To Stone With Chaos

Discord sat in a throne that was placed in the center of his new Chaos Capital of the World. Instead of rejoicing at the bizarre events that occurred around him, he scowled at the floor and ignored everything that happened around him. He had never imagined that visiting Celestia to do a little mocking and perhaps a little investigating would leave such a bitter taste and pain in him. It was unlike any he had ever felt before.

He sighed and grunted a bit as he held his head with frustration. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Celestia's words out of his head. What she had the nerve to throw at him...

"You are still the coward, liar, unfeeling, egocentric, little-male that you were then, and you will continue to be so as long as you shall live... a creature that will never be complete... A creature that, as of the moment, I am hardly remotely interested in anymore. Your wickedness will be consumed, Discord... I will very much enjoy that moment... at last all your evil will be gone..."

He had to admit, he never would have expected Celestia to be able to say something like that. It was an amusing surprise to see her lose her temper as he often managed to make Luna do... But another thing was the cold, unfeeling look that she had given him when she let those cutting words come out of her mouth.

She seemed to be feeling quite empty as she said them, too. Like she had become a hollow vessel of contempt and hatred that simply poured out what she had contained for so many years.

Sometimes he wondered if there was sadness and regret in that empty shell of the princess that he had once foolishly fallen in love with. He wondered if it had hurt her to call him all those things. If she had been moved into regret to hurt as he had right then, and over the many years that he spent in stone...

No. What she may have felt as she threw her worded cruelty at him would most definitely be contempt, and contempt only. The contempt that she kept locked inside her heart for all those centuries, and that she had readied to unleash upon him were he ever to exist as an animated creature again.

That was all she could have harbored in her heart... Hatred that, surprisingly, was much more intense and agonizing, yet empty and unfeeling, than his own.

He couldn't stop berating himself for ever coming up with such a foolish idea. "Such a fool... Really, why in all of chaos did I go there?!" He sighed and shook his head. "Oh, I should have turned her into something while I was there..."

He then held his chest and frowned a bit. He felt something that he had not experienced in a very long time. In fact, he could barely recognize it (not that he ever actually could). But, whatever it was, it definitely was painful. As painful as Celestia's cruel side had been. He was actually impressed that somepony as warm and kind as Celestia was capable of showing such a soulless, agonizing nature.

He looked away as he still held his chest. "Tch! That little cunning, double-edged marvel... Even her corrupted side wouldn't be as treacherous and callous..."

When he thought about what she had said and done, he realized that once it was boiled down, her statements were not much. Just a bunch of bitter words from a sore loser, they really were not supposed to be such a big deal. Or were they?

He groaned with frustration as he covered his head with his claw and paw. That had to be the last straw; not only had the Sun Princess cut him into ribbons with an unexpected change of nature... On top of it all, she had managed to confuse the master of word games and riddles!

"This is too much, I just can't handle this... What kind of a joke is this?!" He turned over and over in his throne as he grew more annoyed. It had to be a tasteless, dirty joke.

He glanced over at the Canterlot Palace that was located in the distance. ...Did she actually say she'd be... happy, if I ever ceased to exist...? Maybe I really did go insane in the stone prison, so perhaps I heard wrong... But his memory never failed him. He had not heard wrong.

"Your wickedness will be consumed, Discord... I will very much enjoy that moment... at last all your evil will be gone..." He growled and tried to cast the thought away. "No, no, that...!" He grimaced and clutched his chest with frustration again, then cursed himself for being so weak.

There he was, suffering for pathetic words that he wasn't supposed to give a thought to. He couldn't bring himself to properly enjoy the freedom that he had awaited for so long! Princess Celestia of Equestria and the Sun truly was a rather cruel individual... Logically, she had to be, in order to turn him into stone and banish her own sister to the moon. Who knows what other merciless deeds she made during those centuries. Too bad he did not take notice of this before he...

The more he tried to ignore it, the more it flooded his mind and broke his heart, the more it did not and let him be. He wasn't asking for much, was he? Just to be able to rejoice as he took over the world with Chaos and made a mockery of the creatures that had dared torment him so.

