Stars in our Shadows

Chapters

The gods throw dice
The mortals ponder
The heroes panic
The villains grow desperate

The gods throw dice

"Man suffers only because he takes seriously, what the gods made for fun." - Alan W. Watts

Two stars circled their common gravitational center slowly shining dimly. They hardly did anything unusual, as long as a double white dwarf star system can be considered something usual. However, there was something plainly wrong about them. They were small and white, yes, but they also shouldn't exist yet. This universe was far too young to produce them. Yet they were, with this blunt denial of rules that only celestial bodies can live with.

Two creatures moved their bottom limbs on the surface of the bigger one. It was millions and millions of Kelvin degrees hot, but in no way did it stop them from enjoying their time together. There was nothing but void all around them, but in no way did it stop them from chatting and laughing. Of course, they weren't even really there, but it hardly mattered for them as well.

What is it that you are most looking towards? It will only last as long as we make it, so I hope you know your wishes creaked one, in a language unclassified, unheard of and unpronounceable for anyone with less than three sets of vocal chords. Steel ones. For the record, it sounded more like a noise of heavy machinery than anything organic. Tin and Iron, both of which had no right to yet exist.

The second creature pondered on the question for a while, mostly for effect and then it did something resembling a smile.
There was a planetary level commotion in one of the worlds of my domain. Normally, I would pay it no notice came the response, in syllables used only by creatures not of proteins and fats, but of alcoholes. Volatile, flammable and yet, colorless. However, something very interesting occurred there and I had to restore balance. What I could not do without intervening directly I want to settle on the Banquet

Tin-voiced creature smelled a hidden, unsaid factor of the issue. Blood. Blood, Meat and Energy.
What kind of commotion, pray tell? it scratched.

One of my vassals was deposed and contained.

The tinny creature waited.
And? Happens all the time, doesn't it?

...by another one of mine.
This is a rarer case, I admit, but still nothing worth our regard...

What was so interesting about this was the aftermath it interrupted.

Namely?

Nothing. the creature shook its head in disbelief. That's the thing, see. You'd expect the victor to brag, boast and relish in his newfound power. Wreck a world or two, destroy some places, make new ones, slowly spiral completely out of control... A pause. Nothing like that happened. Screaming, screaming... and then silence.
I am intrigued.

You tell me the scratching intensified I am hungry. Life strong and beautiful and yet, self contained, elusive. It smells... luxurious.

Another would-be smile blossomed on the face of the alcoholic creature. A rather sly one.
Of course it does.

A silence settled on the white dwarf. Laws of physics screamed that there should be no sound to begin with, but no one listened to them.

I think we should get back to work.

Right.

The second creature of many limbs extended one and made a simple gesture towards the opposite star. Without a millisecond's delay, it stopped in its movement. The creature then moved another one of its limbs in a circle and pinned one tiny point in space on the arc.

Gas coalesced, got heavier and more dense and, after millions of years of the star's lifetime, but within seconds from the perspective of the creatures, it was finally a main sequence star, bright and yellow. The first creature, the one with tinny voice and a taste for blood, got impatient. It moved its claw in a small, quick circular hastening gesture. The star, intimidated, burned rapidly, more rapidly in fact that it is physically possible.

There was a scorch of unimaginable heat, there were millions of years gone in seconds, even faster than before. The star expanded into a bloody sphere of terrible, fatal energy many times the size of the universe... and before the universe could even notice, it was all gone. In place of the star's core there spun a tiny white ball. A white dwarf.

Third to circle on a fixed, though increasingly unstable, orbit, with the former two.

Ugh the creature of tin and blood moaned, opening the abyss of its beaks. Eight thousand four hundred fifty nine of Me think it a wasted effort. Three thousand twenty four vote for automating the process and getting back to the Devouring.

Tell them to be silent and hold their voracity the second creature responded.It is nice, to hear something from you that isn't this eerie hum. And besides, we still have to set The Main Stage up. This is something worth our attention. An occasion like this comes no more often than once a five gigaannum.

Or more rarely still. The first creature paused. If you still hold any plans for that little vassal of yours, than put them in motion before The Stage is set.

The alcoholic creature moved its head in the direction of the last white dwarf, looking at it with its Blind Eye.
We will send him a special invitation it decided. A big, shiny comet tail of a smile crossed the void of its face. I will make sure it is big enough for him to see.

Somewhere, far away in the Multiverse, on a small planet hosting a couple of adorable primitive civilizations, in a little shiny jewelry box of a building by the mountains on its northern hemisphere, a unicorn named Sunburst, vice headmare of the famed (regionally) School of Friendship, jerked high up on his bed.

He flailed his hooves helplessly, like a fuzzy golden beetle, trying desperately to strike his alarm clock button. It took him a good couple seconds to find his glasses and regain his laughably limited vision and to finally strike this multiverse-damned button and put an end to any ears-droppers' suffering.

He took another good minute to stretch and yawn a little. Then he got up, and trotted slowly to his balcony. Responsibilities come first, after all. He was not only the vice headmare of the School of Friendship, but also The Royal Astronomer of Equestria. Part time, because the local ruler preferred to spend her means somewhere else, so the job was purely ceremonial. The tradition required the Princess would always have at least one, and it took more than just a generation of life of those cute little beings to change that.

Cute as it may be, he took his responsibilities seriously. And part of that responsibilities was to daily check the morning star, the sunrise and the like. It was never really time consuming, and he enjoyed the view of a pretty sunrise. It was good for him to get up early, too.

He opened the door to the balcony, yawned once more, and finally, finally, took a look up to the sky. At first he didn't see anything, shaking down the rest of drowsiness. Then the shock came.

"Oh... Oh my."

He blinked a few times and corrected his glasses to be sure he wasn't hallucinating. He wasn't. "Celestia!"

Sunburst was a smart little pony. He knew when things got beyond him. He glowed his horn and began to scribble a letter to the Princess, so that all more important characters could finally enter this story.

The mortals ponder

"Discord."

