing was destroyed by the door exploding. Bits of wood landed all around the alicorn.

“Wha’ d’you bucking want? It definitely needs to be important or else so help me I'll kill you”

Celestia turned her head to the new intruders and was surprised to see the Uncorrupted Element Bearers, Princess Cadence, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, and a very nervous Shining Armor staring back at her.

“Where are our children!” the group of irate ponies yelled at the incapacitated Princess.

“I think I told them that, uh, Crystal Empire?” Celestia racked her brain for the answer and it was the most difficult thing she did, even worse than holding Solar Court every boring day.

Shining Armor was the spokespony for the group since he was the most rational at the current moment. “Sorry, Celestia, I see that you are currently thinking about other things, but we kind of want our limiters released so we can join our family in fighting that monster.”

As soon as he finished, Celestia began to roll around the floor while laughing hysterically. “Really, you want to fight something that crushed Canterlot with a hoof. Really? My sister and I only survived because we are immortal. Can I do anything? Nope. And you really think you can help stop that thing? If so, then here’s your powers back,” She waved her horn and mumbled some incoherent words. “but don’t come crying to me when you are ripped apart because of that thing!”

Everypony ran as far away as they could from their drunk ruler. That night they created an unspoken rule: Never go near Celestia when she was completely drunk and crazy.

Celestia’s laughter could be heard throughout the entire camp.

Parent Appreciation Day

The Frozen North

Chaos was bored. Performing feats of god powers just tired her out and actually she was beginning to regret letting Discord out of his prison. He was just so annoying to her. She just wanted a break and it always seemed like he was talking about one of those Element Bearers. Pinkie Pie’s joyful and chaotic nature, Twilight Sparkle’s laughable attempts of reasoning logically with him, Rarity’s excessive greed, Applejack’s funny little white lies, Rainbow Dash’s attempt at fighting him, and Fluttershy’s hated ability of being too nice.

“My boy seems to be enamored with those mares. I now regret not letting him choose his first girlfriend. That Celestia was one level headed mare, if only they didn’t have that falling out. Oh well, not every romance works out. If it did, I would have the ruler of this little Equestria be under my beck and call...or some grandfoals. There hasn’t been a new Titan since Discord and even then-”

The single-hoofed destroyer of Canterlot mused over her past and the logistics of Alicorns mating principles until she heard a voice speak up to her.

“Hello, my fairest Chaos, how do you enjoy your release?”

She looked down and saw the “hated enemy” of her son.

“Hello Element of Kindness, what may I help you with?”

“Oh you’ll see.”

Psyche then smiled. Nopony could defeat her new benefactor. She had thought of everything. The Elements of Harmony? Didn’t work without Fluttershy. Celestia and Equestria? Too weak against Chaos. The Crystal Empire? Too many useless Earth Ponies.

Her plan had no flaw.

Except for the two separate teams of ponies heading straight towards the frozen wastes.

Applebloom was standing proudly at the helm of her personal airship, the Industrial Complex, and she was tracking her son on the multiple screens that gave her the ability to drive her complex machine.

“Really honey you can take a break. I know how to drive this thing.” Sweetie Belle grinned while nuzzling her wife and pushing her gently out the door.

“Nah Ah’m fine. Good idea though on that tracking chip of ours.”

Sweetie chuckled before glancing at her wife again. “Well, I seem to be the only one who remembers how often we got lost in the Everfree. And knowing our families, any protection measures sounded good to me. I just never thought we would actually need it.”

“You an’ me both...”

“Wanna go back to bed to bed? I think we’ll both need it. Just put it on autopilot.”

“But, what about dan-”

Sweetie stared coldly at Applebloom. “Don’t make excuses, when have any flight accidents happened? Never. Come to bed for a surprise or two.”

“Sweetie, y’all know leaving the bridge is dangerous...”

“Yes, you’ve told me everything. Heck, I’ve helped build this thing. Equestria’s skies are the safest in the world. Come to bed.” To provide her point, Sweetie Belle wrapped Applebloom in her white aura and dragged her to bed.

To Sweetie Belle’s delight, the airship never did crash. They pair of ponies never did get any sleep. They were far too busy.

Equestria and the entire world of Terra moved ever onward in both space and time. No entity could escape the flow of time’s ever marching forward motion, and like the ceaseless waves of the sea, unchanging flow. Space, was to the ponies, was a construct helpfully created by the Creator. It was really the Creator’s plan that no entity could go against.

Her plan was to let Equestria change because of hard times. Chaos was just another one of her toys and nopony knew her joy of playing with time and history. Everything that was, and should be was just a way to stop boredom from her consciousness.

When she got bored of one timestream, she just left for a second, in her mind, and jumped to a different channel of reality. Each had their own differences, but all had the same cast of characters.

She just loved her cartoons.

Finally the magebot found its target. Chaos was sitting on her throne and was lounging around just waiting for the thing to land.

“Oh look what the cat dragged in. Someponies can’t seem to take a hint of chaos anymore. I remember when their Princesses enjoyed causing war as much as I do. Oh well, you take what you can get.”

She waved her hoof and the magebot ran into a brick wall. Not a hardened block of air. An actual brick wall.

“Let’s make the playing field more in my favor.”

Scale Harmony was worried. Apple Cider had scanned Chaos with the magebot’s scanners and came up with a conclusion that even with every one of the team’s powers activated they would not be able to win.

