Guardian

CHAPTER 13 – AVATARS

TWELVE MINUTES AFTER THE FALL OF CHRYSALIS

Terror's spectral form drifted along the landscape, the grass beneath his figure dieing as he passed over. At this point, he bared so much magical power that he had a harsh time maintaining it, so it seeped from his being subconsciously. He drifted along, plotting his next course of action.

The Elements of Harmony could still pose a threat at this point. However, they are still barred from their wielders by a great distance. If I get to Canterlot before they do, then I will be able to claim one of the three super powers' abilities for my own, which should be enough to overcome those trinkets. Ah, but there's the matter of Discord. He will make things difficult if I have to face him alongside Celestia and Luna. Father... What would you have me do?

A silver explosion occurred a few feet in front of the shadow, clearing a huge area of dirt and grass. In the epicenter stood a draconic creature with the parts of multiple animals within its form.

“Ah, so I finally meet the one who's caused such wonderful chaos!” Discord stepped down an invisible flight of stairs as Terror simply watched with an irritated stare. “A few pointers, though – You're not supposed to kill the victims. You're supposed to make them an entertainment for you.”

“I'll be sure to keep that in the mind when I do things in the future.”

“Nope, nope, nope!” Discord wagged a finger at Terror, “I'm afraid there will be no chance of redemption. You see, I've made a bit of a pact with my former enemies. I've changed my ways slightly.”

“That's laughable.”

“That's the truth.” Discord took a sitting position, snapping his fingers and causing a throne to appear under him. Reaching into the ground, he pulled a bag of chips from the dirt, and began grabbing handfuls of chocolate milk from it and eating the liquid. “You see,” he continued, “They've taught me something quite valuable. Friendship. You can't get that by doing what you're doing, oh no no no.”

“I am well aware of that.”

“Oh, good! That means I don't have to try describing it to you. Ponies always have trouble following me when I get descriptive. Then again, you're no pony. What are you, anyway?” Discord disappeared and the reappeared, wrapped slightly around Terror with a quizically-cocked eyebrow. “You certainly aren't Equine. You're no griffon. You look more like an ape. Are you a human?” Terror swatted at the draconequus, who disappeared in a pop of brightly-colored magic and reappeared a few feet away on a cloud. “Oh... Looks like I might have hit a nerve with that last suggestion.”

“Do you even know what a human is?”

Discord scoffed, “Of course I know. I'm a member of the most ancient race of Equestria. The Alicorns might have kept knowledge of humans secret from the other races, but I know full-well what a homo-sapien is. I've met them before, even.”

“I'm not a human. Don't you ever call me that.”

“Oh?” Discord snapped his fingers, the world changing around the two, all colors melting away and leaving nothing but white all around. “Come now, Terror, you must have a reason for this.” Discord snapped his fingers again, Terror found himself lying on a cot with Discord sitting in a chair next to him, writing on a clipboard. “Tell me what's on your mind. I promise I'll help you out. I'm an expert with this kind of thing.”

“Do not toy with me, draconequus. I know that you have come here to stop me.”

“Fine, fine. So serious.” Discord snapped his fingers again, the world changing back to where they were, though the ground was above them and they instead stood on the bottom of clouds. “Let's just cut to the chase then, shall we?”

“I honestly had wanted to claim your powers last. I knew you were going to be irritating to me.”

“Such harsh words! And I haven't even done anything yet!”

“Can you please just go back and send Luna after me instead...”

“Now you're hurting my feelings. Am I not good enough for you?” Discord warped his eyes into large, watery globes, pouting his lower lip.

“If you're going to be annoying like this, then perhaps you'll be kind enough to just hand over your powers?”

“Now where's the fun in that? Tell you what: We'll play a game. A game of riddles! Sounds fun, right?”

“No.”

“If I win, you give me all of your powers back. If you win, I'll give you mine. How's that sound? If one of us is caught cheating in any way, we forfeit our powers. If either of us call the other out for cheating but they were not, then the accuser forfeits their powers.”

“Dreadful.”

“That's the spirit! I'll go first.”

“Of course you will.”

“Now then, what is in my pocket?”

“That's not even a riddle, you snake.”