Discord was truly amazed how much accusation could be fit into a single name. One mortal would think it would pose quite a challenge even to a sharp and trained mind to summarize millennia of political unrest, economic instability, natural disasters, assassinations, resurrections, re-resurrections, diplomatic incidents, baking incidents and violence that comes with them, general confusion, anomie and straight-up stupidity in a single word less than ten marks long.
Yet the Supreme Princess of Equestria Twilight Sparkle nailed it.

He would feel like giving her a medal for that. Instead, he sweated profusely. He felt n... What's the word? The one mortals use, when they feel like they have no control over their lives? Nauseous? Annoyed? Nervous? Yes, that's the one! He was nervous, he was afraid.

He was afraid, because he knew. He knew that this particular set of enormous blazing green letters on the sky was a problem he could not simply snap away. First meeting with omnipotence of higher levels is always like that for the rookies. Absolutely adorable.

"Discord!" the Princess' voice shook him out of the trance. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"I... I don't know?" he spread his arms helplessly.

That was how he really felt. For once in all his time spent between the ponies, Discord had no idea how, when and where the spell was cast. Neither how to reverse it. From his perspective, that little rhyme, weaved out of green, strange stars, was always there. No signs of magic at all. Something far, far beyond his perspective. Someone, no - something created them in a blink, with no difficulty whatsoever.

High up on the sky, for all to see and read was an enormous set of six lines of text that read:

Choose: would it be truth or dare?
Raise your eyes and hold the stare
You, oh snake of lies and oaths
Made those mortals think you care
Show your Love and bleed your Heart
Bring Her Here, we Want to Know

But who? Which of his old friends would do something like that? None of them were powerful enough to smuggle a constellation onto his sky without him noticing! Yet it wasn't an illusion, this he was sure of. Also - strange stars! Spheres of strange matter, so abnormally dense, they shouldn't even exist outside of neutron stars' cores. This broke more rules of reality than he thought was even possible for any Lord of Chaos. This... This endangered the universe itself! This was so absurdly and unnecessarily reckless... who would possibly risk so much and spend so much energy just to carry a message?!

'Raise your eyes and hold the stare'

He didn't know what to say. He stiffened and opened his eyes widely. He would just stay silent for a moment, pondering the galactic, no - cosmic, implications...

"What do you mean 'I don't know'?! You put your dirty claw into all major magical shenanigans on this world! Name me, I repeat - name me! one other being that casually rearranges the celestial spheres overnight! I refuse to believe you had nothing to do with this!"

Well, that was understandable of her. Discord indeed couldn't name another being with abilities of this kind. Not like it was completely beyond him... he just... Oh, for the love of Chaos, HOW. How is that even an option?! What are the odds?!

(I dunno, never cared to check. This way, it's more entertaining to watch.)

What to do, what to do... Run? To where? Hide? How? And even if he knew how, he couldn't possibly hide alone, could he? How long would it take for the Masters to lose their interest? Millions... millions if not billions of years... He could probably take Fluttershy with him, but... No! No, that's not fair! He couldn't do that to her! Oh, how he wished it was a different kind of threat. Anything, anything other than that. Anything he could simply snap away and be done with!

(Oh, you wish, you wish, you little snake! / You're all doomed anyway! / Don't thrash around, nowhere to run, / nowhere to hide! Your fate is bound, / your time is up, your world has died!)

"DISCORD!"

He stopped. He realized his panic level was beginning to rise. One minute more and he really would start thrashing around senselessly, without any way to cope with his fear. He swallowed and looked around, stopping his gaze at the faces of his friends. Concerned, tense, waiting for answers that only he could give.

There were only three of them in the room, himself, Twilight and her Royal Advisor, Spike the Dragon. Friends, good friends. It would make the whole thing much easier.

Keep it together man. For them. For her. Regain your cool, don the mask. Breathe in, breathe out.

"Oh, I didn't say that. It very much has something to do with me. But I didn't make that rhyme, Twily. No, no." He slowly closed his eyes. "Quite the opposite: this is a message to me. As for the meaning, I believe it is quite clear... You still find in your absurdly tight schedule, time to read?"

Twilight's emotions stayed unreadable. She looked at the text again. She had, obviously, found time to read it.

"For you?" she raised her brows. "'Snake of lies and oaths'... That would check out, then... But who is it from?" She was an ascended mortal of pretty entertaining features, especially when she got mad. Right now, she was very entertaining indeed. "It's written purposefully ambiguous. Which means that you know each other, or at the very least they know you well enough to be sure you knew what they meant."

The narrator of this story is happy to let Princess Twilight's monologue flow, as it makes their job this much easier.

"Clearly mocking. But friendly or hostile? They're either threatening or teasing you." Her eyes narrowed when she took in the final line. "'Bring Her Here, we Want to Know'... So a threat after all." She turned her head to meet his eyes. "This is from your enemies, isn't it?"

"Enemies..." he clenched his teeth hard. "If only."

Twilight's features softened. Her expression turned from angry to anxious.
"Discord" she voiced. "What is happening? Should I be worried?"

A part of him felt tempted to blurt out the truth and shatter her illusion of control, just to see her face. It would maybe make him feel a little better. He said nothing. "Bring Her Here"...

"I should right?" A dash of fear crept its way into her voice.

He remained silent still, which only caused Twilight to grow more anxious.

"Oh, for the Stars! Say something, Discord!"

He was almost ready to do just that, when he got disrupted by a commotion by the doors.

"Twilight!, Spike!" came in words bearing a strong Southern accent.
Discord turned to the arriving party. Five multicolored mares in their thirties - all of Twilight's closest friends, excluding Starlight. Sunburst tagged along a little behind.

Dang, wouldn't it make it all the more difficult.

"Girls!" Twilight hurried over to her friends. She spread her massive wings and pulled them all into a hug.

It was still not long after waking hours and Twilight's friends' appearance testified it. Everypony's (except Rarity's) manes were frazzled and uncombed. Pinkie's (the fun one's) face was dirtied with leftovers from breakfast (unnecessarily hers.) Rainbow Dash didn't care enough to brush her teeth.

