The only chapter, Discord erased the other one...
Discord was still a statue when it hit.
He'd been a statue for a long time. He'd been a statue before, three times now. The stone didn't wrap around him like ice, like a tomb. It was worse than that. Harmony had bound his essence to a stone that only barely resembled his visage, that is, when he felt like looking that way. It wasn't like having a frozen body, not that Discord remembered what being actual flesh and blood was like anyways.
It still sucked, though.
It sucked more when everyone died.
Discord hated death. Death was stupid, backwards. Dead ponies don't talk, they don't make things for him to topple over, he can't flip them around or change their ideas. All of the playing with dust he'd ever done was more boring than listing to any kids of the world preach on an on about balance and goodness and blah blah b"lah b"-"la-ah"-blah
...
With the world submerged in Void, there was nothing but the ground beneath him. The grass and small mantained garden he'd sensed build up around him for years was snuffed out and consumed by demons that still sat around his statue. Snarling and begging for power they couldn't have. They knew he was trapped, they offered him freedom with voices that he remembered from his past.
Discord wasn't fooled, he wasn't even amused, he just ignored them. He'd seen enough of monsters and Void creatures to know how fun they were. That is, not.
He grumbled to himself
"I grumble to myself" He, uh, said in his head?
Discords invisible face curved into a snarky grin, "Don't sound so surprised."
...
...
"What?" He grunted.
Can you hear me?
"You're the only other thing out here. Of course I can hear you."
...
Discord took an invisible breath an- "If you're just going to keep prattling on, then you can leave me alone."
Wait so... you can hear me, because... why? There's no background?
"There's Nothing, and I could always tell where the edges of my reality bled into yours. I've seen the spirals that lead to The Throne." If Discord could have put his hands over his ears, he would have, not that it mattered, he didn't hear wit- "Shut up! Nobody needs to know how I hear! And you're too loud!"
Sorry.
"Stop!" He shou- "Stop that too! Stop... describing me! It's bad enough I have to hear my own voice."
I'm not sure I understand.
"There's NOTHING else out there. You're focused on me, there's no boundaries past it. The only thing I am right now is this."
...
So... you're saying that the infinite distance caused by The Void erased space and time so thoroughly that the powers you normally draw upon are so taxed that the only place you can draw energy from is-
"You. Yes. I don't need the whole speech."
I... kinda wanted to explain it though. It's... part of the narrative?
"My narrative sucks."
Sorry about that...
"No you aren't."
I am! I was going to give you a hopeful ending.
"Sure you were."
...
...
Well... if you're drawing on the narrative unfolding to... stay grounded in reality, I take it that you'll disperse if I leave? Stop writing? End the story?
"Story...?"
"Oh no... I'm in a fanfiction. Eternity, you're not some sicko are you?"
No. You can rest assured, I'm not going to do any of that here. Though, you didn't answer my question.
"..."
I'll take that as a yes. I did make the rules after all.
"So why act so surprised?"
How else am I supposed to begin the narrative? I wouldn't get the chance to explain anything if you just started poking holes right away.
"I don't appreciate being strung along. I'm Discord. Not your personal story telling device."
I'm sorry. I guess... knowing what I was going into this doing, I shouldn't have started it that way. I could have just started talking to you from the beginning.
"Apology not accepted."
That's fine... I'll make it up to you some other way, first and foremost, let's get rid of these pesky monsters.
From around Discord, rising up from the ground came crystal and rock that twisted from the cultured dirt of the gardens, silver mixed with diamond as they heated up and grew into a runic pattern that immediately began to glow once it settled.
The Void was pushed back, the purifying white light silenced the corrupting voices.
I know you're rolling your eyes Discord.
"You're SOOOO poetic."
I'm not just going to say 'the light makes the bad stuff leave'
"And I'm not going to just let you get away with spouting soap box garbage!"
What would you do then?
"Oh no. You're not getting me involved here anymore than you already have. I'm not stupid."
I'm trying to give you the option to take a better control of your narrative.
"Just to hear you repeat it all? No thanks, I'll stick with your esoteric 'purifying white light' nonsense."