Meanwhile, he was pretty sure that the orderly, cute, loving Sun Princess was most likely still in her little study room, sending the petty little letters away, quite content and proud of herself for having dealt such a low blow to the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.

How good she must be feeling, how proud of herself she must be! Her sweet, compassionate, dainty nature is actually able to hurt, fancy that! She must be searching for her lame little sister, eager to tell her all about the astounding move she made against me.

All happy, with no care for him whatsoever. She probably would try to contact Twilight Sparkle, too. 'My dearest, faithful student. I'd like to rely upon you the tale of how I beat Discord at his own game, do learn from it! It was an experience that filled me with mirth and pride, blah blah blah'... Well, too bad, Tia. At least you won't have your lapdog, Twilight Failure, at your disposal.

He scoffed and looked away as he leaned his head on his lion paw. "Typical of those princesses... Never giving a care for anything but their kingdom..."

She never would have any idea how hard he had tried, in his way, to keep all three of them together. He had nearly driven himself mad in the process of surrendering all those unreal memories that were not him, so that he could stand up to all the creatures and the order that would drift him and the princesses apart and harm them. Even after all those centuries, he had tried to get Celestia to understand that, but had failed, once again.

And what did it bring?! Nothing but burdensome feelings and pain that he most definitely did NOT need! He grimaced at the disgusting sight that he was becoming.

"Honestly... I do not need this! So what if the Sun Princess remains the uncaring little prune she's always been?! Bah, to order with her, I don't need her and I most certainly never will now that I'm king!" He stretched his arms forward and forced himself to laugh. "Now that I have all of this!"

Chaos, and the joy that it brought, would be his companion in those times of need and victory, just as it always had. Chaos never disappointed him. It never hurt him. It never forced him to make wrong choices. Really, regardless of what all the other ignorant, boring creatures said, one could never go wrong with Chaos. It was a wonderful marvel that he would not be trading away any time soon.

After Twilight Sparkle read the many letters that Princess Celestia sent to her, her color and resolve was restored. She became determined to fight for her friendships, and fight she did. She went through quite an ordeal to restore her friends to how they all were with her memory spell.

After they were all restored, they went back to the center of Ponyville to confront Discord, just as he appeared a glass, filled it with chocolate milk, and then marveled at how chaos was quite a wonderful thing.

Twilight spoke confident and determinedly. "Not as wonderful as Friendship!"

"Ugh. This again?" He groaned and did the oddity of drinking the glass with chocolate milk. As in... He drank the glass and discarded the explosive milk over his shoulder.That oddity. He directed his attention back at them with a calm smile.

Applejack was the first to confront him. "That's right. You couldn't break apart our friendship for long!"

Discord attracted Applejack's necklace towards him with his claw. "Oh, Applejack don't lie to me. I'M the one who made you a liar." He grinned wickedly and raised his eagle talon to raise the others, save for Twilight, in the air before him with their necklaces. "Will you ever learn?"

Twilight teleported herself between the other five and appeared a force field around them. Then she floated them all back on the ground, over a patch that the force field restored to normal grass.

Twilight spoke determinedly as her friends stood beside her. "I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!"

"Eww! Gag, fine, go ahead. Try and use your little Elements. 'Friend' me. Just make it quick." He teleported back to his throne. "I'm missing some excellent chaos here."

Twilight smiled at the others. "Alright, ladies. Let's show him what Friendship can do!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pinkie Pie drank some of the raining chocolate milk. She ran back to the others once she was done and growled menacingly at Discord.

As they activated their elements and expelled their colored glows. Twilight's eyes glowed white as she unleashed the power of the Elements of Harmony upon Discord.

"No." Discord stared at the glistening rainbow beam as it fell down upon him. "NO!" Fear and frustration rushed to him as he tried to break free. He gritted his teeth and moved as desperation overtook him. Suddenly his shrieks ceased, his body was completely encased in stone.

