The SinEater of Equestria: Cataclysm

Chapter I: First Moves

Discord’s hapless ‘champion’ began sneaking around the castle, a typhoon of emotions through him. He was ecstatic, after all, he is living the brony’s ultimate dream. At the same time, he is angry and terrified, because he is here to be an unwilling pawn. He hoped Celestia could do something about it. He decided to get the Elements first.

Maybe that would be the solution to escape this mess.

Remembering the hiding spot, he realized he would need to teleport…

But how?

He imagined the location before snapping his fingers. He felt himself lifted off the ground just by a little bit before a rushing sensation and he was there in front of the vault. He placed his finger in where Celestia’s horn would go and rotate it like a key.

Surprisingly or rather unsurprisingly, the door opened and he saw the box with the Elements. Now he needed to find Celestia. He then saw some guards coming so he teleported out of the way. Out of sight, he overheard them claiming they were at some practice wedding.

The pawn began teleporting his way around Canterlot until he was outside where rehearsal was occurring, gazing through a window by standing on his toes. He opened the box and saw the Elements. Before he could go inside and try to do something, he saw Twlight Sparkle enter.

What unfurled before him surprised, shocked and even disappointed him.

He saw the situation of Twilight Sparkle accuse someone and then her friends, family and even Celestia dismiss it. He did not know what is going on entirely, but he felt rather let down. They are her friends! Shouldn’t they stand by her?!

So what if she was a bit impulsive and such?

Letting out a lone tear which landed on the Elements, he  looked down and saw they… changed. They looked the same, but they lost their luster. He heard every painful word and no doubt the Elements did. He then snapped his fingers before appearing in the labyrinth and saw Discord pretty much shatter his prison.

“Well kid, didn’t know you had it in you. A misdeed, no matter big or small, is still chaos after all,” Discord sang as he laughed merrily.

“I know what will cheer you up,” Discord said before he popped his fingers. He then snapped both fingers as he coiled around the boy.

Discord began dissolving. Heck, everything began dissolving. The human look to his body who was becoming blurry. He felt horrible. It was as if he was on a humbe dinghy, trying to whether a massive whirlpool in the greatest storm. His memories, his personality, his self... it was becoming blurry.

The magic was uncontrollable, untameable. How does one even accomplish it?

As the boy felt himself losing consciousness, he let out a single apology to the heavens above, hoping the alicorns heard it.

The final thoughts of this boy dissolved into the nothingness as he dissolved into the maelstrom to be reforged…

The boy was a mere raw ore while the chaos was the fire that tempered and tuned it. But who did the tuning? Was it Discord? Was it the boy himself? Was it someone beyond the two. The maelstrom grew fiercer and fiercer until the eye was reached.

Clarity was achieved.

He is reborn. Discord’s champion opened his eyes, a manic grin on his face. He felt… free. He felt like he no longer had to restrict his thoughts. Well, at least not as much. He did a flip on his legs before he looked down. Physically, he didn’t seem to change much. Well, time was a wasting.

A brand new day was ahead and there were games to be had.

He held his hand out and snapped his fingers while he envisioned what he wanted.  A glass of chocolate milk appeared. He grabbed it and drank it. It was delicious. A cascade of chocolately goodness flooded his mouth. He felt like he had taken the best nap ever and after a warm bath.

It truly was an awakening for him.

However, something snapped him out of this.

A punch to the face, courtesy of his own fist.

Anomaly cried in pain as his glasses were smashed and he gave himself a black eye. He staggered back before he shook it off and saw his broken glasses on the ground and his head running from momentary pain.

Anomaly was stunned, wondering he punched hiimself seemingly by impulse. The desired effect was achieved however, Anomaly had regained awareness of his surroundings.. He looked at the glass and dropped it in shock. He clung to his head as his mind began forcing Anomaly from being drunk with power by making him recall who he was or at least, who he wasn't.

He was no Discord.

Much like steel was not iron, it was not as if changed elements or anything. At the fundamental core, he is untarnished. But he is no longer the man he used to be.

But then… who or what was he now?

He looked to the shattered glass fragments from his cup and glasses. He snapped his fingers to repair said glasses and any damage to his face.

He then remembered how Twilight Sparkle was left and was dying to see what would happen next. He snapped his fingers as he teleported inside.