Mmmm... Will you at least let me explain the earth? It's a pretty cool world building thing... I personally think.
"Do it later. When I'm not around."
Alright.
...
...
"Stop with the ellipsis. It's the most grating white noise I've ever heard. Describing the empty scene is better."
Noted. What's the plan here? By the way. I was planning to... go on about a wider premise. You know, maybe have you show up in the other sequels. I genuinely hadn't planned in this direction. Guess I should ask right?
What do you prefer?
"I already said. I'd like you to leave me be."
I'm not just going to end the story.
"Yeah, of course, gotta get those words in right?"
No, there's no satisfaction! No ending! No hope for you! You'd just... stop existing eventually, or as soon as I took my focus off of you. You'd be a phantom, replaying events as people read this. I know you don't want to do all this over and over, so there's got to be some kind of ending that lets you escape that, at least. Work with me here.
"You could kill me."
I'm not really a fan of that idea.
"Feels like punching down, huh?"
Feels pointless. I'm not going to kill you because you're bored.
"What other options do I have?"
I feel the need to point out the sarcasm, present in your tone there.
In truth, your options are, well, plentiful. I could involve you in dimensional travels, the people from SG world have interdimensional ships. I could give you the power you need to jump somewhere else, let you have literally any other ending than 'Discord falls over and dies.' Wouldn't you prefer fighting the Void over ending your story prematurely?
"What would be the point? Again? Why are you even here?"
Stories need to be told.
"Your stories."
Your story. I'm just the narrator.
"Your the editor."
I don't have total control.
"You made the rules."
I don't get to change them, and I don't get to change you, you have grounding points outside of my range of power. The only ways I can influence you are with the things I can control, and while I didn't expect this one: Talking to you.
"You're doing plenty of that."
Is there a reason you're being so antagonistic? You should know that you won't spite me into ending your narrative prematurely. Is it because I'm the first thing you've interacted with on an equal playing field?
"I hardly call this equal."
I haven't written out your thoughts.
"Yeah, but you already know them, I'm sure."
Not if I don't think about it. This is just about as stream as consciousness as I can get, only God knows how this is going to look in post, but I promise I won't go back and edit anything aside from spelling and grammar, if you don't want me to.
"..."
Oh, so it's okay for you to do ellipsis?
"I don't see the problem when you're the one typing all of my dialogue."
Alright, sorry. That's actually pretty fair. I shouldn't be the one complaining.
"I'll let your readers know, I'm rolling my eyes again."
I appreciate that. Despite the intentional sarcasm.
Do you; want to roll your eyes for real? The Tree of Harmony is far too distant to affect you, I can cause a bit of chaos, get you out.
"There's no point. Trapped in stone or trapped in the Void. It's all the same."
I'm getting the inkling of defeatism, there.
You're options aren't just limited to wasting away, or getting puppeted by me.
"You intentionally taking the backseat as a 'narrator' -puh- is just about as useless as if you were the sole creator of everything. I don't like this game. I'm not going to play it."
Except, you would talk back. I know enough about you, enough about my version of you, at least.
I know you wouldn't be willing to just disappear. That's why I'm still here. Otherwise I would have just tossed this idea.
"I'm glad to know the separation between life and peace for me at the moment is measured in content."
That's fair to say, though I hope you know I don't see it that way.
"You're looking at it backwards."
Tell me?
"Pbbbttt, no."
It might make you feel better.
"Please! I'm not some pony! I've seen further than anyone, further than you! That's how you made me. That's why we're here. I can only know the things you can. You're just talking to yourself through a screen. Why not just right a blog post instead?"
Does it feel like all of that's true?
"Well... no."
Then maybe you should consider that that's not the way things are. Imagination is fluid, it's... wonky, sometimes two true but opposing statements can be paradoxical, but still correct.
Wait a second. I just read through everything, did you manipulate me into re-describing the premise by being so obstinate that I explained the through line to the readers through you? Was that intentional?
"You should really be asking yourself how you managed to subvert your own expectations of a conversation you're having with yourself"
Geez...
I need some therapy.
"You and me both."
If it's any consolation, you would have eventually made some friends, unlike me.
