Heirs of Chaos

'Am I free to go yet, doc?'

Two days have passed since Eventide Carol fought East-Northeast Wind, and they both now tend to their wounds in the Lunavale Heights General Hospital. Though Wind is still nearly immobile, and Eventide heavily favors his forelegs, the latter is restless to leave.

'If you are so insistent,' His doctor, Calluna, a pale pink mare- and fellow thestral- says, 'why not walk right out?'

Both know how that will end; Eventide’s legs tremble even as he sits. As Calluna leaves, Eventide glances at Wind, the hippogriff staring into the lamplight. 'I think I can feel my wings now,' Wind notes, 'Hurts like Tartarus.'

'All that from a single strike, huh?' Eventide remarks, smirking, 'I think I might keep that in mind.'

'Tch.'

Eventide examines his own shoulder. 'That mark, I can see it clearly now.'

'You have awakened your powers.'

'Yes, I rather figured that was the reason. How long have you known Monsoon?'

'Just a moon. I discovered my ability during a bar fight in downtown Manehatton, and he pulled me out of the fissure I created.'

Eventide nods, no longer interested, and pulls the latest- and apparently last- Daring Do book from a shelf. He pauses, and flips to the back cover.

COMING SOON: THE NEXT ADVENTURE OF DARING DO: DARING DO AND THE EYE OF DISCORD.

'So she really was up to something with the Chaos Ponies,' remarks Eventide. He flips back to the first page, determined to distract himself. He isn't sure how much time passes, but he reads until his eyes start to drift. He looks up, around the room. He catches a pony walking by with the now all too familiar mark of 'q'. 'Wind, when you think you’re being hunted, but you can barely trot, and your friend can’t even move a wing, what are you supposed to do?'

'Well, in my best estimate,' Wind states, 'I would make sure your enemy does not know your advantages.'

'And, out of curiosity, what advantages would that be?'

'We know their method of surveillance.'

'Do we now?'

'A pony eye on spider legs. It must be their chaos factor.'

'Is that what we call those now?'

'I still have to check that it’s not trademarked.'

'Well then, this eye spider, where might it be?'

'Inside this lampshade.'

'Can it hear?'

'It does not seem to be reacting, but this might be a ploy.'

Eventide carefully looks at Wind’s lamp, the shadow of the spider unmoving. He breathes in, and notices a suspicious, wooden scent. 'I think a fire is starting.'

Alarm bells cut through the tense air, and the eye spider dashes from the lamp. Eventide tries to lunge at it, but his injuries don’t permit him to land even close as it escapes. Eventide stumbles to Wind, trying to pull him from his bed. 'Enough of that,' Wind commands, 'For the past half hour I have been hiding my healing progress from that factor. I can walk better than you.' Sure enough, Wind drags himself out of the bed, and the two 'rush' out of the room. They don't get much further, as the halls on either side are already walled off by the fire.

'Two fires? They must be trying to force us towards a trap,' reasons Eventide, 'I am about to try my factor and blast open a new path for us. I haven't a clue how it will go, so stand back.' He takes a deep breath, envisioning a blast of thunder and lightning as he previously performed in the cellar duel. The cracking air and burning ozone repeat in his mind, and his mark shines as electricity dances in his hoof. He lifts his hoof at the wall; crackling sparks collect and coalesce into a ring. The ring swirls and wobbles, gaining strength, burning the air around it.

'You’re overcharging it!' protests Wind, 'Release it, before you blow your own hoof off!'

Eventide brings up his other forehoof, balancing on his hind legs as he pushes the disc of lightning at the wall, shouting, 'Sonic Boom!' The disk crashes into the wall, screaming in ionized air as it blasts past, flying out some dozen meters further before dissipating with a deafening thunder, lighting up the overcast night sky outside. Eventide nearly collapses as he drops to his forehooves, but pushes himself out the hole, waving Wind over. The two distance themselves from the burning hospital, finally collapsing atop the scorched grass which marked Eventide’s attack.

Eventide looks back at the hospital, the form of a pony exiting from the smoking hole. He tenses, but sighs in relief as the smoke clears to reveal Doctor Calluna.

'Sweet Celestia!' shouts Calluna, 'Those fires, that explosion, I’m surprised you’re still alive, it’s like they were centered on you two!'