That put a new spin on the battle. But, she knew that they would win. She didn’t know how or why, she just did.

“Captain, we seem to be losing altitude and the bot needs a time to rest. If you guys can provide a distraction, I can power this back up again and we can have a chance of winning...jus’ need some time.

The group of foals just nodded at Apple Cider.

“Ok y’all lets go fight this here monster that has messed with our country, our town, and most importantly our families.”

The airship was scanning the frozen North for signs of equines and it found them on the final sweep of the sector.

The parents didn’t have to worry though because they saw Chaos right beside them. The Elder god was in her largest form and she was staring right back at them. Chaos began to raise her hoof in order to swat the airship out of the sky.

Twilight had the only feasible idea. “Okay everypony, grab onto one another right now. I am going to attempt a difficult ground-to-air teleport. I know that there are no recorded successes of this recorded procedure, but seeing as we have a giant God-like entity attempting to kill us...this works.”

Shining Armor began to speak up, but ran out of time. “Twilight, I really don’t think-”

The entire party blinked out of the airship.

The foals stared at the airship while it was brought down in one strike by Chaos. They began to sob loudly like any foals in shock would do because they all recognized the airship. It was Bloom Industries' flagship, The Industrial Complex.

“No, no, no, no. I told every single one of you to say goodbye to your parents. Why would they come after us? Celestia even told us before we left that this fight would probably kill us...so why did they die? Why?”

The foals began dealing with the shock in their own ways. Eros hid his emotions under a mask of calm, Midnight Snack began to mumble crazily to himself, Zap Apple and Apple Cider found comfort in family, Chroma hid her face with her mane and sat staring at the ground. Scale Harmony was replaying the moment in her mind.

They had lost the will to live.

“Well, Ah’ll be Twi’ y’all definitely scared all of us for a moment but besides a few few scratches on yer brother, none of us were hurt.” a voice drawled.

“Really, girls, you still underestimate my ability with magic. Applebloom, where is your tracking device pointing us?”

“Our silly foals are right ahead of us.”

And that’s when the two groups met.

All the foals turned and saw that their now very much appreciated parents were staring at them. In a few minutes, all the sad. unhappy foals were turned back into crying foals attempting to regain favor with their parents by begging as much as they could.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. “Alright, everypony. Let’s stop Chaos, Discord, and Psyche. Let’s split up into three teams. Applejack, you take a team against Discord. Twilight, you are going to fight against Chaos. Chroma, you and I are going to save Fluttershy.”

“Rainbow-” Twilight tried to protest the decision, but quickly changed her mind after looking at the pegasus’ face.

“Twilight, I know this must be done. I have been not the best of mares for Fluttershy since the last battle, and that was ten years ago. In that time since, I have drawn ever closer towards my work and tried to write off my loving wife as a mare with something wrong with her. I was the one that suggested her going to a psychiatrist to talk about her problems. I was the one that didn’t notice her change in behavior and I didn’t stop her from killing all her animals...”

The cyan mare stopped speaking and just stood there crying. Finally, she was able to let her emotions out that she had kept inside for so long.

Chroma just stood there taking in the sight of her mom crying. Outside of weddings, she had never seen her mother cry so she began to walk towards her mother in order to calm her down.

She hugged her mother as tight as she could and stroked her multicolored mane as Dash cried into her side. She attempted to drape a wing over her mother as she snuggled closer.

“Mom, when we get through all this do you want to go on a vacation to Zebrica? Then I can tell you all the awesome things I did in my journey. I know you would like that, since you were the mare that made me like reading those Daring Do stories. I know five friends of mine that probably would like to share their stories as well.”

Chroma stared at her friends until they vigorously shook their heads up and down. Dash, bleary eyed, looked at her daughter and smiled.

“I would like that. squirt.”

Go Go Pony Rangers

Psyche felt the two mares approaching before she heard their hoofsteps. The little one and that older one made her angry because of their continued existence, yet she also felt a twinge of fear deep down. But what she really hated was Fluttershy’s hope of freedom.

For that mare wouldn’t shut up about it.

“Mom, I think I see her!” Chroma yelled over the winds that were beginning to pick up in intensity.

“Good, how far away is she?”

“Probably, a hundred yards or so?”

“Fine by me. Chroma, want to race me and see who gets to her first?”

“You bet!” Two rainbow trails blasted towards the yellow mare that was trudging through the snow.

Thirty Seconds Later

Psyche felt the rush of air when both of the pegasi landed a few feet near her. “Hello Mrs. Dash and her daughter, Chroma. Do you miss your family member that I so rudely took from you?”

Rainbow Dash tackled the mare and held her down. “If you weren’t in my wife’s body, I would end you!”

“How sweet, the Element of Loyalty can’t kill one of the ponies that let out Chaos, ruled over your little hole in the ground you ponies call a town, and declared war on you Element Bearers.”

“My mom is not a coward!” Chroma walked towards Psyche. Her body began to turn into flames because of her anger.

“That’s new. My dear little Chroma, what did you have to do to get that power? Kill a dragon? You ponies have been so focused on stopping us that you haven’t seen the larger picture. I served Samael since forever, your wife here set us free when she killed our master. And like a swarm of locusts or miseries spilling out a box of troubles, we have influenced this land. Your peaceful society has changed quite rapidly has it not?”

