The Alliance of Chaos

Chapter 2

As Twilight began leading them downstairs, Pinkie’s left ear began to twitch madly. She tried to hold it steady, but under her hoof it still twitched. It stopped as suddenly as it had come.

“Huh! I’ve never had that happen before! That means something that never happened before is happening!” Then, she remembered a decade ago at the rock farm. The same quirk had gone off, and later in the day, she found her sister trapped under a dead tree, stuck in a hole. When she said she had been there five hours, Pinkie remembered it had been exactly five hours ago that her ear had twitched.

“Guys? I think somepony is stuck in a hole.” As she said this, the door suddenly slammed shut, and disappeared. Ghostly lights came through the walls, filling the room with pale blue light. The two guards whipped around and pointed their horns at the changeling, humming with energy.

“Did you do this?” Wordlessly, the changeling pointed at his horn, and made a shrugging motion. Each of the lights turned into ghostly snakes. They twirled through the air, converging around the changeling. They pushed him into the wall, and turned into a sickly green spider.

“You failed. You will be eliminated from the equation.” it said. Twilight fired a bolt of magic at it, and it turned into a sprawling, spindly thing with claws at the ends of its arms. Its head was disproportionately small, fangs gnashing together. Twilight continued to fire magic at it, causing it to reel back. It flung one of its claws at Twilight impacting her horn. The magical aura turned black, and turned inward. She attempted to fire more magic, but the black aura held fast, hindering the magic. A high-pitched whine escaped, and the aura began to revert to lavender. Suddenly, the blackness broke entirely, allowing all the pent up magic to escape. Suddenly realizing what was happening, she tried to pull the magic back. It began to fizzle and crack, but the result was inevitable. All the magic flew into the creature, converging around it. A white star replaced the creature, which began to buckle violently. Luna, thinking quickly, made a black field to block the oncoming explosion, shouting,

“Shut your eyes!”

After the chaos and sound of something burning, Luna decided it was safe to remove the barrier. The entire room had been trashed, with a smoking skeleton twitching in the middle. It was the creature. In its undead state, it stood, sizzling. Each of its legs was singing the floor, leaving a smoking depression. It fleshless skull had nothing but a green incandescence for eyes. Its jaw made a vibrating motion, as if attempting to hiss. Its eye sockets faded, and green mist lifted out. The bones collapsed, but its head was still facing Twilight.

The changeling, quite shaken, was quivering. He then dropped in a faint. Twilight caught him, before he could fall off the edge of the stairs. She laid him down at the landing, still rather shaky from the whole ordeal. The guards stood at attention, somehow still calm after the chaos. Twilight used her magic to move a giant stack of books. She grunted, the books lifting off the ground. She moved them to the side, revealing a door. She opened it, and walked inside. Her horn lit up, and revealed a nice, if not dusty, room. She ran out of the room, rushing over to a chest on the other side of the room. She opened it, and oil lamps full of rainbow were revealed. She shook them slightly, the colors blending together. Her horn flashed brighter for a second and it lit up, The flame shifted between all the colors of the rainbow, throwing out prismatic beams. One fell on the changeling’s eyelid, making it flutter. He woke, alarmed. His eyes widened as he saw the rainbow lamp. He sprinted into the room, shouting,

“Not the rainbow lamp!”

Twilight, confused, knocked on the door. It opened a crack, and she saw his toxic green eye, with grey, slick, flesh on the edge. He stuck a hoof out, and for a couple seconds, it was turquoise and white, but then the light fell on it, beginning to strip away the illusion. He retracted his hoof.

“That is the problem. Can you please just use a normal lamp- .... What’s with your mane?”

“What do you mean? asked Twilight.

“Twilight.... thy mane is ablaze.” Said Luna. Twilight looked around frantically. Seeing an old mirror draped in cloth, she tore it down using her magic. The side of her with the rainbow light was with a pure white coat, and her mane was a slowly waving stream of fire. Wherever light fell on her, it was the same. The white visage then began to attempt to pull itself away, scowling. Luna, standing near the lamp, snuffed out the flame. The image began to pull back, until none of it was left. Luna stared, agape.