"Whoever did it, we're gonna kick his flank!"

"And then we're gonna PARTY!"

"We came as fast as we could! We already saw, darling."

This remark brought a little shade to Twilight's face.
"Of course you have." She closed her wings and broke the embrace. "Discord here was just explaining this to me."

"PARTY!!!" High-pitched voice of Pinkie cut the moment in half. "Like adults! No children allowed!"

"Discord?" came the quiet, sweet voice of his very favorite pony. He unwillingly smiled. Fluttershy was looking up at him with her big, beautiful eyes. And concern. "What is happening?"

Oh, He was so going to hug her.

"Fluttershy!" he beamed, leaned down and took her in his arms. She cuddled in his chest. "My dearest, I will explain everything, I promise." He gently put her down and smiled once again, just to reassure her.

"Well, you betta!" the one known as Applejack said. "We may not know what that rhyme means, but we ain't have no doubt 's nothing but trouble!"

"You heard us, Discord! It's time for some explanations!" supplied Rainbow Dash.

Well, no backing out now...
"Of course girls, of course. I will be as clear and straightforward as possible."

"And if you think you can..." Rainbow's expression rapidly shifted. "...wait what."

"What you heard. I will do my best to shed some light on the matter" As he said it, his body flashed yellow light. He whirled a golden cane over his head. It had a giant decorative question mark on top. Probably no one got the reference. "Let me unravel this little riddle for you! What say you pals for a story?"

It seemed no one had been really expecting that answer.
"Am I dreaming?" Spike rubbed his eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Discord just promise to explain everything, no strings attached? Like, for real?!"

"Oh, oh! I wanna, I wanna story!" There was Pinkie, of course, eyes wide with caffeine and desperation, not fully awake after yet another sleepless night. "Please, finally a story not about dinosaurs! Is it about dinosaurs? Ah! Please say it isn't!"

Twilight couldn't cast aside some dark, frightening thoughts. He acted... just like he always acted. Minutes ago he appeared stressed, frightened even. Discord is never scared for himself, only for us. So if he decided anyway to don his casual mask of polite mockery and self-confidence... He is scared not to scare us. The thought hit her like Tirek's fist and smashed at a mountainside. Whatever made this rhyme... Is beyond Discord. And beyond me.

Everypony gathered around the draconequus. Twilight closest, her face equal parts expectant and worried. Spike and Fluttershy just beside her and the rest scattered around. Rainbow lazily flapped her wings, hovering above everypony else, though not Discord himself. The air of anticipation hung. He held the pose it He flung his green bowler hat high up in a theatrical gesture. "Then let's begin!"

The room darkened. From his extended paw there came a beam of golden light, which manifested beneath the ceiling as a spinning holographic image of a spiral galaxy. Silence fell on the room. For a short moment, no one said anything. Everypony (and one dragon) just watched awestruck.

"You, ponies, live bound to a single rocky planet, lost somewhere in the middle arm of a massive galaxy, which contains millions and millions of stars. Beyond that galaxy, there are other, flung near and far across the night sky. There are billions of billions of galaxies out there. They all form an incomprehensible network of light and darkness that is our universe..."

The picture changed. A multitude of green, lively sparkles were sprinkled the galaxies. A few of those were flickering with violet, pink, neon blue and royal gold too. A particularly bright sparkle of angry purple light coursed between them.

"This entire web, this universe, hosts millions of planets bearing life. Yet only a handful of those are full of magic. And only where there is magic, there is chaos. Wild, unbound chaos. So despite its seemingly infinite vastness, this entire universe roams only one Master of Chaos - me."

His eyes glowed. Nopony would dare stare down them now. There were swirls of flashing yellow energy that juggled stars and swallowed planets. Those were the eyes which which knew all Time and Death and mocked them both. His gaze would travel from system to system across the universe, reducing civilizations to ashes.

(He was so cute when he acted like he actually mattered.)

The glow softened. He looked at the assembly, checking if he truly had their undivided attention. Their faces were full of apprehension, mixed with a good dose of confusion and unease.
"Now, let me tell you about what lies beyond."

The picture changed. Everything zoomed out, until no green sparkles could be seen anymore. An intricate web of light and darkness was reduced to a dark marble, dotted with tiny splashes of light. The marble hung between others, like a fruit in a bunch. Shimmering vines of energy snaked between all of them,

"What I just described to you, is just a single link of the chain. Beyond the limits of this, finite universe, there lies an infinite network of other universes. Large ones, small ones, teaming with life and almost completely sterile. The Multiverse. Many of those worlds are in the power of Masters of Chaos. Emotions blossom, deals are struck, wars are waged."

The picture changed again, darkening and becoming more vague, like enormous, ancient clouds of gas in space. The shapes that flowed in the light seemed so complex and dynamic that almost alive, sapient even. One could make out sinister smiles and dark, pupilless eyes.

"Beyond everything that I just described, there they reside. The Masters. Beings that hold millions, if not hundreds of millions of worlds in their power. Their origins, motives and abilities are far beyond even my imagination. Every worthwhile master of Chaos recognizes the superiority of one of them. A master of Chaos of this status is called a Vassal."

"Once every a couple of billion years, we organize a party. The Banquet, if you will. We are generally solitary creatures, but on this one night, we are all together. We celebrate creation and destruction; nurturing some civilizations and letting others fall. We mock all gods, tell crude jokes and relish in the all-embracing chaos; we show off. We let our magic free. Some of us are born there, some other die."

He stopped and took a deep breath. The audience was beginning to sense where this was going.

"This time, they sent me an invitation. I am asked personally by one of the Masters. They have written this rhyme on the sky. They want to settle a business between me and my ex-girlfriend, Cosmos."

He looked down on his mortal, fragile, scared to death friends. He looked down this infinitely kind and patient eyes of Fluttershy and felt like he was going to break under their pressure.

'Show your Love and bleed your Heart'...