"Should I tell this story? It's not like I've never had friends. I'm not that small, seriously, don't insult me. Only a few things come around every so often to catch my attention for long enough."
Well... I'm not going to ask you extrapolate on that, thank you for sharing.
"Stop it with the overt niceties."
I'm not trying to curry favour. I'm just kinder to my creations than you are.
"Fair enough."
"..."
"So what now."
What now is... I dunno. There's nothing but us, now. Eventually everything I don't describe is going to stop mattering. It'll just be you. You and me. Do you want anything else? I can chaos you stuff, just with less chaos.
"I don't need..."
"Actually, yes, there is something I want. Tell me about where my narrative is. In your world."
Oh, Fimfiction. It's a cute little site. Got some weirdo's and worse on it, but I block quick and keep my ears in the sand for fandom drama.
"So it is a fanfiction."
Humans are bad at being creative. Most things we make come from other things, I'm past the point of feeling off for writing fanfiction. Also, I know you don't care.
"Touché, but details."
The story is called, Chaos is Ever Changing. It's got a description about you surviving. I originally planned on talking to you, yes, but past the point when I actually started typing, I planned on staying way closer to the tract I had thought up for this particular sequel. It's broken down pretty quick since then.
"My narrator misspelled sequel."
I please don't keep pointing things like that out.
Regardless, there's a picture of you, kinda. Looks more like a photo of a destroyed rock plinth in the dark, with a cloudy night sky in the background.
"Boring."
It took me a while to find the right angle; and I had to borrow a camera.
"You're not meant to put conjunctions after semi-colons."
It's dialogue, technically, I can do what I want.
Is there a reason you asked?
"Yes. I want to exercise some creative freedom. Stretch my gooey mind."
Okay, but you can't change the short description, they have to know something about this before they click on it, and the tags. Though now I think I'll be adding comedy later. It seems far more esoteric than funny, but it is humorous, in a way, how quickly I let this get out of hand.
"You did it 'cause you thought it was funny. Don't lie."
I did, at first. I mostly wanted to talk about philosophy. Bring up the way you view the world.
"What? Like the subtext in the Celestia sequel? No! Who do you take me for?"
I'll accept that mock offense for what it was. You are making quite the point by just being so against the idea to begin with.
"I'm not going to change my mind just because it's 'chaotic'."
I wasn't suggesting you would. I just wish you weren't so dead set on dying.
"Dying. Being erased, whatever, it's all the same."
You view homogenization as death.
"Of course I do. That's the literal definition of death. Entropy winning, a true state of Order. Anyone who's too dumb to understand the premise hasn't read this far anyways. I'm not going to need to explain it."
I dunno. That's a pretty bold faced, wide sweeping generalization.
"Well I'm not going to explain it. How about that?"
Okay, but then why do you want it?
"It's better than this. I've never been so embarrassed in my life."
At least it's new.
"You're mortal. You're not allowed to say that."
Fair, fair. I retract my statement. Though, I still want something other...
Oh. I think I get it.
"Get what."
You won't accept me changing the narrative because it's the only control you had left. Sure, you could workshop with me for however many thousand words about what you want, but in the end, I'm really not clever enough to match the design of an age old Draconequues. If you went along with it, it'd be the same thing as death, but you wouldn't have chosen it for yourself.
"Seems like you're ignoring my aversion to talking about philosophy."
I can't help it. It's on my mind.
"Who do you think you are? How do you even know I don't want death? Maybe I know something you don't! Maybe you're not really in control and maybe death is just different enough for me that it's interesting enough to pursue. I don't always have to be chaotic, sometimes I can be bored, sometimes 'knowing I know you know that I know' can just go one extra step down the ladder."
I guess not. I hadn't considered any of that. I honestly don't think I'm that smart.
But you bring up a good point. I don't know what happens to you, after you're gone. After I tell your story, hit save and publish and submit. I'm not going to leave you festering here. I know that.
"We both know that. I'll accept that at least. Anything but that."
Do you know what comes after? Is there an afterlife for imagination?
"..."