'Funny thing, lass, they were,' states someone else from behind her, she looks back, and is carelessly shoved aside.

'DOC!' Eventide shouts. He’s on his hooves, but uncertain if he should run or if he has a chance to win. Straining his eyes against the backlight of flames, he can barely size up his opponent, a white-tailed deer with a shattered left antler. 'A deer with the factor? I didn’t expect that to be possible.'

'Then you might need to change your expectations,' says the deer, 'Not even Discord himself understands it all, that would ruin the fun. Of course, it’s all in his future anyways.'

'So which one are you? I know there are multiple factor holders at work.'

'The name is Auselius. My factor, as you wish to call it, grants me dominion over flame!' Auselius stamps the ground, sending forth a line of fire. Eventide dodges, leaving the fire as a barrier between him and Wind. Auselius laughs as Eventide charges a Sonic Boom. 'What a joke, you just stand there spinning your energy? You're completely open to punishment!' He rears, ready to slam his hooves and unleash another line of flame, but is tackled by Doctor Calluna. She sinks her fangs into Auselius's side, and he violently shakes. 'Get off me, you stupid filly!'

Using Calluna's distraction, and the cover of the flame wall, Wind flanks Auselius. He leaps overhead, swiping his talons, and drawing blood from Auselius's muzzle. Him and Calluna leap away from Auselius, who snorts, wiping away his blood.

Auselius explodes as Eventide unleashes a Sonic Boom. His previously unmarred right antler snaps off, his legs forced at impossible angles, and all the fur around the impact burned away, leaving his scorched skin, and even bare muscle. Calluna examines him, uncertain. Bones crack as Auselius's legs forcibly reset, his eyes tearing open as he rights himself, skin pulling back shut. He glares at the nearest pony, Calluna, and lunges at her, stamping his hooves against her shoulders, and she cries out in pain. His hooves burn away at the doctor's coat, and his anger twists into shock. Calluna bears a chaos mark, clearly visible, and clearly shining. Auselius's eyes haze over, as he steps back.

'It is a rather tricky factor,' Calluna notes, 'The Vampire's Kiss, I call it. I can enthrall my enemies with a bite, except there's just a little more to activating it that I just can't quite figure out.'

'You've had a factor the whole time?' questions Eventide.

'Why do you think I'm your doctor? My first day at Lunavale, I saw you and your mark. It was faint back then- you hadn't awakened- but I had a feeling I ought to keep track of you.'

'Will he answer our questions?'

'If I tell him to, but first, I have a question myself. Auselius, how did you heal yourself?'

'My master provided this to me,' states Auselius, in an empty voice, as he taps a hoof to a serpentine earring, 'One of many artifacts she has collected.'

'Just who is your master?' Wind asks.

When Auselius doesn't answer, Calluna tears off the allegedly magic earring, a patch of skin, fur, and blood along with it. 'Answer him,' orders Calluna.

As Auselius opens his mouth to reply, the grass behind him starts to shake. Standing on a blade of grass, bent in half under its weight, the eye spider appears. With a scrunch of legs, it leaps onto his antler.

'I serve-' starts Auselius, but before he can continue, the eye spider dashes into his mouth. Calluna tries to get at it with her hoof, to no avail. She kicks a hoof directly against Auselius's chest, to no response.

Calluna tackles him into the ground, and finally, he starts coughing, the spider flying out. Auselius scrambles to his hooves, and before Calluna can react, he dashes away.

Calluna quickly looks for the eye spider, seeing it climb up the hospital walls. On the roof, somepony waits for it, shadowed by the night. 'Damnit, what a pain,' they mutter, 'I would've asked for more combat factors if I'd known there were gonna be three of you.' The eye spider rushes up to them, returning to their socket. 'You lucked out, but we have more resources than you ever will. I think we'll take care of your old man before the rematch, Carol.' The pony bows, and disappears with a puff of unicorn magic.

The team is quiet, but eventually, Calluna mutters, 'That bastard deer, I know him. He destroyed my family. I had him right in my control, yet I saved his disgusting life! Eventide Carol, I shall join you so I can find Auselius again, and immolate him with his own factor!'

'I suppose a physician will do us good,' responds Eventide, 'Now we need to find Monsoon before they do.'