"And they want to see with you, too, Fluttershy"

Author's Note

So here it is!
My very first published story on Fimfiction!
I hope I have managed to get some of your attention! If you liked any of what I fit into the prologue and the first chapter, then watch out, because I intend on doing more of that in future chapters!
Also, since the advent of A New Generation, all stories dealing with any big issues of G4 are kinda alternate universes? I would put the AU tag on my story, if I didn't consider it misleading. Even though I am using my own headcanon setting, it's impact on the story itself is nominal. I will expand upon it in other stories if they come to be, but for now, let Stars in our Shadows be its own, independent story.
Constructive criticism welcomed! <3

The heroes panic

Surprisingly, it wasn't Rainbow Dash who was the first to break the silence.

"Are you serious?" asked Princess Twilight, incredulously. "I mean, oh for the love of Celestia, of course you are. Of course you are! One time when I would prefer you to be joking, you are serious!" She didn't even know when she started pacing back and forth. The only pony in the room moving at all in that moment.

Discord was silent and still, afraid to say anything more. Fluttershy was paralyzed. Rarity has been clinging to Applejack's side for a while now and Applejack wasn't objecting, sitting in stunned silence. Pinkie Pie started giggling uncontrollably and fell over to the floor.

Spike observed Twilight pacing, deeply concerned, and leaned in to Sunburst.
"Sunburst?" he whispered. "You have any idea where Starlight might be?"

"What? Ah, Starlight... Well, she's probably in her office no..."

"The original Starlight, Sunburst." Spike interrupted him "Not a clone, not a magical projection, not an alternative version from parallel universe, the first and only, extraordinarily magically gifted Starlight Glimmer"

"Oh. Oooh... " Sunburst remembered and flinched in embarrassment. "I... I'm afraid not. I... honestly am not sure if anypony knows where she's faring now..."

"Well, wherever she is, she better shows up soon." he frowned "We're gonna need her help"

"You have a boss?!" Rainbow stammered out. "You get to write reports, answer every now and then..." She squeked. "You get to..."

"They're not my boss, Rainbow" Discord denied the truth. "More like an... onlooker. A guardian if you will."

"That... That is a lot. A lot!" continued her monologue Twilight, unfazed by everything happening around her. "I need some time to process that!"

"I'm afraid you don't have much."

It was a monotone, colorless voice, yet it shook the entire assembly to the bone. They all (including Twilight) turned to the corner of the room.

There stood a weird, quadrupedal creature with two long, skinny arms. Twilight recognized him as a centaur. Black and grey fur, simple white jewellery, two small white buds on the head that must have been horns. He would look puny and pathetic were it not for his eyes. Half closed, still they ticked every passing second with a deadly, merciless, joyless precision. The ticking seemed so perfectly synchronized with the very flow of time it hadn't even occurred to the group it had been making that sound for a longer moment now. Suddenly, the ticking was unbearably loud.

Discord jumped to the creature, overjoyed for a distraction.

"Zeit! Old buddy old pal, you too!" he shouted, evidently loud on purpose. The centaur squinted his eyes, without approval of this silly moniker. "Why, it's been ages since our last meeting! One would think you of all creatures could find time for an old friend? Tell me, why would you ever ever leave me for so long without a hint as for your whenabouts?"

"Because I hate you?" Zeit suggested calmly. His voice had become somehow less monotone.

Discord smiled a particularly venomous smile.
"The feeling is mutual, you senile clerk of a primal force" he hissed.

Zeit didn't as much as blink.

"Ah'm sorry" a new voice joined the conversation "This all 's very interestin' indeed, an Ah don't wanna spoil th' mood, but I hafta ask - an forgive mah callousness - What the hay is goin' on?!

"Oh, thank you Applejack dear" Rarity chimed. "I was going to ask that very same question, darling! What is for Celestia's sake going on?"

In a dry and overtly formal gesture, the creature pressed it's palm to its chest."I am Zeitgeist, the embodiment of time, the onlooker of this universe's temporal fields"

In. Out. In. Out. Breathe Twilight, breathe! Stars damn it!

"How come we've never met you before?" asked Pinkie, ever so enthusiastic about a possibility of a new friendship.

"I prefer to stay away from ephemeral affairs of the mortals." answered Zeitgeist, ever so negative about friend calls and party invitations. "I, also, prefer to spend as little of myself as possible on interactions with my colleague, Discord... " He relaxed a bit. "Not out of spite, but because he makes my work ...unreasonably difficult."

"Oh, don't say that, Zeit pal!" Discord interrupted "Everypony likes a little challenge from time to time! Though you could have some point about my timing. Is my intrusion perhaps a bit ill-timed?" The mischievous glint in his eyes was visible with a naked eye. "You don't suggest spending time with me is a waste of your... "

The centaur extended two straight fingers and Discord froze. "I swear to all Forces High Above, you repeat that word once more and I will freeze your tongue still" Zeitgeist shoved the draconequus aside, unfroze him; then resumed: "I was tasked by the aforementioned Forces High Above to see to it the timeline will not be deranged on the..." There came but a tiny flinch. " ...time of Discord's absence" he finished, somehow reluctantly.

"I am s-sorry, but, eh..." Sunburst joined the conversation, stammering "What does the Spirit of Time have to do with the Chaos Conundrum?"

"Why, it's actually quite simple, my nerdy unicorn friend" Discord supplied, helpfully. "What do you think happens in the time of my absence?"

"Eh... I... I don't know, there is... a little less chaos magic around?"

Discord leaned over, making the distance between his muzzle and Sunburst's face uncomfortable close.
"Let me rectify myself here - what do you think happens in the time of me and my magic's absence?" A pause, mainly to let Sunburst readjust his glasses. "I mean like, complete absence. None of it left in the universe of Equus."

Wherever Twilight's thoughts were gone, they came back now to tackle the problem. She didn't like the numbers that started to swirl around her head.

Sunburst opened his mouth in an expression of bewilderment.
"Well... Um. Yes, I suppose... It would have... serious consequences for all of us?"

"I couldn't put it any simpler, Little Sunblown!"