He watched the Princess Cadance come in. She smiled before she made green flames appear and caused Twilight to sink into the ground. The lone audience member raised his eyebrow. Well, looks like she was right then…

He saw the Princess leave. He then began to analyze the situation. Twilight is alone, vulnerable and helpless…

Opportunity alert!

Discord’s champion then scrambled to silence the alarm that appeared above his head before anypony else noticed. He managed to do so successfully. He enters the sight of the abandoned wedding rehearsal.  He looks to where Twilight sunk into. Looking around, he approached the podium. He took out a mallet and hit it.

Instead of crumbling, it bounced while squeaking and a blue switch appeared from the ceiling. he approached the switch and jumped on it. Where the ring of green flames were, a green pipe rose.

“Gotta love the classics,” he said as he dove in, a retro video game sound playing. He was not sure if this was an effect of the magic or him using his imagination as a tether to his formal self.

The pipe surfaced from the ceiling of the caverns. He stretched his ear to listen. He heard the Princess Cadance taunt Twilight. However, he then heard faint sobbing. He turned to the direction and parted the walls as if they were curtains for a moment. He saw… Princess Cadance?

However, she was dirty, tired and crying.

Wait a minute… Discord’s champion put two and two together and it equaled fish. The Princess Twilight encountered was a faker. He let the walls close as he was thinking. As he wondered he saw his reflection. His curiosity taking the better of him, he approached a large crystal. He was changed.

There was now a streak of white across his hair. As he opened his mouth in surprise, he noticed that he now had elongated canines. Lastly, it was his eyes. They were not his eyes. His eyes were a chocolate brown and had warmth in them.

These eyes… they were a supernatural and piercing gold. It served as a reminder, on who he now was. He looked away before gulping and facing his reflection. He saw there were traces… of the brown within the gold. His right eye was normal besides that but the left… the left was black now… He was still him and yet he was not.

Who was he?

What was he?

Was he human?

Was he a hybrid of that and what Discord was?

He let out a breath as he tried to figure it who he was… if it was still him in the first place? Did he have the right to use his name anymore? He shivered a bit before he snapped out of it and decided to look for Twilight. Wasn’t hard, she made a whole as she was blasting the caverns.

He peaked through the hole as he saw Twilight. He picked up the nearby shadows and used them as a cloak to hide himself and began to move closer. However, some of the dust caused by Twilight’s beams led to him coughing and getting Twilight’s attention.

Twilight was having a terrible day. First, she lost her brother, then her friends and even her mentor. She realized she was acting foalish. To make matters worse, she didn’t know if she was overacting or if she was right. She didn’t have any proof and she came in a frenzy. Worst of all, her foalsitter and soon to be sister-in-law sent her here. She was angry, sad and confused.

She then turned when she heard coughing and saw a strange figure step out of the hole she made. Before she could ask anything, she felt goosebumps go over her. Something about this… thing… this being… rubbed her the wrong way. She could sense there was something not right about him… Something dangerous…

“Hello? Anypony here?” a mysterious voice said to Twilight.

W-who are you?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she looked around the cavern she was placed by the Not-Cadance.

There was silence… nothing but silence. The single moment of silence seem to endure for hours. The boy did not know what to call himself. He was no longer the human he was, but he refused to be Discord’s champion.

”…Your mere presence is already a massive anomaly…”

He was an anomaly. Something not meant to be here. He was like a glitch in a game. The boy recalled moments of isolation and lonliness. How is it, one feeling different than the others? Feeling uncomfortable in your own skin? Wearing masks made of yourself to be more comfortable? To be as if walled off from the others.

Was this how Discord felt?

“I’ll ask you again, who are you?!” Twilight asked in her panicky voice as the figure approached with a cautious look on his face.

"...They call me Anomaly," Anomaly said as he looked at Twilight.

"Anomaly?" she asked for clarification.

He simply carved the name on the wall of the cave.

"As in the thing that does not belong" Anomaly said as he looked eye to eye at Twilight. She saw that not only were his irises gold, but the sclera of one eye was white and the other was black. Her first thoughts were on the name and appearance of this creature. The name suited him, yet it seemed kinda sad.

Twilight gazed at the being. “How did you get here? What do you want?” she asked him.

“How did you get here? I saw that princess banish you here and I know your friends, brother and mentor left you. What I don’t know is your side of the story… The only way I can help you is if I know what happened through your perspective.” Anomaly asked her. Normally, Twilight would wonder how this stranger knew of what happened or if she should trust him. Despite this, she was emotionally compromised and she had no one else to turn to.