“It's perplexing just like a riddle! I make the rules! Now give me the right answer or I'll take those powers!” Discord dug into his side, creating a pocket for himself. “What's inside of my pocket?”

“Your hand. Give me the powers.”

“Correct! But no. You need to ask me a riddle.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Give me a riddle or you lose by default! Play the game!”

“I never even agreed to this.”

“You've forced a bunch of ponies to do things that they didn't want to do. Now you have to do the same. Give me a riddle.”

“What has a face and hands but isn't a man?”

“A clock. What walks on all fours in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”

“A human. This is stupid. Just give me the powers.”

“Keep playing along, Terror. You wouldn't want to lose your powers, would you?” Discord snapped his fingers and created another throne to sit upon, grabbing a handful of cloud and eating it. “This is getting fun.”

Terror groaned, “My first is in water but not in the sea. My second in ice but never in steam. My third is in mountains but not on the land, my fourth is in fingers but not in a hand. I crush all who stand before me, my existence is truth. All who live fear my passing. What am I?”

Discord stared curiously at Terror for a moment before snapping his fingers and smiling. “Time! Excellent. My turn. I turn polar bears white and will make you cry. I force colts to bathe and fillies to brush their manes. I make celebrities look foolish, and the foolish look like celebrities. I turn pancakes brown and can turn your frown upside-down! What am I?”

A vision of a dieing woman with black hair and blue eyes flashed through Terror's mind. He shuddered slightly and went cold for a moment. Discord noticed this, raising an eyebrow at the sight. Before the draconequus could question him, however, Terror spoke up.

“My mother.”

“Well then... But you still haven't won yet! Next riddle!”

“This is pointless.” Terror composed himself and began speaking, “You know that we are both equal in strength. All you're doing with this petty game is stalling me. What's to keep me from just ignoring you and taking Luna's powers?”

“If you haven't noticed, my silly shadowy friend, we aren't in Equestria anymore. This is a different pocket universe I've created with my magic to make sure you do not escape. You might have powers that belong to quite impressive ponies, but your magic isn't omnipotent like my own.”

“That doesn't explain why I cannot just steal your power and use it to leave.”

“My specific power is to create rules for 'games.' Follow the rules of the game and the game will let you leave. If you refuse to play, you lose and must forfeit what was wagered.”

“I never agreed to it.”

“By giving me a riddle you did.”

“Fine. The music stops, a stick drops, a mare dies. What happened?”

“The mare was a blindfolded tightrope walker. Her cue to step onto the platform was music stopping. The music stopped too soon and-” Discord created a balloon in his hand a squished it until it popped. “What has no beginning, no end, and no middle?”

“A doughnut. What has a ring but no finger?”

“A telephone. What do you call a fish with no eyes?”

“You're a fool if you think I'm going to make that ridiculous noise.”

“Do it or you lose!”

“A fsh. Ugh. If a chicken tells you that all chickens are liars, is it telling the truth?”

“Chickens can't talk! Ha! Good one. Let's see you answer this one: A pony is traveling and comes to a fork in the road with an elderly stallion standing between the two paths. One path leads to a village of truths, the village that the pony wishes to go to. The other route heads to a village of liars. He asks the elderly stallion if he is from the village of truths, the stallion says 'yes.' He then asks if the stallion is telling the truth, and the stallion says 'yes' again. How can he be sure with just one more question?”

“He asks the stallion to take him back to his village. If he's lying, they'll still go to the village of truths. How simple. How about this: If you look, you cannot see me. If you see me, you see nothing else. I can make anything that you want happen, but everything returns to normal later. What am I?”

“Your imagination, of course!”

The two continued to exchange riddles for hours, both getting harder and harder until they both proclaimed themselves to each be at their final riddle.

“Alright,” Discord began, “There are three words in the English language that end in '-gry.' Hungry is one, angry is another. What is the third? Everyone uses the word every day, everyone knows what it means, and everyone knows what it stands for.”

“You gave the answer. 'What.' What is the third.”

“Sharp! Let's see what you can muster then.” At this, Terror grinned slightly.

“I call you out for cheating.” Discord, having been drinking a glass of chocolate milk, spat the liquid out in surprise before leaning forward in his throne with a smile.