"That's not my name..."

"Whatever." he waved his paw dismissively. "And as you all can probably imagine, in the complete absence of chaos magic from thousands if not millions of universes at the same time the entire multiverse would collapse within minutes."

"Well, mighty shame it is, cuz Ah wouldn't mind a little less of Chaos in mah life" Applejack declared.

"It's better that you learn to appreciate Chaos, dear Applejack. Either me, or Tiānmìng"

That name, alien as it was, brought Twilight some irrational anxiety.

"Who now?"

More dismissive paw-waving "Another story for another time."

"Now, come on!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "You can't just suggest there is, like, another bad guy out there, whose flank we could kick, and then just move on!"

"Oh, but we can, little Dashie" stated Discord matter of factly. "The situation now is so tense that even I can't allow myself any more digressions. Wouldn't you agree, Zeit?"

"Ruefully, I must agree." Zeitgeist agreed. "We already have the attention of Masters on our heads, last thing we need is a talk about Them."

For a tiny, tiny millisecond time seemed to speed up a little, as if trying to spite someone meticulous enough to notice.

"Forgive my morbid curiosity, but... Ehm..." Sunburst didn't shut up. "If the multiverse should collapse within minutes, how c-come it just... doesn't? When all of the chaos lords gather in one place? H-how do they ehm... regulate this?"

"Simply." Zeitgeist supplied. "They freeze time in all of universes affected"

"Oh. Hehe... ehm... Of course!, how could I not think about...?" He corrected his glasses, which didn't need correcting, in a futile attempt to convince himself that it truly wasn't anything unusual to violate laws of physics to such a fundamental degree.

Oh, what a sweet and silly pony Sunburst was.

"This sounds... terrifying" Spike commented.

"Ah didn't understand nothing y'all just said, and somehow that makes me even more scared!" Applejack declared.

"But how does it influence other worlds? What about multiverse-wide causality?" Twilight questioned. "There are so many magical laws violated by such an action..."

"Oh, sure. You eggheads just keep talking about theory" came an annoying, overconfident voice of a cyan pegasus. "I wanna know it, so you spill it, Discord - where are their butts for us to kick?"

Discord snorted, loudly and noticeably.
"Oh, adorable little Dashie! Your adorably simplistic solution would be your adorable, pointless doom!"

"Wha...?"

"A mortal being, like you" he booped Rainbow Dash "is considered by the Masters to be 'cute'. As much as a flinch of your muscles in their presence is enough to attract their attention. And their attention alone is more than enough to melt your senses and make you deteriorate into a steaming puddle of organic matter."

Dash's confidence quickly disappeared, replaced by horror and disgust. Silencing her and leaving with a particularly clueless expression on the face brought Discord a lot of vengeful joy.

"Discord!" that was Fluttershy, finally speaking up "Cut it out! We do not need more panic! We need solutions!"

"Well then" he chuckled, and the chuckle came dangerously close to a madman's cackle. "Good luck finding any, because I know of none!"

He is so scared thought Twilight. He can barely keep in the panic. How scared should we be?

"Now, Discord, whatever do you mind?"

"See, this universe is recognized as my property, my home. As long as I don't break any unwritten laws of the Multiverse, you are safe from any incomprehensible eldritch horrors that lurk out there. But now, that my actions have drawn the attention of the Masters, I'm afraid there is nothing neither you, nor I can do about it. It is simply beyond our reach." He slumped, visibly resigned. "It is, I'm afraid, my sole responsibility to face the interest of the Masters." He spread his arms just so helplessly. Everypony (and one dragon) in the room were staring at him tense and expectant "I know this is a bit much."

"A bit much." Rarity's ice cold voice fell on the silence that had been laying around the room like the blade of a guillotine, slicing off its head. "You tell us one splendid morning that our entire universe is in mortal danger and we can do nothing to save it! You call this 'a bit much'?!"

Chaos descended.

"That's it! I'm getting my End of the World emergency party set right now!"

"The world is ending?!, but I-I didn't even finish..."

"Th' harvest is 'bout to begin!..."

"I don't wanna deti... dit... whatever he said... *sniff* ...into a puddle... Bua-aaah!"

"Great, now you all have made Dashie cry, happy about it?!"

"The... Eh... Twilight, you... you know what to do, right...?"

Rarity's voice once again cut through the crowd, her hoof extended accusingly.
"You, you are nothing but trouble, draconequus! Why, we should have never freed you from your stone prison!"

A black bolt of shady energy slithered through space to meet the little white unicorn face to muzzle and sneer with barely contained anger.

"Why I'm sorry darling, but it's you who demanded answers in the first place!" he hissed. "Do you possibly believe it's better to just sit down and cry about it?!" His voice began to raise dangerously loud and the little unicorn shrunk down, intimidated. "You think this situation is any less stressful for me than it is for you?!"

In that moment his eyes flared alight with fury and and his voice distorted as if stretched in all directions.

Who do you think stands responsible for the mess we all find ourselves in?!

"EVERYPONY JUST STOP!"

Silence fell. Like a terrible dark phoenix about to go out in frenzy of purple flames, Princess Twilight hung up in the air, wings spread wide, flashing bolts of magenta and white power.

They all watched with awe, mixed with a healthy dose of common fear. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were scared. Spike and Sunburst were scared too, if less so. Rarity was still rather shaken, but her eyes were full of unhealthy fascination with a beautiful, dominant mare in front of her. Applejack's eyes - even more. Zeitgeist waited, because, from a certain point of view, that was all he ever did. The silence that hung above the group was so heavy, so absolute, begging to be filled.

Discord remained silent too, frozen in place not by elemental time powers, but genuine fear. His head low and his arms spread wide. When the haze of fury lifted on his mind, dark thoughts danced behind his eyes. Shame have party-crashed a friendly get-together in his psychic palace and her gang was just getting started. He just realized that she has been there for quite some time now. When did she get in?! Probably when Twilight stared at him and demanded answers. Shame wasn't a new feeling for him, but a one that had never visited him quite as often. Not without a reason - he really didn't like her.