“Applejack? Buck where the door was and don’t hold back. We need to get upstairs. At first it was to get this book-” Luna held up a copy of Tale of the Element Sisters. “But now just getting out.” The changeling cracked open the door. With the rainbow lamp gone, he was safe behind his illusion. With his horn, glowing changeling green, an oil lamp floated beside him. He lit it, casting light on the room. THUD! The sound of Applejack’s hooves reverberated through the room. The changeling was staring inquisitively at a large knot in the wall.

“That... knot.”

“What about it?” Twilight asked.

“That came from a tree branch. A massive one.”

“Your point?” Suddenly, Twilight realized what this meant.

“We need to go deeper.”

“Well, that’s really mainstream. Can’t you think of anything better?”

“Pinkie..... you’re so random.”

“So, you didn’t know burning rainbow did that?”

“Nope. I didn’t even know anything could do that.”

“Hmm. Well, when you burn rainbow, the light cast strips magical illusions. Hence, my disguise disintegrates, and whatever held that in was weakened. I have a feeling that if we use that, we might find a way down. Or out. The ‘wall’ may just be an illusion. I’ll take it up, see if that does anything.”

“Why are you helping us?” Twilight asked.

“Because maybe I like you more than Chrysalis.” He looked at Twilight, dead serious.

“Well.... that’s nice to know.” Twilight hid her face, blushing.

“And no, I’m not hitting on you. I don’t like you that much. So stop blushing.” Embarrassed, she blushed even more.

“Applejack!” Twilight called. Applejack came down, sweat building on her brow.

“Yeah?”

“Come down here. We have an idea.” Applejack came over, panting quietly. The changeling grasped the lamp in his magic. Luna was up there too.

“Can you go downstairs for a second? Thank you.” Luna walked down the stairs, wearing a poker face. The rainbow beams emanated from upstairs. Twilight edged away from the rays.

“Curses!” The beams dissipated, and he hurried downstairs. “Well, the wall is real. I don’t think we’re getting out that way. This tree is way too strong. Down might help.” His horn lit up, and a small beam of light searched the floor. As he roamed around, the light scanning the floor, he had a small smile on his face. Suddenly, a speck of gray appeared. He focused the light on the spot, and an iron trapdoor appeared. He stood on it, and it began to materialize. The light disappeared, and the door was there.

“You’re welcome” He opened the door.

“Well, it certainly looks old”, the changeling said. They all peeked over his shoulder. Cobwebs were scattered around. One of the stairs seemed to be split in half with rot. Twilight tentatively eased her weight on the first stair. She slowly walked down, each step creaking treacherously.

“It should hold us if we go down one at a time.” Suddenly, as Twilight took another step, a loud, metallic whining sounded out, and after a couple seconds of silence, a piece of metal hit the floor down below. Twilight hurried back up, and just as she cleared the third step, half the staircase fell down, swinging on rusty iron nails. Twilight got to safety, just as the swinging stairs knocked out the supports holding the first half in place. The entire structure crashed to the floor down below. Luna smiled.

“Why are you smiling like that? I nearly died!” Said Twilight. Luna flapped her wings. The changeling turned into a pegasus, with a rose red coat and blue mane. The cutie mark was a purple firework. Luna and the changeling drifted down. Twilight grasped the oil lamp in her magic, and it floated alongside her.

“Applejack, wait here.” The magical aura extended over her entire body, and she drifted down. As she landed next to Luna and the changeling, she stumbled a bit, dizzy from the magical exertion.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.”

Twilight lit the lamp. The glow covered a medium-size circle around them, but it didn’t help much. With the light of the lamp, Luna analyzed the floor. Crystals were embedded in it every few feet.

“I think we recognize these. We haven’t seen them since before. The.... incident. If memory serves.... Luna’s horn lit up, and she touched it to the crystal. It began to glow, and every crystal lit, the room filling with all the colors of the rainbow. The light revealed an altar at the end of the room. And the spiraling staircase, going down and revealing the platforms going down beyond vision.

