The Alliance of Chaos

Chapter 8

Discord stood there, still cackling. Suddenly, he paused, held up a claw, and said,

“Hold on a minute...” He put a paw on each side of his head, and with a popping noise, we twisted it upside-down. He turned it two times the other way, and let go, allowing his head to spin back in place. “Tea is simply ghastly. I need....” He held up his hands to the air, and shouted, “CHOCOLATE MIIIIIIIIIILK!” Familiar pink clouds shrouded the sky, and brown droplets fell lazily, quickly coming down harder and harder with each volley. He summoned a glass, holding it upside down. A cloud was below it, and chocolate milk cam out of it, floating up into the glass. When he flipped it right side up, the chocolate remained, but the glass floated upwards as a liquid. “Oh, I hate when I spill my chocolate milk of glass.” He threw the milk down, where it shattered. “You know, that tree needed that. It’s looking better all ready!” The whole tree was currently turning into a massive candy cane, and the leaves turned into hard candies of varying flavor. Slowly, the whole tree became a giant lollipop with a candy cane instead of a stick, and a giant ball of chocolate with pieces of hard candy throughout. He suddenly saw Vine. “You... seem familiar... Then he saw Turquoise.

“But you! I know who you are! Alpha changeling operative number 12, designation Turquoise Frost, the famous convert! I see you betrayed us! Oh, my, this is a truly delicious plot twist! A twist that must be straightened out!” His eyes flashed red. He flew through the air, and grabbed him by the throat. He snapped his eagle claw. All the ponies’ wings and horns disappeared. Vine stood up.

“Do you think you can do this? To the forests? The world?” Said Vine menacingly.

“I think I can do whatever I want.” He said, smugly, and made Turquoise float in a bubble of chewing gum, and spun in the air, pumping his head back and forth, arms waving in the air. He stopped, his neck spinning as if on a loose pivot. “I seem to be leaning towards cranial gags today. Oh well.”

“Because you can’t. I will always be a child of the forest. I don’t need a horn to work my real magic. Because while this tree has become seventy six point thirty eight sugar, it’s still a plant.” She put a hoof firmly into the chocolate shell, shaving off a swirl of thick dark chocolate, slipping into the ground. She righted herself. “I don’t know how this is a living plant, but the forest obeys me... over you.” The tattoo on her left hoof glowed, and a verdant aura surrounded it. “I was raised by timberwolves, taught the ways of the forest. The wood was my womb, the leaves were my roof.”

The tree swirled out, growing and expanding. Candy cane branches slowly turned back into oak wood as she manipulated them. Pinkie Pie had woken back up, and was happily eating chocolate from the tree. “Don’t eat that, Pinkie Pie, it’s hollow.” Suddenly, a cracking noise was heard, and Pinkie floated in midair for a second, looked down, and fell down. She could be heard sliding down the inside, pieces of candy breaking off the inside. Twilight shook her head.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s fine. Somehow.”

The vines began to curl around Discord’s midsection, and snapped his fingers. He smugly lifted his chin, not seeing the vines still wrapping around him. They cinched tight, and he was squeezed. He began to struggle, panicking. He tried to teleport out, but the vines were too close to do it properly.

“It doesn’t matter if you kill me! Armies are behind me! If I cannot be there, then they will still finish the job!”

“That’s very unlike you, Discord. I remember you being very cool under such pressure.” Said Twilight.

“I underestimated you once. That is a mistake I won’t repeat. This is me with the gloves off!” He grasped the woody vines grasping him, and began to break them apart. Wood splintered, and he was free. “This is the time of reckoning! My armies shall march soon, and there is nothing you can do about it!” He teleported in a yellow flash.

“Well, now we go to Canterlot. This is a large development.” Said Vine

“How will we get there? Discord still has our horns and wings.” Twilight.

“And I am still a child of the forest.” The tree began to become smaller, turning back into a real tree. They were dumped at the bottom.

“Fluttershy, you are a friend of the forest. I recognized it in your heart. Speak with the animals, gather allies. The forest will take us to Canterlot. I have an old friend to visit, and a debt to collect.” She ran off into the forest, roots lifting themselves out of the ground in her path to let her through.

Vine walked through the cave, her tattoo casting pale green light on her surroundings. Bats chirped in the darkness.She put a hoof down.

“This should be the right cave.... It’s so different now.” She said out loud, voice echoing through the cavern. She was scanning the ground, looking for something. She heard a slither in the shadows. A glowing dot appeared in the darkness, and she galloped towards it. “Father!” The light hardened, and disappeared, powerful gusts tearing through the cave. “Are you weak? Your wings are softer.”

“Who are you?”

“You raised me. You took me in as a foal, taught me to speak, the ways of the forest, eveything!”

“I taught you nothing. If I taught you anything, I would have taught you to never approach a dragon when you can’t see it!” Suddenly, she was grasped in a powerful claw, and lifted into the air. Two green jets of fire illuminated a scaled face, hard yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.

“Sodra, she is a friend. Release her.” An old, gravely dragon voice rumbled in the darkness. Slow, heavy steps echoed through the cave, a form of shimmering beads materializing in the darkness.

“Father!”

“Insane pony, he could never be your father.”

“Yes. Not by blood. She is your foster sister. You were too young to remember her.” thundering, cracking noise sounded throughout the cavern. Glowing cracks appeared in the walls, illuminating the cavern. A ancient dragon with scales missing stood there, the same tattoo on her hoof spiraling around his forefoot.

“What....” Said Sodra under his breath, in the fiery tongue of dragons. Much could be told about a dragon by the fire of their voice. His was sharp and hot, biting out at anything it could. He was a fierce, quick dragon.

Vine was worried about her foster father. She had always loved his name- Silverwing. But, his voice was that of a smoldering fire, ready to be snuffed out by the smallest gust of wind. But at the same time, ready to leap at the smallest bit of kindling and became a joyous bonfire once more.

In other words, he was sick.

“Father, you need sleep. Those fine diamonds we got won’t do any good if you don’t.” A dragon’s voice was an open door- they were incapable of lying. And Sodra was very, very concerned. Their language was straight from the heart, a meaningful wave of crackling fire speaking for them. They had mastered other languages, but the older a dragon became, the harder it was to speak Equestrian.

“Joy is the best cure for disease, I believe. And this is a very joyous occasion indeed.” He lumbered up to Vine, and locked her in his soft blue gaze. His eyelid were sunken, and several of his scales had begun to work loose. “You have returned.”

“I have.” She loved the release of speaking like a dragon- so natural, so profound. No words, just a breath of fire communicating your deepest thoughts.

“Your sickness has been cured. Sadly, mine remains.”

“What is wrong, Father?”

“I am old and weak. My horde has lost it finest gems in an attempt to tame my sickness. I fear I have not long left.”

“Time is shorter for us ponies. You have a hundred years left, at least.”

“Maybe. But I have seen the rise and fall of empires, coming and going of plagues, and each day only feels like a minute to one as old as I. I had a hundred years left ninety years ago. The sickness you created in your time of disease has returned to haunt me.”

“This is... my fault?” Vine said, voice wavering.

“If you wish to see it that way... yes. But I do not blame you. I remember you as I wished, and that was as a happy young filly I taught, and who taught me so much.”

Vine touched her head to his, and shed a tear.