He would never admit it, but there was one pony other than Fluttershy capable of awaking his shame. He closed his eyes and braced for impact.

Twilight touched the floor again. The flames flickered and went out. Her sight was once again devoid of deadly power, but the command it still carried could make armies halt their advance. The stellar heat was now gone, but not the regal glory of a rightful leader, of true royalty.

She had analyzed this situation thoroughly, and no matter how she shifted the pieces, there only seemed to be one real solution to this puzzle.

"I think we should trust Discord on this one."

A collective "What?!" rolled through the group. Discord dared to open one eye.

"Keeping in mind his past wrongdoings, he is still the only one here with any insight knowledge on the matter." she explained. "And, if he was perfectly honest with us - and I see no reason for him to lie - there really isn't much we can do about this. I think we should trust Discord to face this problem alone with Fluttershy. The best we can do is to hope for them on this dangerous mission."

Discord opened his second eye, and then a third, just to make sure he was not hallucinating. The rest of the group was too stunned to react in any meaningful way.

"Perhaps we owe Discord an apology for unfounded accusations...?" she sent a heavy glance to Rarity.

"Um... I'm... I'm sorry Discord, darling... What I said was... most inadequate in that situation." stammered the unicorn "I want you to know... I didn't mean any of those things. I beg forgiveness"

"That's... that's okay, Rarity" mumbled a bit dumb-founded Discord. "I acted just as low. I am... equally s-sorry"

Twilight turned directly to him. "Discord, you might have not been very tactful about this and frankly, a little mean to some of us here, but I know that you tried your best. And besides..." She then looked directly into his eyes... "I know the weight of the crown, Discord. I can understand your stress. It can be a crushing feeling, having this much power and yet being this... helpless. You got a friend in me, Discord."

Discord felt his eyes water. Instinctively, he turned it to lemon juice, so he would feel the need to wipe it clean.

"We're all friends here, Discord" she said in a reassuring voice. Small and scared just like everyone else, but determined to lift up their spirits and lead with an example. "We will support you in this difficult time. We know you can do it!" She smiled warmly. "I believe in you."

Discord was speechless. He didn't know anymore what he had expected, but definitely not this. Suddenly, his mind was clear and his eyes wet. He shivered and, before he even knew it, found his body hugging the alicorn by her neck. Everyone just stared.

She seemed surprised at first, but, after a moment of hesitation, she returned the gesture.

"Thank you, Twilight. Thank you" he whispered.

They just stayed this way for a little while.

Author's Note

It's fair to say that I took my time with the second chapter of this story.
The reason for that was my anxiety, perfectionism and the need to fight with severe depression. I couldn't finish writing this overwhelmingly chaotic chapter, second-guessing myself and introducing more and more corrections until it became seemingly hopeless.
In the meantime, many momentous things happened in my life, I quit university, I rejoined it, I moved to another city with my family, we adopted a dog, I found some new hobbies. All of that pulled me away from this story to the point that I pretty much accepted it being canceled. I couldn't find time to finish these three next chapters even though I've always known well what was supposed to happen there.
Then, one day, I did finish it and it left me at odds with myself. The initial reception on my story was not great. It was very discouraging for my self-doubting, self-loathing self. But I know that some people did enjoy it. I kept re-reading these three encouraging comments and,eventully, I decided that if as much as one person out there would find my idea interesting, it's worth sharing. It's worth putting it out there.
Even if I get stuck again at chapter 6 or 7 and abandon the site for months again, that's okay. Even if this story forever remains incomplete, that's okay. Progress is not linear in one's struggle against their own inner demons, and even an incomplete story is a win for me here. I am writing this because I believe it's worth sharing, but mostly, I'm writing this for myself.
So thanks to DesertDragon79, taterforlife and sunflowering, who left the comments under chapter 1. It really meant a lot, it really did. If by the time I publish this you've all moved on and cannot be bothered to get back to this fic, that's okay, I don't blame you. It's been over one and a half year, after all. Thank you all for that little bit of courage I needed.

The third chapter is already finished and I will publish it in two weeks' time.

The villains grow desperate

Silver comets soared. They shimmered and glittered in the light of millions of stars, coursing round an unbelievably hot and dense celestial object. Seventy thousand of them, in perfect, highly improbable harmony. Were they to stay on their orbits, they would soon find themselves on a collision course. Luckily, their journey would never end, as they were kept closely tied on a stable time loop.

A gigantic eye of mass too hot to cling to any color blinked. Comets soared away, all but forgetting about their gravitational bounds. Had there been a face to grimace, it would, unsatisfied with the results. A long, spindly finger of abyssal ice helium reapplied the comets, spicing them up with a bit of sodium, so they would burn golden. After a look in the Mirror of Worlds, the creature emitted some cold and heavily radioactive compounds in satisfaction. They would allow it.

What do you think? asked We Are Not Ready, turning to her fellow Master.

A tall, pale creature with a body and voice of alcohols was busy styling its infinite space of a mane. Glimmering, she turned several of her eyes to the side. Even if just for a millionth part of a millisecond, the universe stopped, unsure if it should feel honored or threatened.
Stylish, if somewhat too minimalist for my taste. You look good in gold. There is no inception quite as hot as yours.

You look just as good with dark blue, dear! I would, however, get rid of some of those. Too much of everything, really.

We Are Her Slaves took a quick glance in the Mirror of Worlds. She flinched, noticing the overabundance of her marbles, and ripped them away, leaving only the necessary minimum.
Azali, help me out with these, would you? she said towards a little snapdragon chaos creature, buzzing around to her left. We Are Her Slaves casually tossed her her marbles.

Azali looked up, beholding the very last sight in her ephemeral life. An unrelenting flood of cosmic matter, stars and planets, black holes, entire galaxies, all of that she extended her arms towards... Crashed under the impossible mass of things, all life, space and time she could ever hope to hold and much, much more. A bit of magic flashed in the void and spun down the Blind Eye.