“What do you mean. Spit out what you need to say so we can stop you!” Dash was getting ready to get the information out of the mare any way possible.

“Our coming heralds progress. Progress that you can not stop. Airships, that bass cannon, technology that changes our lives for better or worse. Soon you might have to fight a war or two, like I had to do. When you come out of something like that, it changes you. Your daughter here knows what I mean.”

Chroma stared at the ground; too ashamed to look at Dash.

“You don’t know how ponies like us react to hardships...you are an element, a representation of an idea, until now you haven’t even known what it’s like to be alive. So you be quiet on the aspects of change that you will never know.”

Chroma realized how to beat Psyche without hurting Fluttershy.

“Mom, move out of my way. I think I know how to end this.”

Dash glanced at her daughter to make sure she wasn’t joking. “Okay, Chroma. Ya got one chance before we do it my way.”

Chroma walked toward Psyche. “I realized that there is a way to get my mom back. First, there is the way that we defeated Greed and Betrayal. That would be a blast of light or sound, but that has dangers involved. The easiest way to beat you is to give you a hug.”

Psyche began to chuckle. “A hug? You have to be kidding me.”

“No. I realized that you Stones can be forced out for good by the opposite emotion. Depression by Pinkie Pie’s Laughter. Power by Celestia’s magic. Falsehood by Celestia’s true feelings. And you by getting shown a little kindness.”

“Well I’d like to see you try.”

Chroma hugged Psyche. Dash stared on as the body of her began to spasm and scream in pain. She began crying and tried to get the sound out of her head, but to no avail. After a good five minutes, Fluttershy’s body became still.

Dash creeped up and poked the unresponsive body.

“Uhh, my head. Where am I, and why are you guys crying so hard? Was it something I did?”

Dash and Chroma tackled the yellow mare that was finally back to normal. “You are so silly, Fluttershy. We’re just happy to see you again.”

“Well, where’s everypony else?”

Dash and Chroma looked worriedly at each other. “Yeah, we’re gonna tell you everything on the way to our friends.”

The two other groups of ponies were not faring so well.

Discord was keeping Pinkie Pie at bay with taffy ropes, and Chaos magicked the rest of the ponies into a frozen state. Not like ice, bu frozen in time.

“Really, I thought that these ponies were going to be more of a challenge.” Chaos yawned.

“I know, mother. These mares just love to make it look like they lose and then they blast you in the back.” Discord said sarcastically.

“Dis, you better not be having one of your moods again.”

“I’m not mother. Wait, what is that black cloud coming towards us? No, that is no black cloud-”

And that was when Discord was blasted by Changeling magic.

“Not that alicorn substitute that Harmony created...”

Fluttershy flew towards the battle. She noticed that the Changelings were being led by two memorable characters. Chrysalis and Blueblood.

She landed with Chroma and Dash right behind her.

“Woah, look at all those Changelings. The last time I’ve seen so many was at the wedding.”

“Mom tell everypony to meet me near the magebot. We can let Discord be taken out by the Changelings while we focus on Chaos.”

“Okay” Dash launched into the air towards the group of ponies near Chrysalis.

Five Minutes Later

The large group of ponies stood inside the magebot.

“Ready everypony?” Scale Harmony called out to the ponies sitting in their battle stations.

“Ready!”

“Ok Let’s start this baby up! Lights of Reason, Go! Light of Music-” She placed the Facemelter

into the slot, and the robot got a large guitar as a weapon.”

“Light of Surprises-” Midnight Snack, the captain of this vessel, called out.

“Light of Beauty-” Zap Apple called out while placing her weapons, the Tartarus Cannon and the Chain of the Reaper, in their slots. The magebot gained a lasso and a cannon arm.

“Light of Invention-” Apple Cider quickly said before placing the Gizmo Blade down in its place. Another arm shot out of the magebot holding a sword.

“Light of Love-” Eros placed the Small World’s Paintbrush into his console. The robot gained a large paintbrush on its back.

“And finally Light of Creativity!” Chroma said while sliding her Phoenix Blade into the Slot and placing her hoof into its slot as well. “Activating my Flames.” The magebot got its final arm holding a long fiery blade and the robot was enveloped in a fiery shield.

“Go, Go Pony Rangers!” Pinkie Pie started to sing.

Everypony ignored Pinkie because they had got used to her antics.

On the next episode of Chaos and Corruption: Will Chaos be defeated? Will everypony survive the battle? Will Celestia confess her feelings to Discord? Will there be a random time skip?

Tune in next time for the continuation, and soon the conclusion.

The Sun, Stars, Discord, and Nature

Chaos couldn't dodge the magebot flying straight towards her. She attempted to deflect it, but the flames surrounding it made it difficult to do so. She screamed in anger as she smacked the magebot a good distance away from her.

“Buck this. I’m getting serious.”

“Everyone okay?”

“Aye, captain.”

“Prepare the Tartarus Cannon.”

Zap Apple pressed a couple buttons on her console. “Here’s how I think of y’all”

The cannon fired.

Discord saw the cannon beginning to charge and he did the first thing he thought of. He teleported straight in front of it and he began to feel his body disintegrate. He knew how it felt to die, he already had. He had been the newest Titan, for one reason, and one reason only It was very difficult to transcend the mortal form. He had been a pony once, a pony that Celestia had loved. A pony that Twilight Sparkle admired as a researcher of multiple magical disciplines.