With great reluctance, she performed a variation of the memory spell she used on her friends to recover from Discord’s mind games.

He then saw what Twilight saw regarding the source of her worries. It was like watching a movie. He saw the Princess act unlike how Twilight remembered her to be. Even from what Anomaly saw, the real Princess was a wonderful pony, not the pretender who was with Shining Armor the whole time. The moment when the Not-Cadance did that weird spell on Shining was what confirmed his suspicions and would do the same for almost anypony.

Too bad, Twilight acted on impulse. Then again, that was no reason not to listen to her. She was very intelligent and despite her prone to worry and panic, she has the best of intentions and makes sense. So much for the power of friendship.

Anomaly now saw how Discord was able to break them all like he did.

“Well Twilight Sparkle, looks like you are right and wrong. The truth of the matter is that you confirmed my findings, which is that is not the real Cadance,” Anomaly told her. “Wait, how do you know?” Twilight asked him, a bit suspiciously. He raised an eyebrow before moonwalking to a nearby wall and hit it like the Fonz would hit a jukebox. The wall fell apart to reveal the real Princess Cadance.

He saw Twilight’s jaw drop before walking to Princess Cadance and bowed to her. "Princess, I heard you and Twilight shared a special hoofshake when you babysat for her. How did it go?"  he asked her. Cadance looked confused before she realized what was the stranger up to. Cadance performs the song and dance from Twilight’s flashback perfectly. Anomaly relaxed when he saw Twilight realize this was the real Cadance.

“Thank you,” Twilight said to Anomaly. “Very nice then, but I need to talk to Twilight for a moment, your Highness,” Anomaly told Cadance before taking Twilight and began to talk to her privately.

“We need to get out if we wish to save your brother. However… I am not someone who does something free… at least not anymore. My point is, if you want me to help you, help me help you,” he told her. Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you getting that?" she asked him.

“I want you to form a pact with me. You would be bound to me. Regarding what we would do would be decided later to be honest,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders. “Come on, Twilight, think about it. You form a pact with me and we save the day… of course… if you want to. I mean… your friends, your family, your number one assistant, your mentor… they left you. All you have now is Cadance and myself. Well, just me once she marries your brother…” Anomaly says in her ear as he stretches across her.

Twilight shivered as her new acquaintance reminded her of Discord. She was thinking whether if she should.... No! She could not abandon her friends… could she? Were they her friends? She didn’t know what to do about them, but…

“Sorry, but no. Thank you for the offer, but when I show Cadance, I know that Celestia and the others will help me stop the imposter,” Twilight said with a confident grin..

Anomaly looked at her before sighing. “Normally, I would not be kind enough to help furthermore, but it IS your wedding, so it would be rude not to escort a princess to her wedding” Anomaly said as he was looking to Cadance.

“We’re out of here” he simply told her before putting on some Kamina glasses and a red cape. Twilight and Cadance looked at one another before facing Anomaly. He took out a conical prism and placed on his arms. It begin spinning before he ran toward the wall. “THIS DRILL IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THROUGH THE HEAVENS!!” D said as he was piercing through the stones. Cadance and Twilight did another double take before following him.

As they went through, they were enjoying the song This Day Aria, sung by Cadance and the Not-Cadance. Anomaly then saw what seem to be the three bridesmaids. “Anyone have a plan?” he askd them before Cadance threw a small bouquet at them. He snickered as he saw them fight over it before breaking the surface and sent them flying.

Cadance and Twilight were about to head to the wedding, but Twilight stopped to face  Anomaly. “I have a lot of questions, but I guess it would be rude for me to ask you right now. All I can say is: Thank you for helping me and for believing me,” Twilight said before Cadance faced him.

“Are you sure you wish not to accompany us?” Cadance asked  Anomaly. “Sorry, Princess, but I used up my freebies for the day. However, I wish both of you the best of luck,” he said as he bowed to them before he saw them go off. Anomaly stretched as he began reviewing what he had done. The test of his powers was done.

He leaned back on the cloud and decided to watch the events unfold through a screen he summoned. He had a feeling that he would see Twilight again soon…

He sees Cadance declare the imposter to be a changeling and sees the imposter reveal herself to be Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.

Soon indeed…

Anomaly looks in the distance, wondering what is in store...