We Are Her Slaves buried two of her limbs in her long, dark mane and ripped a wormhole of a smile. Then she struck something she considered to be a sexy pose in front of the Mirror. The narrator of this story wish they could erase this view from their memory.

You look more stunning than a quasar, darling. I don't need my Eyes to see you are really looking forward to this event.

The next smile We Are Her Slaves produced flashed, like a star blinking one last time before dying in a black hole.
What can I say? I love this little gathering of ours! I love it when the time stands still and they all buzz around, talking and laughing and devouring, dancing to the universal lack of any melody!
The marble broke, releasing a nebula of magic in the neon blue color. Anger and impatience clouded the alcoholic flesh of the Master. WOULD HE JUST HURRY UP I WANNA SEE THEM

The universe shook in fear. It wouldn't be the first time the Meeting World was destroyed mid-preparations.
We Are Not Ready blinked their primary eye. They were mildly surprised how engaged their friend got.
They're just lesser beings, there is no need to get so emotional, darling. They will be here soon. We have all the time in the Multiverse.

We Are Her Slaves seemed inconsolable. She crossed her arms and flared her Blind Eye. A marble tinkled, automatically replacing the broken one in the Second Eye. Flames once again danced on We Are Her Slaves' chest.
Isn't it awfully convenient for these critters to steal from us? she pouted.

Ask We Are Ephemeral. They're the expert on the matter.

We Are Her Slaves didn't laugh at an unfunny joke. Instead, she turned her head and just stared into the void.

Silence hung in the light, young world. Stars shined, planets circled them. And in the middle of it all, two ancient creatures waited for millions of years for the edge of reality to unfold and pour in the Chaos.

Delicate, soothing music played in the elevator. Simple, optimistic tunes; lyrics that told of love and partying and youth. Last hits straight up from Manehattan, a selection of Synthwave, Electro Swing and some light EDM.
All things considered, it was an excellent playlist.

It did nothing to lighten the mood of its three occupants. Discord, for once, had simply too much to think about, and so, didn't try to entertain his friends with a conversation, not even a silly one.

Fluttershy was trying to come up with a tactful (unnecessarily indirect) way to communicate her feelings to him.
She loved it when he surprised her. Places he had shown and things he taught her...
It would never disappear from her memory, this feeling of awe and wonder. She was looking forward to each and every one of their little trips.

But this? This was simply too much.

Too extreme, too dangerous and too... official of all things. The thing she loved most about Discord was how he could always make her feel so brave and free. Their journeys were always so casual, low commitment and low risk. She could run wild with all of her long suppressed desires, be free and beautiful, knowing that he was always there for her and as long as he wasn't scared, she had nothing to be scared of.

But now Discord was scared. Scared out of his mind. She knew that he only had kept so calm this long so that he wouldn't cause his friends to panic. Of course, he failed in that endeavor and they panicked anyway, but she appreciated the effort.

It didn't make her feel any less overwhelmed by the situation. She felt like.. like she was forced to go with him on a particularly unpleasant business trip. It wasn't his fault of course, she knew that. Yet at the end of her head she still felt some bleak regret... A nagging question - when have my life took such a turn? When have I become okay with all that?

"Sooo..." Twilight finally decided to break the silence. "Thank you for letting me go with you two, Discord..."

Discord shrugged, expressionless. "It's your moon now. I couldn't really stop you even if I wanted to"

"Oh, right, ha ha!" A nervous laughter escaped her lips. "Yeah, I guess... I guess you're right ..."

A short pause. The music in the background kept playing.

"Sooo... How do you plan to approach Cosmos?"

A grimace. "Without unnecessary delay. Tell her what's the deal, chain her up, bring her back to Equus."

"Oh, yes, that sounds... reasonable."

"Thank you."

The tension was getting unbearable for Fluttershy.

"It... It has been a long time since we started off on our journey" She finally dared to speak up.

"Well, the Moon is an awful far away, dear. It's only logical that getting there must take us some... "

DING!

The elevator's door opened. Three friends beheld the landscape of a grey and empty rocky wasteland. Twilight and Fluttershy inhaled deeply, which the life sustaining spell allowed them to do.

"Huh." Discord leaned over through the doors and took a look at the satellite's surface. He then stepped through boldly and announced with his arms spread wide: "Well, welcome to LuLu Land gals!"

They exited the elevator. Discord snapped once and it disappeared.

"Now," he said "It is of utmost importance that you stick with me, or else she hunts us down one at a time."

"Haven't we rid her of her magic?" Twilight questioned. "How dangerous she can be without any of it?"

"She has sharp claws, strong hind legs, the tail of a scorpion, fangs of a viper and an unrelenting hatred for all of us here, though mostly Fluttershy. No offense dear."

"None taken."

"I assure you, Twily, she is more than capable of ruining our time on the Silver Globe." He planted his claw and paw on their shoulders in an act of protection. "Just stick with me, okay? Resurrections are messy and I believe I bothered Death Herself enough this week."

Fluttershy half consciously voiced a question.
"This week?"

He didn't answer and Fluttershy wasn't sure if she took this as a good sign.

"You could also cast a protective spell" Twilight suggested.

"And ruin all your chances of showing off as a resourceful ruler, Twily? It might be a potential world ending situation, dear Twilight, but I hardly see it as a reason for neglecting your public image, your highness."

No wind blew on the Moon this day. The sky was as dark as always and sprinkled with distant stars. The light of the Sun was bright and hot and the shadows were long and dark. They wandered on the edges of great craters, scurrying silver, dusty, dead expanses of dry lunar seas. Menacing green glow of strange stars wouldn't let them forget the reason of their visit in the land of dreams.

Occasionally, when he made a noise that was meant to signify a breakthrough in their search, Fluttershy looked at Serious Discord's muzzle. She had met Serious Discord before, a couple times. He was by no means Evil, but, try as she may, she couldn't enjoy his company. He lacked this charming and wacky personality of Discord that made you forgot all about... Things. Dark, tangled vines of his insides; blades of his claws, sharp enough to cut through space and time; howling, hateful winds that sculpted his hard, ancient skull.