He was once Starswirl the Bearded.

His corruption began a long time ago. A normal pony, even as powerful as he was, was never supposed to love an immortal. For death always took mortals be it sooner or later.

He had found a way to beat death. It was by sacrificing to the Elder Gods, the Gods between the void and existence. He saw things that should never have done it but he was desperate.

He just had to break Celestia’s heart by providing a blood sacrifice of their foal.

The Past

“Daddy, where are you taking me?” an alicorn foal that looked like a small version of Celestia asked her father.

“Somewhere beautiful, my darling” Starswirl tried to fight back tears.

“Okie, dokie lokie.”

Starswirl, bring the foal to us. You shall be rewarded...

“Daddy why are we in the tower and why is there weird drawings on the floor?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Starswirl pulled the knife out of its hiding place and thrust it towards its new home.

“Daddy, why?” the foal tried to to get back on her feet, but her golden blood made it too difficult for her to stand. She died while seeing her lifeblood drain out of her tiny body. Starswirl began the ritual.

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”

That was the last time Discord called himself Starswirl the Bearded. In that tower, surrounded by the golden blood of his daughter. Corrupted into the form later known as Discord and dreading the hoofsteps coming towards him.

“Starswirl?” Celestia stared at the scene before her and her heart broke.

The being formerly known as Starswirl floated towards her. “Look, Celly! We can be together forever! Isn't it great?”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Celestia screamed at him. “If you are Starswirl, and if you caused this, I will hunt for you to the ends of Terra and when I find you...I will make you wish you never loved me.”

“But...”

“But nothing, she WAS A FOAL! Do you think I want to rule forever and see the ages pass? I was going to pass the rulership to her, my daughter Natura, and you had to kill her for your schemes. I will forever remember that my husband and daughter died on the same day. GET OUT!”

Discord blinked out of the castle and Celestia began to cry over the body of her dead daughter.

The Present

Discord lay in the snow as his death came closer. He felt his connection to the mortal plane weaken and once he died he could no longer walk in this plane of existence. He would only be a whisper on the wind, a memory of days long gone, his journey was almost over.

He turned his head and saw a hallucination. It just had to be. His daughter now fully grown walked towards him, her aura of godhood shooting off beams of light. Where the beams hit, there were flowers and joy followed her every step. It was similar to when he saw Celestia for the first time.

“Hey Daddy, ready to go?” Natura radiantly smiled at her father.

“Yes, just tell your mother I love her.”

“You’re silly. She always loved you.”

“Not after your death...”

“You know that you didn’t have to kill me. You could have just asked Mom to make you an alicorn. She had told me that she had a spell to do that.”

“C-can you forgive me?” Discord coughed blood as he spoke.

“Yes. Grab my hoof and let us walk into the sunset.”

“Natura, I would follow you anywhere.” Discord smiled at his daughter.

They both walked off into the sunset.

A grove of Pranking Joke flowers sprung up where the Spirit of Disharmony had fallen.

Ponyville

Celestia felt Discord’s death as she was coming off her hangover. It hit her hard enough that it sobered her up the rest of the way. She also felt a presence that almost never came out on the mortal plane.

“Discord, no Starswirl. If you never had done what you did, we would be either enjoying what our subjects call retirement and see grandfoals of our own or we would be ruling together in Canterlot and i would never be bored with you around.”

Celestia looked out of the closest window and sighed.

“Natura, my daughter, I hope that being the Alicorn of Nature helps you in the long run. I know you love Starswirl and, knowing you, you aren't mad at what he did. You are always in my heart and always in my actions. I wish I could see you more often, but you know how hard it is for me to visit you. I just hope your dad keeps you company.”

Celestia didn't go out that day, for she had to deal with feelings that she hadn't felt for many years.

Chaos was furious. Her son had sacrificed his life for her. She was going to avenge him. She charged straight at the offending ponies.

“I will destroy you.”

The magebot met the Elder God in battle.

“Everypony who isn't a Light of Reason...use the escape hatches.” Chroma yelled above the din of the bells that told of imminent failure.

Everypony knew what to do.

The parents quickly hugged the foals and entered the pod.

Nopony knew if they would see each other again.

“Captain, the pod has deployed.”

“Good. Everypony back to battle stations.” Scale Harmony was now unsure if they would win without casualties.

“I hope we make it.”

The pod crashed into the ground. A group of ponies trotted on out.

“Ah really don’t like this. Those foals were too calm. Like they knew that they were going ta not win.” Applebloom was fuming.

“Ah know sis, but we can’t do anything. It was their choice to protect us.”

“They defeated Discord as well.” Dash butted into the conversation.

“Yes, and I can tell that the natural order of things is somehow stronger than before, but I sense chaos in nature now. I’ll need to study it once we are done here.” Twilight looked around at nature.

“This is not the time Twilight. Our foals need our support.” Rarity countered.

The mares stared at the battle that would decide the fate of Equestria.

An Hour Later

Chaos was winning the battle Albeit just barely. Every time the swords cut into her she caused the same amount of damage to the magebot.

The magebot was on its last legs. Most of its armor was destroyed, and two arms were missing.

Chaos saw her chance and aimed directly at the head.

The horn speared through the cockpit.

The last thing they heard was the metal ripping apart. The foals went towards the blackness.

