The Alliance of Chaos

Chapter 5

“So, you’re saying we had to walk all the way down here when we could have just taken the elevator?”

“Affirmative.”

“Ughh...” Twilight groaned. She facehoofed.

“They’re over here.” Said Centurion, pointing to a door on the opposite wall. They walked over to it. He pushed a button with his hoof, and the door opened. A clean white light shone inside. A wooden latticework covered the shaft, pulleys and levers sitting inert. The floor was an even square, with a simple pattern etched into the wood. They all filed in. Centurion stood outside, and said, “I wish you luck, ponies. May the plains sway  your way. Hold- correction. Erroneous use of expression. Celestia smile upon your quest.” Twilight smiled at his systematic operation, so simple, but effective.

Da da do da di.... Music played in the elevator, on a scratchy old gramophone hidden from sight. The ponies stood in silence, Pinkie bobbing her head to the music, tapping her hoof. The ride took a while, old pulleys squeaking as it pulled the four ponies up.

“So, that weather?” Said Turquoise, trying to make conversation, but failing to pierce the awkward silence that hung over them. Twilight scuffed her hoof at the floor. Pinkie took out a stick of confetti, pulled a string on the bottom, and confetti showered over them. Somehow, this still failed to pierce the uncomfortable lack of speech. Pinkie sat  facedown, and started thudding her head on the floor slowly. Twilight’s ear twitched. The elevator was either really old, or just plain slow. It seemed to drag on for an hour. Twilight almost wanted Discord to come just to make it interesting. Almost.

When the elevator finally reached the top, they had almost fallen asleep from sheer boredom. Twilight almost fell over, because her foreleg had fallen asleep. They went to the place where the stairs had been. Twilight levitated up. She alighted on the floor upstairs. Turquoise lighted down beside her. Luna appeared, and Pinkie bounced up, and inflated, landing with a springing noise. Applejack stood at attention as they landed. The guards were sitting at a small table, playing cards. One of them frowned, considering his hand. When they saw Princess Luna, they scrambled to get the cards out of view. They stood at attention. One of them stood on one card, and slid it back. They smiled. Apparently, they were normal ponies at heart.

“You can play a game of cards every now and then. We don’t mind.” Said Luna. The guards nodded mechanically. “They were so much more trusting before.” She sighed.

“Princess, nothing has happened up here at the moment. No activity from outside either. The foal outside seems to have disappeared.”

“Oh, what’s that filly doing now?” Said Applejack. Suddenly, an engine sounded on the other side of the door.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHAINSAW! YAY!” Applejack’s eyelid twitched, and she gulped. Applebloom’s voice sounded not quite as cheery as the rest.

“Ch-chainsaw?” RAWWWWRRRR! The chainsaw blade went through the door, sawdust  spraying everywhere. The blade went through the wood easily, but it stuck at the bottom of the door. The Crusaders tried to maneuver it into place, but it wouldn’t fit. Applejack shouted, “CLEAR OUT!” The fillies could be heard scrambling out of the way. Applejack went to the outline of the door. She bucked it at full force.

The wood fibers cracked and splintered. The door was bucked down, and it hit the floor, somersaulting across the room. It thudded against the opposite wall, and cracked in half. Applebloom was standing right next to the path of the door. She said,

“Hey.”

“Where did you get that chainsaw?”

“Hey, that’s mine!” Said Pinkie Pie.

“What?” Said AJ.

“It came out of her basement.” Said Sweetie Belle.

“It’s part of my cupcake recipe!” Applejack shook her head, and looked at Pinkie, jaw agape. She held up a hoof, and just facehoofed. Cause sometimes, calling ponies stupid just doesn’t work. Twilight came out. It was daytime at the moment, but the sun was low in the sky. Luna followed after. Pinkie Pie jumped out of Twilight’s mane. Applebloom was rather sulky. Sweetie Belle was cowering in a corner. Scootaloo was hovering above the hole where the door had been. Her wings began to fail, and she plummeted to the ground.

“I’m glad none of you got hurt.” Said AJ.