Twilight gaped in awe at the inverted tower beneath her house. Luna walked over to the altar.

“Cometh!” She called. Twilight and the changeling walked over. The base formed from the tree itself, and a figure of an Alicorn stood there, her foot resting on a cerulean orb. At least, what was left of it. Shards of it sat around it, one single part still bound to the hoof. On a slate were indecipherable symbols. Twilight scratched her head over the strange marks. Luna said grimly,

“Dost thou know what this is?”

“No.... Is it important?”

“Tis a containment sphere. To contain souls. How it came to be here, I know not. But I recognize this one. It held Blaze Ignus. The Sister of Fire.” Luna then flew up to the basement. She came back down, holding Tale of the Element Sisters. She opened to a page, and an illustration of Blaze dominated the page. White coat, flaming mane, scowl. Exactly the same as the thing attached to Twilight. Luna repaired the sphere, and it glowed with a menacing purple luminance. Luna took the tablet from the altar and read it aloud, her ancient knowledge giving her the words.

“The ambassador of day and dusk,

Finding knowledge that is lost.

Guardian of the darker hours,

Quench the fire with thy powers.

Before your world it consumes,

Along with all the ancient tomes.

Unknown foretelling of future events

Starswirl the Bearded, 29 of Snowcoat, 10 BH.”

Twilight gasped when she heard the date.

“Before Harmony.... this text is old. Princess, after all this insanity is done, can I keep this?” Luna shook her head, smiling.

“We apologize, Twilight. It would be unwise to keep a national artifact in a small-town library. You certainly will get credit, though. Your name will be on the plaque at the very least. Fancy certificates, and the such-like.”

“I understand.”

“Now, do you know what we must do?” Said Luna, grimly.

“Trap Blaze in the sphere?”

“You truly are a wise unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. This will take some work, however. Do you have rainbow pools anywhere near?”

“At Rainbow’s house, yeah.”

“Well, first, we have to get out of here.”

“Hey guys!” Pinkie popped out from behind the altar.

“GAAAAAH! How- what- how could- WHAT?!”

“There’s no way out going up. I talked to Applebloom through the door. She tried bucking it, but she didn’t do anything. Then she kinda disappeared.” Pinkie said, rapid-fire.

“Well, I guess that means we go down. I really need to get a bulkhead for my basement.” Said Twilight. She looked at all the stairs and sighed. As they began to walk down, Twilight realized that however long this had been here, it had always been a library. On each floor were at least twelve bookshelves, all the books in amazing repair for how long they had been there. Twilight assumed that magic had been used in keeping them in shape. On some of the floors, glass cases with paintings inside had plain white stones illuminating them, eliminating the influence of other colors on the picture. One had an oil painting, depicting a snow-framed stone tower, which Twilight recognized as the meeting place from the Hearth’s Warming Eve play. The plaque below read in a rather archaic Equestrain dialect, but Twilight was familiar with it. This portrait was donated to the Equestrian History Museum and Library in 1450, AC, from the personal collection of Night Sparkle, popular historian, scribe, and librarian.

Another was a strange drawing, with a canine back-to-back with Discord, an odd creature in front of them with a pair of lobster arms and a pair of polar bear arms, with a dragon head, three ponies in front.... one of which looked like Daring Do, and Ahuizotl on the right. From Daring Do. Twilight scratched her head at this painting, due to its complete strangeness. The plaque below read, Found in the North Equestrian rainforest; Anonymous ‘Stupidyou3’ reads in the corner, probably the painter. Thought to be art related to a work of fiction; i.e. cover art, illustration. Related to Discord, Spirit of Disharmony and Chaos. Further studies inconclusive. Another painting was of a obsidian black dragon, breathing out blue wisps of flame. Hate, spirit of Enmity. Then, the changeling called out. They all hurried down to where he was. Before him was an animated figure of a pony, looking at him silently.