The End and A Historical Note

Chroma woke up.

She looked around but saw nothing. When she tried to move, she couldn’t. She tried to speak, but no sound came out. The only thing she heard was hoofsteps coming ever closer. Her heartbeat was eerily silent.

“Hello?”

She heard no echo.

“What are you doing here, Chroma?’

Chroma turned and saw a figure that she hadn’t seen for a while. “Aunt Scootaloo?”

The orange alicorn grinned. “The one and only. Though I do wonder how you entered my domain. Most ponies don’t enter here until their...” Scootaloo stopped her sentence and turned away.

“Until what?”

“Chroma, I know this will seem a little bit crazy,” Scootaloo stroked her own mane trying to find a way to word the next part of her sentence. “but I think you are close to death.”

“No, this can’t be happening. I can’t be dead!”

Scootaloo chuckled, but soon stopped. “Sorry its just that you sound like I did when I met Princess Luna in my dreams...ten years ago? I acted the same way.”

“How do I get out of here?”

“Well, it seems that you actually have a small connection to the world of the living because of your Light, I do know that there is a way...but it is pretty dangerous,”

“Well I guess we have to do something about Chaos, even if it is dangerous.”

“Nope. Not doing it.”

“But, you said you’d do anything...”

“Aunt, I don’t even know what that thing is, if that is a pony...that is like nothing I've ever seen.”

“I know that. But, Harmony is the only being that can enter and exit this place at will, besides yours truly of course.”

“But. do I have to? Can’t I talk to my friends about this?”

“There already with you in your heart.”

Chroma sighed. She had thought that there would have been a better way. This was a dangerous idea that might not work. Not to mention what she was going to put on the line.

Her existence.

Some Time Later

A collection of wires surrounded the bodies of Chroma and Harmony. One of the wires was connected to the yellow foal’s chest and another was connected to the horn of the Elder God. Chroma could feel a connection to Harmony that was just beyond her reach. She just needed a push of great power to wake him up.

“Ready?” Scootaloo asked with her hand on a lever that controlled the power supply to the wires.

“Ready as I’ll ever be...”

“Okay! See you on the other side.”

That was when the pain began to overtake Chroma’s senses. It felt like time had stopped and that her heart would stop and then she heard it.

“Hello Little One”

Back In the Real World

The five foals tried to wake up her friend using any method possible. But, there was no sound coming from their unconscious friend. Right when they had given up and began to mourn the loss, they heard movement.

“Why Are You Sad? Was My Wife Not Defeated Yet?”

The foals took the possession of their friend in stride and shook their heads.

“Well Then, Tally Ho!” Harmony grew wings and a horn and blasted off towards Chaos.

“Anypony want to explain what just happened?” Scale Harmony asked. Nopony tried to answer for they couldn’t come up with any reasonable answer for their friend to be possessed by a bumbling idiot, even if he was an Elder God.

“So...everypony happy with never bringing this up again?” Everypony agreed in order to keep their sanity.

“Chaos! This Was Not Part Of Our Plan!”

“Oh, hello again Harmony. How was your nap? Was it harmonious? Because i was so unhappy that I was stopped by you last time. I won’t listen to your talk of harmony anymore...let’s settle this.” She stared down Harmony and began to get ready to strike.

“Let’s Make A Bet. If I Win, Peace Will Come Back To This Land.”

“And if I win, I’ll destroy you and every race on this planet shall bow down to their master.”

The two Elder Gods charged. Chaos was at a disadvantage because of her previous battle with the magebot, and was on the defensive. It was not enough. They traded blows for a good while but slowly Chaos was pushed to her knees and was beaten.

“So Your Arrogance Provides Your Fall.” Harmony said briefly before finishing off Chaos and turned away from the body that was rapidly decomposing. Harmony grimly said one final thing before he handed control back to Chroma and disappeared for the final time.

“The Time Of Gods Has Ended. Now I Give Control Of Your Destinies. Do What You Can To Make The World A Better Place.”

And with that, the Elder Gods passed from the Age of Ponies into legends. But, all legends had a grain of truth to them...at least in Terra.

Chroma just smiled sadly. She was glad that it was over and turned towards her friends and family. “Let’s go home.”

End of Equestrian Arc

100 A.C. (After Chaos)

From “The Equestrian Magitech Revolution- 1st edition by Historical Accuracy” Epilogue.

“There were three mares that were called the Mares of Invention that spread much of their knowledge across the globe: Vinyl Scratch, Applebloom, and Twilight. Without their study of what caused the Discordant Stones to crash upon our land, they would not have laid out the framework of our new study of scientific pursuits (Physics, Biology, Aerodynamics, etc.) and create a society that Princess Celestia has called “the perfect society, a society that I have always wanted...” As such we have to thank our saviors of the world, the Element Bearers and their foals the Lights of Reason without them.”

“Now, dear reader, I get to the last known facts we truly know of the Lights of Reason and their kin. The Apple Clan rose to even greater heights with Apple Cider and Zap Apple, their diversification of the crop into different fruits and vegetables helped save their clan from bankruptcy during the Great Drought that was 20 A.C This helped spread their influence, but those two never lost sight of their moral code. Now, in our age we have the technology of Stables and they rose out of the brain trust created by those two. A few years later in 30 A.C. Bloom Industries and Sweet Apple Acres merged into Apple Corporation. They now control most of the food production of Terra.”