“Sure you are.” Mumbled Applebloom. Sweetie Belle lightly kicked her shin. She drew back, scowling. “That’s enough, ah’m out of here.” She left. Applejack cocked her head at her strange behavior. She shrugged it off. She looked at the other Crusaders.

“Why don’t y’all go talk to her?” She said, quietly. The two fillies nodded, and trotted off.

“We have to take this to the castle.” Said Luna, holding up the sphere. “But first, Blaze must be captured.” Luna put her horn to Twilight’s, and red light pierced the air around the convergence. Blaze’s form was visible, clipping out of Twilight’s. She was suddenly sucked into a single point. Luna fired her at the crystal, red beams of energy crackling off. The orb glowed, and a red glow appeared in the center. It was visibly banging up against the wall. It settled in the bottom, sulkily. “We bid you good fortune, Twilight Sparkle.” She teleported away.

Celestia came shortly after. Twilight had summoned Rainbow and Rarity. Fluttershy had been forgotten, and had stayed upstairs.

“So, what’s going on?” Said Rainbow.

“Who is your, friend, Twilight?” Said Rarity, winking at Turquoise.

“Sorry. Twilight is all the mare I need.” Rarity drew back. He leaned against Twilight, and she found herself not hating it. Finding out he was the real Turquoise Frost had changed her view of him completely. They had been good friend back at Canterlot- one of her first true friends after her brother. A fellow studious young pony, interested with magic, and also in Advanced Magic Studies. A kindred spirit, you might say.

“So, really, who is it?” Said Rarity.

“My name is Turquoise Frost. I remember seeing you at Canterlot recently. You were at a high-society party, were you not?”

“Why, yes.... Yes I was.”

“Yes. I made an ice sculpture. I one a store in Canterlot- great base of operations, and I make plenty of bits on the side.”

“Base of operations?” Rarity asked. As an answer, he enveloped in green fire. His chitin had fully hardened by now. His blue stripes shone with a cerulean luster. Rarity gasped.

“I really hate being a changeling. Molting is a ridiculous pain in the plot.”

Rainbow charged him. She was suddenly stopped in a green aura. He looked at his hooves casually. “Oh, really now. All too predictable. Your voice makes you sound like someone who acts tough, signifying an underlying aggression, and pressure from a fellow peer group to act tough. You want to please, and you’re all to ready to jump into a fight without even knowing who you’re dealing with. A charge is only too easy.” He stood. “Furthermore, the fact that you act tough means you like to fancy yourself as it. But, I can see the impressions in your back. You sleep a lot. you have a lazy streak, but when given a challenge, you become irked, and you just can’t lode it, can you? Therefore, you likley resort to cheating on occasion, but it is not above you keeping your image to read a book every once in a while. Six, seven hundred pages? Your elbows have fabric imprints on them, so I imagine you lay in bed, reading to your heart’s delight.  That, or you sleep on a giant pillow, but that’s kind what a bed is. You have a rivalry with Applejack here, I assume? But still friends. Let’s take a look at you, shall we?”

He whirled around to face Applejack. As he deduced, Rainbow was so stunned by her emotional dissection that she just thudded down to the floor. “You aren’t one for making anything fancy. You work on an apple farm, judging by the wear on your hooves and your calf muscles, and you don’t always think everything quite through. You’re practical, yet not above competition. You’ve been to a couple rodeos, judging by your competitive spirit, and won yourself a couple ribbons. You have indents on the back of your neck.” Applejack reached back and rubbed her neck, where the weight of ribbons had left a mark in her fur. “You get in arguments with this one here, due to your practical nature, while she fusses the details. She would try and clean the mess made from a broken dam, even before it’s been fixed. She wouldn’t be able to stand the mess. She has a keen eye for fashion, from the coiled mane, and you really can’t go outside without looking absolutely perfect.” He was looking at Rarity now.

“You fancy yourself as a high-society fashion designer. Your hooves are polished and filed, you horn is sanded, and you wear false lashes.” Rarity was stunned by the sudden opening of her psyche. He smiled smugly. “Like a bawss.”