Serious Discord was always somewhere there, deep inside. Few things, however, had ever made him come out. She feared those things, she really did.

"What are we actually looking for, Discord?" asked Twilight, lifting a rubble of rocks which only happened to look a tad bit too suspicious for her Princess' tastes.

"Marks of scratching, urination marks" he listed off, indifferently "poops."

"You're talking about her like she was an animal" Fluttershy winced. She remembered Cosmos well. She was a vile, cruel creature, but more than a natural predator, even the most intelligent one. "It's not okay to talk like that about your enemies. And you know, Discord, that I would never consider animals inferior to us, but... This way, you cultivate your hatred for her. This isn't healthy. You know she is not an animal."

"She is now. A desperate, hungry, rabid animal. I would expect nothing less than an ambush with claws and fangs out..."

An angry streak of purple and green leaped from the top of a nearby crater and sucked itself to Discord's chest, toppling him. Flashes of fangs and splashes of ruby red, glittering blood made the carnal feast adamant. The bizarre creature made loud, disturbing sounds, partially laughter and partially howl.

As red drops sprinkled Twilight and Fluttershy, they dared not look away, their eyes wide with horror.

SNAP

The creature flew rapidly high up, above and past two ponies, howling and cursing. It hung in space about two meters from the Moon's surface, flailing helplessly against tight iron chains that flashed to existence specifically to bind it.

Discord got up and dusted himself off a bit. He then snapped his digits again, and all of the tore tissues and snapped muscles, dripping with blood, grew back into his asymmetrical head. He stretched his claw down to the ground, grabbed and reapplied his broken antler.

"It would seem I was mistaken, Fluttershy" he declared. "She clearly hates me more than you."

A horrible, throaty laughter came to their ears. "Hate?!" it barked. "I would never hate you, Dissy darling! I LOVE YOU! I've always loved you! All of you, any of you!" The creature stretched her powerful muscles against the shackles. "Let me get a little closer, just let me... Let me feast on your wonderful flesh! Let me quench my thirst with your blood! Let me let me let meeeeeahahahahaaaa!!!"

Maniacal laughter drilled in Fluttershy's skull. The frown on Discord's muzzle was like a murmur of a dormant volcano - rough, powerful and signifying incoming calamity. He approached the creature.

Now that she wasn't thrashing around, Fluttershy could take a longer look at their captive. None of her pony friends ever had a chance to properly inspect her.

Roughly quadrupedal, but without any resemblance to an equine, Cosmos' general appearance placed her somewhere between feral Discord and Nightmare Moon. Dirty, purple hide and a green cobra's hood covered her body. She did have sharp claws, fangs and a long scorpion tail too. All of them seemed longer than the last time she saw the creature.

"Well, if it isn't Cosmos, self-declared Spirit of Malice herself" Discord hissed. "I'd been hoping to never see you again, you lousy parasite."

"And vice versa, you walking carcass of a Chaos Spirit" Her jaws stayed open for a longer while, and drops of green venom started to fall. "KISS ME"

Discord winced with disgust. He drew a circle with his talons and closed her in a purple, near translucent, magical bubble.

"There will be no kissing for you, Darling." he declared. "Regardless of what you have to say about it, we're all soon off to the Meeting World."

Thick, haze of fury seemed to lift up a bit and scraps of conscience began to swivel around in the edges of her eyes.

"The Meeting World?"

"Discord!" Flittershy's voice cut in. Serious Discord looked back and she flinched at his frown, but persevered. "Discord, please, stop that! I just told you that - don't cultivate your hatred!"

"Why not?! She is the cause we're all fetlocks deep in this jam! She hurt us, and all our friends, like she hasn't anyone else!"

"And is this the reason for us to act the same?"

Discord dipped his head. He couldn't take that stare.

"We are better than her." Fluttershy flew up to his muzzle, took him by the chin and made him look straight into her eyes. "You are better than her"

"Am I really, though, my dearest?" He avoided her eyes. "I am... well, I, too, am responsible for this... well, jam." He looked so ashamed again... so very mortal. "Are you not... mad at me?"

"What? No!" she hastily negated. "No, no no no, Discord, how could I be mad at you? You did your best to protect us from this truth. You lied, but only because you cared about us. Just look at yourself - you are trying your hardest to save Equestria, all our world, our reality from those monsters out there."

"Did you think I wouldn't love you anymore?" she voiced a question. "Accidents happen. Some larger than others. Some... world ending ones..."

"Well I, official ruler (or would it be co-ruler?) of the world in question, do not blame you Discord." Twilight added. "You often provoke conflicts, true, but not this one" She stepped up to him and put her hoof on his arm. "We are going to face this crisis together."

Discord smiled. He was looking much calmer already. Things were gone for now. Fluttershy was hoping that this would help the tension subside. It was a highly stressful situation for all of them. She knew that Discord needed that. Nevertheless, she needed some more comfort from him herself.

"We are still having a talk about this as soon as we get back to Equestria" she reminded him.

"Oh, absolutely, my dearest" he assured her. "It's truly ungentlemanly of me to only think of it now, but I would never deny you the right to question me!" Another smile. "You deserve nothing less than the entire truth"

"That's very mature of you, Discord!" commented Twilight.

"Why, thank you, my Princess"

"I AM THE MIGHTY" Cosmos howled. "I AM THE MOON"

"Oh, shut up, you!"

Author's Note

I said before it would take me two weeks to publish this chapter. Well, let's make it three weeks and settle with that.
I'm very happy with this chapter and I hope you, dear reader, liked it too. We are finally getting into the story proper and it makes me feel as excited as anxious. I'll see how far I can take this.
That said, don't expect the next chapter before the end of this month. I've been really busy with irl stuff for the last two weeks and I suspect to stay this busy for the next two at least.

Also, whoopsies! Right after original publication this chapter ended up in a wrong spot. That's just my inexperience with the site's inner mechanic showing. Nomatter, I suppose. Fixed now.