“Chroma became the ambassador to Zebrica because of her travels to the territory of the Zebras, She was instrumental in ending the Equestrian-Zebrican Conflict where Zebrican revolutionaries attempted an overthrow of the Lady of Zebrica. Equestrian military soon was dispatched to protect Equestrian interests in the area. If not for Chroma, the Conflict would have spread into all the surrounding colonies of other nations and would have caused a Terran War. A monument to her actions was erected in Old Canterlot.”

“Prince Eros of the Crystal Kingdom became the head of his mother’s Night Court. She rules the day while he rules the night. He rules fairly and justly and helped create a sense of connection to his subjects. He acts as go-between our Princesses and his mother. There has been rumors where he might assume the rulership of the Crystal Empire...”

“Scale Harmony and Midnight Snack were special cases of the Lights of Invention. While the others went off and did held various government positions or positions of power; those two did not. Sure, Midnight Snack ran his chain of successful bakeries and was well off, he was never rich. He became more known for his creation of the science of Partyology. Now many colts and mares spend their days learning about how to be a successful party planner. Scale Harmony, on the other hand, became headmistress of the Ponyville Music Academy, which now turns out the best and brightest music students in Equestria.”

“Woefully most of the documents pertaining to the years right after Chaos’ fall in regards to both the Lights of Reason and the Element Bearers have been lost. Therefore, most of what I, as a historian, can tell you is limited. The period from the immediate Fall of Chaos to the Creation of Apple Corporation in 20 A.C. is a blank slate, no records have survived.”

A New Beginning

Ten years have passed since the defeat of Samael. Everything had gone back to normal. A new normal, to be sure, but still pretty normal. Except for two things: what of other, yet unknown, threats to Equestria; and repressed feelings can come back to haunt you.

Our tale restarts on a beautiful day in Equestria...

Zap Apple looked proudly at the coming zap apple harvest. She always loved this time of year. Was it the elegant way the trees swayed in the breeze or was it the sounds of hard-working ponies eking out a living with their own hooves; either way both of her mothers would agree.

She was quickly snapped out of her reverie by an explosion heard from Bloom Industries.

“Now what has my dearest relative got hisself into?”

Five Minutes Earlier

Apple Cider was in his laboratory. He needed a lab for his creations. In the ten years since he was born his concoctions had become more and more dangerous. Starting with hard cider, he branched out into all fields of study: petroleum, explosives, firearms, radios, robots, and other types of alcoholic beverages.

Currently, he was attempting to perfect his “Apple Cider’s Famous Non-Lethal Bottle of Perfectly Legal Moonshine.” His brew was currently had the highest alcoholic content currently in Equestria: 190 proof. It was notable for also being highly flammable.

And Apple Cider was standing near an open flame.

He realized his mistake too late.

“Oh Sweet Celestia”

BOOM!

Scale Harmony finished her music lesson. Being related to Ponyville’s few resident musicians gave her one skill. She was naturally gifted with any instrument .

She grumbled to herself.

“Why do I have to take these lessons anyway? I just want to form a rock band with some of my buddies and hit up Canterlot to party.”

Unlucky for her, she was grounded.

Indefinitely.

Prince Eros was enjoying his vacation to Ponyville. All the subjects of Princess Celestia were calmly walking around. He was actually surprised. For having the Bearers of the Elements, Ponyville was an altogether peaceful town. Actually, the small alicorn was surprised. His father, Shining Armor, warned him about the town before Eros went on his trip.

“I really do not comprehend my father’s words about this town. Why did he say watch for any twitches from Pinkie Pie? Why did he warn me about the Everfree Forest? Sure, it is close to this town of Ponyville, but it can’t be all that bad.”

Just then he saw where he was headed.

The Sugarcube Corner Library.

“I still don’t understand the use of calling it that.” Eros said quietly to himself.

Midnight Snack was bored. Not bored, but bored. To put it in perspective, boredom never came to him. Being related to Pinkie Pie cured boredom easily. But today...he was bored. So he did what any normal, well adjusted colt would do.

Solve the last magical theorem of Starswirl the Bearded...and talk to himself.

“Let’s see carry the two, divide by 7...”

Just then Eros came through the door and Midnight Snack’s boredom was over. Ponyville’s second-best party planner couldn’t back his excitement.

“Eroshowareyoudoing. Whyareyouhere? Thiscallsforaparty!”

Eros could just stare as his cousin ran around the room like a madcolt. He had forgotten how excited his cousin could get. The last time they had met, the two of them almost caused the Changelings and Equestria to go to war. And it was all because of one of the purple colt’s parties.

He groaned. “Hello, my dear cousin how have you been?”

Chroma napped in her favorite spot: her cloud bed in her own room in Ponyville. Her parents were the current Wonderbolt captain and the most famous doctor/ former model in Equestria. The other mares were just as famous as her parents were. Applejack and Rarity were known throughout the land. AJ was a successful businessmare, while Rarity was the most famous dressmaker in Equestria. Pie was running a successful chain of bakeries and Twilight was the Headmaster of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

Besides that, the Bearers’ lives were normal. Usually. And when they weren’t...

Chroma sighed and brushed her multi-hued mane. She thought back on the last few weeks.

A Few Weeks Ago

Chroma flew home from school. She was giddy with excitement. She had passed Flight School with flying colors. In the final test, she had completed her mother’s skill: the Sonic Rainboom. She had become an instant celebrity.