“Oh? This should be good. Explain.”

“You have the power to read minds, Discord. Did you think I was unaware of that? The riddle is this: Are you cheating?”

“That's not even a riddle,” Discord stated with a nervous laugh, “You need to give me something-”

“It's perplexing like a riddle.”

Discord destroyed his throne with a snap of his fingers and began sweating, thinking furiously. Rubbing his chin, he stared at Terror with fury, angry that the specter had read him so quickly.

“Careful, Discord. Lie and the game evicts you. Tell the truth and it does the same.”

Discord's sweating increased. No one had ever caught onto him like that. Now his own game world bared down on him with immense pressure.

“Answer quick, Discord. Your powers rely upon it.”

“You... You trickster! You deceived me!”

“You've deceived a bunch of ponies into things that they didn't want to do. It's your turn. Answer the riddle, Discord.”

The draconequus held his head in confusion. If I admit that I was using my power the entire time... He'll win... I'll have caused more problems for Equestria... But if I say I didn't I'll still lose... How did I let myself play into this...

“It seems you are afraid to admit it... You were cheating the entire time. Invading the privacy of my mind. Did you think I wouldn't notice? The old proverb 'Two wrongs don't make a right' is quite true this time. You thought cheating in a game you devised would steal my powers away and save Equestria.”

“Hush.”

“Frustrated, Discord? Sad that you cannot save your friends? Sad that you will not be able to overthrow Twilight Sparkle in the future when she ascends to the throne?”

“No I... Wait... How did you know that?”

“I read your mind, obviously.”

“Then... Then you cheated as well! You cheated and tried to make a fool of me in my own game!”

“No, I did not make a fool of you. But you just did it to yourself.”

The world melted around the two and reverted to its normal state, the two falling to the ground. Discord hit the earth with a clumsy crash, Terror landed on his feet. The lord of chaos stood up and snapped his fingers, but nothing happened.

“What! What happened?”

“You locked away your powers by rule of the game. Now you are powerless to stop me.”

“But... But you cheated and I called you out on it, then you lied! You read my mind and lied about it but then won! How?”

“I did read your mind. Not in the game, though. From the moment you appeared, I infiltrated your mind and found out everything there was to know about your innermost thoughts in just a single second. All I had to do from that point was bait you into becoming frantic so that you wouldn't think properly. It was hard to do, I admit. I'm assuming that since force seemed to not be working, you came to try and outsmart me?”

Terror extended a claw and allowed the tendrils to sprout from his shroud, shooting forth at Discord, who dodged them and flew into the air with his wings.

“I might not have my powers, but you're not going to have them either!”

“Fool. Do you honestly think that you can be disobedient at this point?”

The tendrils shot upward at a much faster pace than Discord could ever hope to fly, tangled around him, and slammed him to the ground. They then wrapped over him entirely before dragging back and draining the color from his body. The lord of chaos laid on the ground in a sluggish, motionless state, staring blankly into space.

“Never before have I met someone that would allow their own power to be their undoing. How absurd. You truly are an avatar of madness.” Terror enveloped Discord in a gray orb and knelt in front of the depressed draconequus. “I will be nice to you, though. You sent out a letter about a minute ago, though it seemed much longer to me due to us being in that fake world, that detailed how you were going to defend Equestria. What say I take a note for you and send out a new letter?” Terror snapped his fingers and a pen and paper appeared before him. He took them into his hands and wrote what Discord mumbled sadly.

“The light of madness has left my life... I live in the clutch of order... Fold my clothes... File my papers... I have no chaos left...”

“Ooh... How delightfully depressing,” Terror stated as he wrote with a fiendish smile, “I will send it to Celestia right away.” Terror snapped his fingers again and the letter disappeared. He then thought for a moment before snapping them again and summoning a new sheet of paper, writing something, and sending it to Celestia again. He then stood up and claimed Discord's orb with his shroud, then changed his direction, walking towards Canterlot.

“Come, Discord. With your power now no longer a concern, I don't have to beat around the bush. I can simply claim what I deserve.” As he walked, the vision of the dieing woman found itself lodged in his mind. He held his head in slight pain as his trek continued.