He stood, once again, paralyzed as a stone statue. His body fell backwards, and a loud thud followed.

Rarity smiled as she looked at the statue, then at her friends. "We finally did it! Oh, dear Celestia, we defeated him!"

Applejack pushed her hat up on her head. "Of course we were gonna bring that no gooder down! Fella didn't know what hit 'im!"

Twilight looked at her friends. "It was the power of our friendship, of course. I'm glad Princess Celestia was able to help us see-"

Rainbow Dash flew over the statue as she rejoiced in their victory. "Oh, yeah! How'd you like that, Discord?! Who's crumbling now! Serves you right for messing with the wrong ponies! Too much for you, huh? Why don't YOU come back in a hundred years go face us!"

Twilight frowned a bit and chuckled. "Alright, let's go back to Canterlot. We have to tell Princess Celestia about this right away."

The Mane Six made their way to Canterlot once they made sure that everything in Ponyville was okay. There was quite a crowd waiting for them in the palace. Princess Celestia was quick to give them a warm welcome and recognize them for their brave accomplishment.

Celestia smiled once the young mares stood before her. "We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!"

As the crowd erupted in cheers, Celestia's horn glowed to show the Mane Six the new addition of painted window glass, which showed their victorious confrontation with Discord.

The six ponies were showered with the cheering and gratitude of the ponies around them, as well as Celestia's grateful stare and smile.

Meanwhile, that same afternoon, a group of guards arrived in Ponyville to take Discord away. Princess Luna monitored the entire process.

For the most part she retained a dignified, serious attitude. She did not want to seem improper before her guards and subjects. As much as she wanted to give Discord a piece of her mind, it would just have to wait.

"Hurry, guards. We do not want to stare at him any longer. Our citizens art bound to grow restless and upset if they were to see him, too. Even as stone, he wilt be nothing but trouble for us. Bring the wagon." She watched the guards leave to pull the hauling wagon over. She stayed silent and still for a few seconds until it was sure that they had all left..

Once she was alone, Luna growled a little and she glared at Discord. She jumped on the statue and stomped on it. "Perhaps We should throw thee down the lake and see how THOU liketh it!" She stomped on the statue again as she stood on it. "A fitting end to thee, ist it not?! Arrogant, cynical fool!"

The guards stared at her quietly as she threw her tantrum. "Um... Princess Luna..."

Luna blushed and turned to see that they had arrived with everything to haul Discord away. She cleared her throat and regained her serious manner as she stepped down from the statue. "Yes, We know. Taketh him away now. He shalt be banished to the palace vaults. Or the dungeons. Whatever our sister prefers."

With that, she simply watched and followed the guards and the wagon as the hauling task was completed, the guard and princess all headed back to Canterlot.

Some more hours had passed by the time the Sun Princess quietly made her way down the many stairs of the palace. She looked out the window and saw that night was well under way. Just as well... The last thing I need is Luna trying to interfere for this... I need to think clearly.

She looked up at the enormous, dark purple doors that would lead to the large basement and storeroom in the palace. ...Very, very clearly. Her horn glowed and she opened the doors to enter the dark, dusty place.

She coughed a bit as her movement brought about some dust in the air. "Dear pegasi heavens... Just how long has this place been unattended...? I'll have to tell some maids to do what they can here..."

She continued to make her way through the storage room, occasionally gazing at the many belongings that the Royal Family had possessed over the centuries.

"A lot certainly needs to be done here." She stopped when she came upon a cloaked, tall figure that laid in the corner of the room. She could tell the covered object had been placed in that spot very recently. It was basically clean, save for the dust that had fallen on it from the other artifacts while it was placed there.

Her face turned serious and a bit weary as her horn glowed again to remove the cover from the object... Which was revealed to be Discord's statued self.

"...Goodness, Discord... You look worse than ever... Did you not experience some sort of 'pleasant thought' during your last moments, like last time? With this I now confirm that my centuries' old doubts were true... The reason why you were so happy back then was because, even during your defeat, you managed to confuse and antagonize Luna and me... Too bad you didn't get a chance to do so this time. Such a shame I didn't get to be there. I would have expressed all I wanted you to know before you cowardly slipped away."

