The Alliance of Chaos

Chapter 13

“Ow....” Vinyl rubbed her snout, a slight trickle of blood leaking from one nostril. “That hurt.”

“Just tell him where the key is. Looks like we’ll be retracing your steps. With you, this will be difficult.” Said Octavia.

“I’ll try a finding spell. That may shave off a good bit of time.” Said Twilight. 
“Good idea. We don’t have that much time to spare.”

“Wait, what’s going on here? What do you mean, time to spare? Does this have anything to do with the barricades at the gardens?” Said Vinyl.

“Barricades?” Said Twilight, concerned. “Oh, by the way...” Twilight cast a spell, and a purple flash above her horn materialized into a bronze key. “It was under the contracts.” Octavia elbowed Vinyl in the ribs meaningfully.

“No unauthorized personnel permitted.” Read Twilight, looking at a sign on a barb-wire fence. Two royal guards flanked the fence, two others strategically placed in concealment. Another two patrolled the edge, and a large tarp was draped over the entrance to the gardens. Suddenly, Celestia came out of the tarp, levitating a clipboard, a quill madly scratching over the surface.

“Go check the western wing. Make sure Sorrow is still there.” She looked up, and saw Twilight, Vine, Vinyl, Coalhoof, and Octavia.

“Oh! Twilight! Come here!” Twilight was promptly surrounded in a golden aura, and brought through the tarp.

“What.... happened.... to the... What?”

The garden was completely empty of statues. Every single one had disappeared,   except for one in the center, the statue of Victory. But it wasn’t a statue anymore. The statue of victory had become a pony, holding its flag, confused.

“Where am I? What’s going on?”

“You have been a statue for a millennia. Don’t panic.” Said a pony with a black mane and horn rimmed glasses tending to the shocked pony. Clearly, the spectacled pony was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

“How does that work? Don’t panic? Haha, who’s panicking? I’m just in a future world were nothing is the same anywhere except maybe some obscure cave in the woods? Why should I panic? Huh? Everything’s changed, and nothing is sacred anymore!” The pony curled into a ball on the ground, giggling hysterically. The pony tending to her gave her a solid smack on the head. “I needed that.”

Twilight gaped at the gardens, bare without the statues. Several of them had stayed around, as they were confused and disoriented. One of them had a large golden staff, also sitting confused.

“What happened? Where am I?”

“What did happen?” Asked Twilight.

“All of the statues have become flesh and blood. Some of them not friendly. I’m guessing it has something to do with Discord.”

“You think?” Said Twilight as a large stone-gray bird was brought past her.

“Several of them are neutral. Some of them are, however, a bit violent.” She said as they walked past an area in the hedge where a griffin was struggling against several ropes and guards. Twilight could have sworn she knew her, but could not recall from where.

“So, where will we go with this? Are there any patterns, or....” Twilight had begun to get her words back, after seeing the garden so empty.

“No. Everything has come to life. And some have turned to stone.” Celestia said, as they walked past an area with petrified ponies lined up in rows.

“Discord wouldn’t do that. He plays with his prey.” Said Twilight. She frowned, tapping her chin. “I have an idea. Do you have any photographs of this place?”

“Twilight, if you’re thinking of a cockatrice, I just confirmed that theory.” Said Vine, crouching at a set of footprints.

“Those are chicken footprints.”

“No they aren’t. A cockatrice is half snake, remember? As such, its feet carry some of those properties. Look at the toes.”

Twilight looked at them. She noticed that the prints were curved slightly, incongruent with a chicken. She looked up, and saw a chicken’s head poking over the hedge. As it looked at her, she felt a jolt in her heart. Those red eyes had clearly imprinted themselves in her memory after her first encounter with one. After that, she remembered nothing.

Vine turned around, startled by chicken head. Seeing it there, she quickly ducked her eyes. As she hazarded a glance back, it was gone.

“Time to catch this thing.” She said, resolute. She planted a hoof in the greenery. She shut her eyes, and the tattoo glowed. From the other side of the clearing, a raucous squawk sounded out. The cockatrice was unceremoniously dumped into the dust from the hedgerow. A loop of vines were wrapped around its eyes, keeping it from turning anything into stone. “Let’s turn it back into a statue.” She said, and placed a hoof on it. The tattoo flashed, and it was suddenly stone. Twilight looked at her.

“Don’t you love wildlife? Why turn it back?”

“It’s not wildlife. It’s the result of a sick joke. It’s not supposed to be alive.” Twilight supposed she understood.

“What- Darn it, no! I’ve been needing cockatrice feathers for ever now!” Said Coalhoof, thudding his head on the ground.

“There’s plenty of feathers on the ground right there. You can use those.”

“Oh. I can.”

“This is not a large emergency. Just another prank of Discord’s.” Said Vine.

“No... He wanted more pieces on the board. He wanted to confuse us. Make us trip up, focus on too many pieces at once.” Said Coalhoof.

“Of course... Well, they’re mostly neutral, so they shouldn’t be much problem. We could just give them houses in the city. There are only six.” Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin, thinking.

“Six, huh?”

“Each of you will be with one of these six ponies. We don’t know who yet, but you will.”

“I have one question.” said the Spirit of Victory, holding her flag. “Will there be a place I can put this?”