All of that left her mind once she got home.

“Hey mom, you here?” Chroma called to Fluttershy. No answer came from inside the house.

“Weird, I usually hear some noises coming from our house.” The little pegasus opened the door and was greeted by a sight out of a horror movie. Every animal was dead.

“Hello, if my mom knew you did this, whoever you are, she would hurt you really badly.” the filly said with fear creeping into her voice. A figure drenched in blood walked down the stairs. “Hello, Chroma how was your day?” Fluttershy smiled happily.

“Mom, did you do this?” Chroma asked nervously.

“No dear, she did...” Fluttershy pointed at the mirror.

Fluttershy’s reflection grinned evilly back at her.

“Hello Chroma, my little insignificant pony. You are probably wondering why I’m here. I have always been here in this body since you were born. You see, your mother, by killing our Lord Samael let us out. My brethren and I, the great and terrible Psyche, will destroy the world from within. Abandon all your hope, feel despair for what you knew was a peaceful mare.”

And with those words, disappeared. Chroma ran to her mother to check if she was hurt. Unluckily for her, Fluttershy reawakened from her hypnotized state.

“Chroma, what’s wrong...” Fluttershy trailed off as soon as she realized that she was covered in blood. She began to have a mental breakdown.

“ I thought I was good. I took my medication, I did everything Doctor Whooves told me to do; why did this happen?”

Those were the last decipherable words her mother said to her before falling into a catatonic state.

With that, the other Bearers of Harmony were called to Canterlot about this new problem. This was troubling news, the Eternal Herd’s movements on Equestria always caused major destruction.

Also, the Princess gave troubling news...the gates between the worlds were weakening.

In a Faraway Place

Psyche gathered her brothers and sisters. The six were ready to set their plan in motion.

“Hello my brethren it is time for our plan...corrupting the Elements of Harmony.

The six began to laugh. Their voices echoed throughout the halls of the building.

Ponyville General Hospital

Psyche regained control of Fluttershy. When she opened her eyes, it was the face of a cold-blooded killer. She pulled out the medical instruments in her body and quickly ran off into the night.

“Escaping was easier than I expected. I really wanted to kill some guards. I guess that will just have to wait.”

In Equestria, the day has finished. In its place comes a night. Chaos will soon rule. Discord, in the big scheme of things, will be just a court jester to the chaos coming.

All across the land, everypony alike sleeps blissfully unaware of the danger present in all of them. For when the Elements fall, the true evil buried away in their hearts will turn everything against one another.

For the Elements of Harmony were not just a weapon; they were also a barrier against the evil forces in the Eternal Herd...

On Towards The Unknown

Zebrica is to the South of Equestria. The two landmasses were separated by the Marecan Sea. Equestria and Zebrica had a long trade history, One of the secret things about it was that the continent was the origin of the magic field that covers the world. It was the homeland of both ponies and zebras until the ponies left to found Equestria.

It was also a savage land because of the natural order of life. Any ponies that entered changed...not for the better. There was a legend of the zebras that there would be six lights coming when the world was again in the eyes of Chaos.

There are six kingdoms in Zebrica: the Zebras, the Lions, the Hippos, the Elephants, the Rhinos, and the Giraffes. They are constantly in war because the search for land and glory for their kingdom fuels their war machines. The leaders are all immortal, but the most well known is The Lady of Zebrica. In a bad mistake on their part, Equestrians named the landmass in honor of her and the other rulers have not forgotten the error.

The other rulers are Leo the Lion King, Demos the Long Necked, Roland the Hippo King, Ganesh the King of Elephants, and Ramad the Queen of the Rhinos. The Six Rulers have infrequently seen eye to eye on how to rule the land. The only time they ever have is when there is a greater threat than warfare.

The world began to stop spinning.

Chroma realized she was sitting near a cliff. Not just any cliff, it was the largest cliff she had ever seen and her surroundings definitely didn’t look like Equestria. Not at all. The closest thing she could see as a city were just some thatched roofs.

“Where am I? I know the Princess surrounded us in a spell for some reason. Where is everypony?”

Chroma shook her head again and flew off towards the village.

Fifteen minutes later she arrived at the wall of the city. From a distance it looked tiny but closer up it looked almost as big as Canterlot. Something important had to be here.

“Halt Equestrian, you are on the property of Our Lady of Zebrica state your name and purpose.”

Chroma was startled by the zebra guard. “Hello, sir I am Chroma Braveheart and I was teleported here by Princess Celestia for some reason.”

“Say no more, I will escort you to Our Lady. Very few ponies come to this part of Zebrica and she would love to hear about your country and its ruler.”

“I don’t know...” Chroma couldn’t finish the sentence because she was yanked into the gates before she could react.

Chaos had found the statue she was looking for. A certain draconequus was staring back at her, if he wasn’t petrified, and Chaos felt pity for her son. Very distant son...it was a very long time ago and she was bored with existence. Boredom leads to strange things like sending an all-powerful trickster to wreck havoc on the planet. Those were good times,

“Son wake up we have fun to dispense.” Chaos was powerful enough to reverse the spell and Discord began to escape from his prison.