She looked down. "There are just so many... many things I've been wanting to tell you and do with you..." She frowned just a bit. "I still have so much locked in my heart. I can barely understand it. But... Enough. I didn't come here to pour out my feelings to stone. I didn't come here to talk to stone, either. That's ridiculous. I refuse to do anything you would enjoy."

She remained calm and collected as she sat down while staring at the statue still. She wasn't really looking at it anymore. Her gaze was lost into the many thoughts that ran through her head. Analytical and objective thoughts. She assessed all that Discord was, and would be, if he was given different paths and choices. As many as she could afford to give him

"Well, Discord, unfortunately there isn't much to you. I don't have good news to tell you, with all you have done, your future remains rather bleak. As bleak as your present." She lowered her eyes, in thought again. "But..."

She remembered the comfort that their master and teacher, Starswirl the Bearded, had given them in the aftermath of their battle with Discord so many centuries ago."...Thy friend ist still there. Perhaps, in time, he wilt find his way back to thee."

Oh, Master Starswirl... Even you were quite naive...

"Thou art leaders. As such, thy friends wilt NEVER be of bigger importance than the citizens and subjects that thou art commended to protect."

Celestia lifted her gaze as it grew a bit more determined. She looked up at Discord and stood up again. That's right... I must think of the ponies that I lead... The ponies that depend on my good knowledge... "Because nothing is more important than the lives that have been put under my responsibility. For them... I'll do anything indeed."

She continued to stare at her defeated adversary as she lighted a portion in the room with the golden magic of her horn. Her magic aura had made a circle around herself, on the ground, that was free of dust, spreading through the nearby objects to light them up just a bit from their dim, forgotten state. As she stared at the statue, she could have sworn that she saw the cold stone... thaw, ever so slightly, in the presence of her unshakable resolve.

Loved Luna's reaction in the end. Discord DID end up trapping her somewhere and bullied her every time he tried to gain control... I really liked Discord's reflection in the beginning.

How funny that in the end of the previous chapter, I had Celestia suffer with her reflection of her broken emotions and dreams. In the beginning of this one, Discord contemplates of the horrible fate he's suffering.

Once again, the delicious, one-sided misunderstanding perceptions of the other that I am so evil and am growing fond of. Very fond of.

But... Ugh. I feel this chapter is ABSOLUTELY... Lacking. I don't like it at all, but I was a bit rushed. I think the ending was weak... There needs to be more dialogue and narrative with the actions in the palace, and with Luna... But... I don't know, I dislike this chapter so much (except for Discord's reflection) that I don't even want to get back to it. But I will, because I'm dedicated and thoughtful like that.

So expect edits on this that will probably make it much nicer. And while you do, maybe you could lend a hoof here and suggest how I could make it better?

There, I did just a minor edit! (Suggestions will still be greatly appreciated and considered) Improved Luna's tantrum scene, and added something special! Celestia's odd visit to Discord in the old storage room of the palace... We see she has come to a strange, determined conclusion after her time there... Wonder what she thought about? I think that gives a little insight/foreshadowing on what might happen next... Not to mention it definitely makes the ending stronger. Maybe I should add more descriptive details of the environment around them... Like, the palace at night, when Celestia was walking down the halls... How silent everything seemed... That would add a little spookiness to everything. I loved the description of the storage room and Celestia's resolve.

OH! I FORGOT TO MENTION! This is the end of Chaos Origin. Or... I consider it to be. Fear not! I am going to write a second part, a sequel, to this. Because I'm sure you guys will hate me if I do. Sorry if I make you mad and grumble... It's NOT because I want you to keep reading. It's because I thought that Chaos Origin has enough chapters now, and it will be better ordered if I make another part in the story. If you've become impatient and desperate and won't put through other parts, then message me and I'll give you an overview on how this story ends for good. I'll understand.