Chaos Origin

Shadow reached Ponyville Train Station huffing heavily. Waiting for him there was Sleepy and Spike. He trotted over to them, stopping with slight skid. "They're on their way...As expected..." Shadow told them, huffing and then coughing as he lost control of his pulmonary system shortly.

"Well, can you stop them?" Sleepy asked with a yawn, fighting off his intense narcolepsy with all his might. Spike looked at Shadow with bright eyes, expecting Shadow to tell him yes.

"No." Shadow said, seeing their jaws drop in the realization of how bad the situation was. "Not alone, at least."

Sleepy shook his head. "I don't know what is going on, really, but if this Espio guy is more than enough for you, that's bad." He hummed and looked at Shadow accusingly,"Unless...those stories you tell me are lies..." His voice trailed off

"They are not lies." Shadow retorted. He trotted away, the two following after him. "I did tell you that he can make functional copies of everything he sees, and he's going for the Elements of Harmony! I told you that, right?"

Spike chimed in this time, saying,"But he can't use them without the spirits of harmony, too. You know?" He folded his arms, smiling and satisfied with his reasoning.

Shadow looked back to spike and said, "Yes, for the real Elements. However, he can alter his copies to harness them for himself." He looked forward, heading toward the Everfree Forest. "There is one thing, though. They wont be as powerful without the spirits of harmony. They will still be a force to be reckoned with."

Spike kept his happy look and said, "Well, then we can just get our own Elements and put him out of commission!"

"I like your attitude, Spike." Sleepy said with a nod, taking his side.

Shadow shook his head. "Sound logic, Spike." he admitted. "However, Espio knows that, too. I'm sure he has a plan to dispose of the originals, or at least keep them out of reach. You do remember how easily Discord...did..."Shadow trailed off at the sound of himself saying Discord. "Come on, let's go. I've got a plan."

Spike hopped onto Shadow's back and Sleepy hurried after them as Shadow galloped off toward the forest. The crew of misfits reached their destination in a few minutes. Spike and Sleepy were still confused as to what the plan was, or why they were in such a place. They pushed through bushes, trees, and brambles till they came to a hole covered with a boulder.

"Aww, seriously! Who put this rock here!" Shadow exclaimed, frustrated at the large impediment. He walked up to the rock and kicked it out of anger. Taking a closer look, Shadow received a shocked look on his face.

"What is it?" Sleepy and Spike asked in unison.

"I think its...Tom?" Shadow said, a look of repulsion on his face. He sat next to the boulder. "Oh, what did they do to you, Tom? After all you've done for them...Well, you didn't do anything, really." Shadow shrugged and reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a piece of a clay like substance. He molded it and then showed it to his followers.

"Who's that?" asked Sleepy, a quizzical look on his tired face.

Spike slapped the stallions leg lightly, "It's Rarity, duh." He pointed out.

Shadow attached a device to the clay Rarity and slapped it onto the rock. "I think he'll appreciate going out this way..." Shadow muttered?"

"Uhm, going out?" Spike echoed in a question.

"Get back."Shadow mumbled, slowly dragging his hooves a large distance away. He sat behind a tree and the others followed suit. "I'm so...so sorry Tom." Shadow said, a tear welling in his eye. He reached in his pocket and took out a detonator, then pressing the button.

A large explosion rang through the forest, blowing the close proximity trees over. After the shrapnel settled, Spike ran out into the newly created opening and screamed, "Noooooo! Tom! No...He was too young to die!" collapsing on his knees and sobbing.

"Plastic explosives took his life at 12:03, Monday the third...."Shadow said, taking his headband off and placing it near his chest in reverence.

"You two done?" Sleepy said exasperated. He trotted toward the gaping hole in the ground that was covered by the boulder.

Shadow retied his headband and trotted to their sides. The two looked at him and Spike asked, "What's down there?"

Sleepy slid down the pipe that the hole had revealed. Shadow and Spike slid down without the question being answered.

The gang tumbled into an large cavern that was dotted with mushrooms, stalagmite, and other rock formations. In the center was a stagnant pool of water. Sleepy had a pensive look, and wondered aloud, "Isn't that the Mirror Pool?"

Spike laughed and cheered. "This is great, we can make an army of Shadow Cloaks to fight the bad guys!"

"That's not what I'm here for, Spike,"  Shadow said, walking up to the pool of water. "An interesting proposition, but too risky. I came for what is around the pool."

"But there's nothing but rocks and mushrooms." Sleepy said, a confused frown was placed on his face as he kicked dust off the ground. He and Spike looked to Shadow expecting an explanation.

Shadow sighed. "You see, this pool is heavily saturated with chaos magic."

Sleepy and spike looked at each other with looks of enlightenment, then back to Shadow with confused ones. "We don't understand." Sleepy said. "What's that got to do with rocks?"

"This, Mirror Pool, is one of the few remaining artifacts soaked with magic from the time of Discord's reign." Shadow stared into the pool of water. "Its magic bleeds into the surroundings, and I can harness it with the use of Discord's own language. It commands chaos to bend to one's will." Turning to the others, Shadow continued,"Now I can't harness the magic from most of the artifacts, since Discord binds them to specific purpose. Like this pool of water, which clones a pony. For some strange reason...it only works on mares."

"Another hole in my Shadow Cloak army theory...Oh, well." Spike said, a little depressed. He looked back to Shadow Cloak. "So how do you plan to win with that? It's not as strong as the Elements is it? I mean...it's just a side effect."

"Correct. However, I can harness the magic to locate an artifact that I can utilize. It's called the throne of the Throne of Discord." Shadow replied, beginning to dig out some of the rocks from the area. "It's equal in strength to the Elements of Harmony. At least, that's what the records said."

"That's good." Sleepy said. "Let's go get it, then." He walked over to Shadow, not sure what to expect.

Shadow sighed and looked to his friend. A serious and tired face greeted them as he said,"Only one problem. The throne isn't active without its source magic flowing. In other words...It wont work unless Discord is free."