“Hmm, how many times have I escaped from the statue...two, three times? Celestia needs to learn her lesson that I just can’t be encased in stone. Maybe if she tried to put me into, I don’t know, baked goods then I’d be happy, but noooooo! Our little Princess had to say “Bad Discord I need my beauty rest and you are disrupting it!” and then shoot me with a rainbow! A stupid rainbow! and I was stuck in stone.” Discord rambled, finally letting out most of the words he’d been storing up for ten years.

“Dis, I am not amused with your behavior...you just spread low levels of Chaos-not enough to free me.” Chaos looked up at currently much taller draconequus.

“Mom, is that you? You don’t know how painful it is to be turned to stone. Your insides turn to stone before your heart stops beating...very painful. You are just too adorable! I could just eat you, but that would kill me with your amount of cuteness!” Discord happily swung around with his mother before both of them disappeared in a cloud of cotton candy.

In Carousel Boutique

Psyche felt worried: sure Chaos was going to destroy this stupid world but...she wondered where the little ponies that had almost ruined her plans had gone. Surely they couldn’t have survived the crushing of Canterlot.

Could they?

Chroma’s head was spinning. She knew of other kingdoms beyond the borders of Equestria, the Changelings and the Crystal Ponies, but she never heard of an entire continent beyond Equestria’s borders.

The sights of the city were amazing- the shops filled with exotic smells, the zebras themselves, and the stronger nature of the land. Plus, she thought that she could gain some experience with fighting...or confidence. Psyche still terrified the filly.

“Miss, we are here at Our Lady’s residence.”

“Thanks, um, a lot. You can go...I can see her for myself.” Chroma nervously stuttered before gaining enough courage to go in. If somepony had told her that her week would go like this she would have bucked them in the face. Finally, she made it to the throne room and tapped lightly on the door.

“Come on in my little pony. You will see I am no phony.”

Chroma trotted on into the room. Inside was a zebra that was the size of the Princesses back home. Compared to the throne room of Canterlot the Zebrican throne room was spartan in its furnishings.

“Umm, hello your majesty I kinda need to find my friends. Have you seen any other Equestrians around these parts?”

“No child I have not, for what terrors you have fought?”

“Sorry, we got separated when some giant super alicorn destroyed Canterlot and I got sent here.”

“You are lucky to be here for your friends safety I do fear. Our five neighbors surrounding us would not take ponies arriving without a fuss.”

“I need to find my five friends so we can leave.”

“Five, you say...I never thought I see the day. Your six lights will bring an end to our everlasting night. Chaos comes in driving rain for one sees the continuance of pain.”

Chroma was definitely getting creeped out by this crazy zebra. “Can you please stop rhyming and get to the point?”

The Lady of Zebrica grimaced. “I guess I have to do as you say. The six lights are a tradition passed through the six kingdoms by a mad prophet pony called Abdul the Red. He wrote that while going past the tomb of the Chaos Kingdom from before the land was calm he got a vision.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie.

And with strange aeons even death may die.”

“That sounds familiar,” Chroma replied, “my mom was talking about Samael and how he was the...alicorn of death and he’s dead. Our new Princess is taking care of death now.”

“What did you just say! That is NEVER supposed to happen!”

“Did I miss something? I just said...”

“The prophecy has four more lines:

Ponies run away in fear and terror

Nothing will stop the Element Bearers

Without the Six Lights of Reason

There will be no more growing seasons.”

“Well that was anti-climatic, I was hoping you would say the world would end.”

“Sorry I forget you are Equestrian. To this continent, to be without growing seasons is a saying that it will be the end of the world.”

Chroma finally felt truly worried.

Chroma stood around the circle in the throne room.

“Why are we doing this again?”

“So you will unlock the Light of Reason inside you.”

“Okay then, hit me.”

The Lady of Zebrica began to use zebra magic to start the ritual. The circle began to glow.

“Ooh, aah, ooh, aah, walla walla bing bang,”

“You totally made up that last bit...”

Chroma began to burn. It started from her hooves and worked its way up throughout her body. She didn’t scream however because the fire, to her, was a soothing presence.

“Oh my this feels wonderful. What is this feeling?”

“My people call it the Flames of the Joyous Creator. It makes you able to become a living blaze of fire. I have seen it in battle before and I banned it from being used again. The other rulers have similar weapons, but mine is the only one controlling fire. I bestow it on you...the Light of Creativity.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I am sorry but I have to go look for my friends.”

“There are a few things more I have to say, Equestrian. The flames are drawn to each other- if your friends gain the other flames you will know of it. Next, I will give you a sword to protect you on your journey for the flames, while powerful, are not enough to keep you safe. And finally, tell my daughter Zecora that I miss her like any mother would.”

Chroma picked the leg brace that held the sword inside. The brace was covered in gold and silver and showed a bird the size of a mountain kill a dragon that was completely black and breathing lightning. “That, if you’re wondering is our belief that the Creator Phoenix killed the Dragon of Chaos and used its body to make the continent of Zebrica.”

“It is beautiful. Thank you and I will tell Zecora your message the next time I see her.”

Chroma started walking into the distance. She hoped that her friends were just as lucky as she was in their search for the Lights of Reason.

She could not be more wrong.

The lion jailer looked at the puny horse and laughed. “Silly pony think that it with horns and wings make it stronger than me.”

Eros was having one bad day.

The wagon rolled toward the city of Leopolis where the law would be enforced.

Any Equestrian in the land of the lions would be executed