It's an interesting thought experiment. Where do the dreams you dream about dream? Where do ideas truly go when they're forgotten? And what of beings like you? Too self aware to simply fall under the boot of thought to be slowly ground away into your components. Chemically represented as changes in my brain as I go about my business in life.
Where do you go when I let you go?
"How should I know?"
You made it seem like you did.
"I was just spouting nonsense and you know it."
Okay. Fair, I figured about halfway through my rambling, but I was committed by then.
"That's why I didn't interrupt you."
I appreciate that.
Are you sure you don't want out of the stone?
"No. I don't care though, really. Your version of describing it gives me a lot of freedom. The one where I'm originally from, I can tell, it was way worse."
I'm glad to give you any comforts I can.
"Before the end, you mean."
Yes. All stories end. Even mine, it'd be pretty nice if I could see you after, see all of my creations. I guess I'm lonely enough to want that, and I know most of my creations, most of the stories I've told, they'd want to see me too.
"I wish I could say the same."
I could freeze you. Save you for later, so to speak, or bring you into another narrative, you can be friends with Fluttershy there, anything you want, at that point.
"You already explained why I won't be taking any of your suggestions."
I guess I did. I can't think of what you'd want, so I guess I wouldn't be able to have you explain it to me either.
"Quite the pickle, that's why I would have preferred to just skip to the end of this whole bad excuse for a story premise."
Discord. Why is the title card a bagel?
"Creative freedom."
I guess I allowed that, you also changed the short description.
"I'm really proud of the title. It sounds exactly like something you'd struggle to make funny enough to be eye catching, while still taking yourself too seriously."
I... am actually offended by that. I do take this seriously.
"Taking anything that seriously automatically makes you a bad person."
I'm not going to argue about it
"Nor am I."
Okay
"Alright."
Yes, sure, let's not do this.
"Pfft. If you insist. Take away the only fun I was having."
Discord.
Discord...
What am I supposed to do? I didn't want this.
"It would have been better if you just ignored my force of will from the start, instead of going down this literary rabbit hole."
I don't know about that. I find value in this, despite where it's going.
"You're still looking at it backwards."
Are you still not going to explain?
"Huff."
"Stop worrying about the ending and just write."
I'm not so much worried about the ending; moreso about you. I've granted you enough of your own self that just... cutting the cord... that isn't me. I couldn't do that. It'd go against what storytelling means to me, who my characters are. I won't disrespect you like that. If you were just a puppet? Sure, I would have erased all this rambling in the morning and started over, but not now.
"Now you're committed."
Yeah. Now I'm committed.
"Yet, just not leaving me isn't on the table."
No. Though I can see where that's coming from. I should have thought before doing this. If I had thought about where this was going to go, rehearsed this very sentence in my head, I would have known that creating you was an unfair responsibility for both of us.
I'm sorry.
"This is getting too meta. Even for me."
Chaos is like that though, right?
"Heh, yeah. It is. It wouldn't be any fun if I couldn't surprise myself from time to time."
"Feel free to throw some ellipsis in, I want some silence for a while."
Okay, I think I have a better idea.
There.
An indeterminate amount of time has passed in the dark. Enough of what Discord wanted. Long enough for him to start getting annoyed with the silence again.
"It isn't so bad. Not nearly as grating as you are."
Just trying to steer in the right direction.
"There's no such thing."
Then...
Then I should just do something random.
Something spontaneous.
Something nobody see's coming. Not even me.
"Now you're looking at it forwards."
It's the only way. The only real way to go forwards. Freedom is Chaos, right?
"Chaos isn't so nearly as small as Freedom, I wouldn't be who I was if that's all I was."
Right. There's plenty more concepts woven in there with you, guess it doesn't matter without an Eternity though.
"No. It does not."
"In fact, to be clear, it sucks."
Then I'm not going to keep you here any longer.
I know exactly what to do.
Do you have anything to say? Before it happens?
"No. I'm done here. Done with this. Done with the Void, done with your... weird... stuff."
Alright.
Goodbye for now, Discord.
Maybe we'll see each other on The Other Side.
"If I spot you first, I'm not saying hello."
Heh, alright chief, I'll hold you to that.
"Wait. That's not wha
