Chaos Origin Chapter 5

Runaway Crystal Feathers

The shadow that was King Sombra drifted through the wind, until he approached a kingdom that was located a very long distance away from the land of the princesses.

Though it had a beautiful crystal structure, he completely disregarded the wonderful architecture and allowed his dark aura to even destroy some of the buildings, if only to terrorize the civilians that had been standing by the store. He loved to torment them every day and night.

The entire land suffered terrible mistreatment at the hooves of their ruler. He kept all the ponies imprisoned and enslaved for his benefit, and if that was not enough, he exhausted them with his terrorizing antics.

The land of crystals that the king ruled had once been beautiful unlike any other, and his subjects were the most special of all. The ponies from the kingdom were unique, quite unlike any other pony in the world.

That was because the ponies from the land known as the Crystal Empire were born with crystal coats and manes that at one time had glowed beautifully, but became dull since Sombra became king.

He did not care much for their peculiar build and their unhappiness--he completely ignored it and trampled them down with his ceaseless demands and orders. The king had controlled the land with a tyrant hoof for centuries, giving none of them a glimmer of hope for better days.

Many had tried to leave the Crystal Empire behind, but they had all failed. They had been injured or morally broken, they gave up in the end.

But at that moment, as the sun slipped further into the gray sky that hung over the kingdom, one pony still tried his best to escape, after numerous failed attempts.

His coat was light red and had a dull sparkle to it. He had a dark mane, and gray eyes. He was a rather young pegasus pony.

That time, however, he would try to escape the kingdom without his wings. It wilt still be as difficult as ever, but... Getting away should be a bit more possible to achieve by hoof than by flying... He would notice an airborne pegasus right away...

~~~

A thunderous roar sounded through the kingdom. Its tyrant ruler had returned from his mission in Canterlot. He manifested over his palace's balcony in physical form and eyed down his prisoner subjects with a malicious grin as they bowed to him. "...Where ist he...?" He whispered to himself.

~~~

The pegasus pony gasped and ran faster, over soft ground so he would not make noises with his hooves. "I have to get out of here..." He whispered to himself. "I have to help the others...!"

~~~

Sombra screamed at the subjects. "Where ist that pegasus?!" He searched around for his personal servant. He roared when he saw that he was not present anywhere that the servants were supposed to be. He turned into his shadow form and started searching for him all over the Empire.

~~~

The runaway pony whimpered. He ran non-stop, even though he grew exhausted. "Oh, where do I go...?!"

He did not dare use his wings, in fear that he could still be found and captured. He panted as he looked over the tall mountains that stood ahead. The distance that divided him from them grew shorter the faster he ran.

"M-Maybe I could hide there..." He cringed as he heard Sombra's frightening roar. “O-Oh, no...!” He ran into the mountains as fast as he would ever run, frightened for his life more than he had ever been.

He did not leave the mountains’ safety until some hours passed, and he could feel safe again.

~~~

Sombra returned to his palace balcony, infuriated. All the ponies below him trembled in fear. "No other stupid pony shalt mock us again!" His eyes glowed white as his horn blasted a red, dark spell over the whole kingdom that covered it in a transparent shield.

It disabled entrance and exit to all except the King. After that, blasts of dark thunder fell on the ponies. The magic did not hurt the slave subjects, but dark chains and appeared around their necks and hooves.

The shadow pony let out a frightening laugh as he returned to his chambers. “Thy little friend’s escapade wilt cost thee greatly. Thou shalt work all of tonight, and all of tomorrow morning!” He roared at them as he saw the terror and fatigue in the ponies’ faces.

He coldly turned away from them without paying their cries and sorrow much mind.

~~~

The red pegasus stared at the now cursed kingdom. "Oh no..." He lowered his head with sorrow as he imagined the pain and torment that his comrades and ponyfolk were going through. All because of him...

“No... This... Why ist this happening...?! What did we do to deserve this...?!” He did not dare look over his shoulder at the land that he had escaped. He could not. It appeared as though he had abandoned them, leaving behind only more troubles for them...

He gasped and shook his head quickly. “Th-That ist not... No! I-It ist not right, I...” He let out a breath to calm down. “I escaped so that I could find help. That ist the true reason. I do care for them. I am not doing this for myself, it ist for them! ...Please forgive me, everypony... I wilt help thee, I promise...”

The pegasus closed his eyes as he walked. He was still a bit shaky, but continued his path nonetheless. "I have to get help..." He opened his wings and began to fly, hidden by the dense fog of the mountains.

---

Wilder flew next to Celestia as they ventured together through the Everfree Forest.

“Now, where could she possibly be?" He did not sound very concerned, he was in fact already bored from the search. They still had not found Luna, or figured out the place where the younger princess could have wandered off to.

Even Celestia, who supposedly knew her better than anypony, could not lead them to a place where they actually spotted Luna anywhere.

She sighed as she looked down at the dark area beneath them. Even during the day, the Everfree Forest had always been pretty shadowy and dark. Luna loved it, and Celestia herself did not mind it, but she obviously preferred other places in the land.

"Probably somewhere within this forest, she really enjoys spending time to herself here. She has done that since she was a younger filly. Our parents and teachers did not object with her practice. In fact, they agreed with it. Sometimes I do it, too."

Wilder sighed and rolled his eyes. "I think it would be best if she simply lightened up a little. Laughter is never bad."

From the distance, he could feel the presence of another pony. He spotted a flying pegasus shortly after. "Hey, I think I see her over there!" He pulled out a cardboard sign with a pointing hand that aimed forward.

She squinted her eyes to see ahead. "That... Wait, that does not look like Luna..." She gasped as the pegasus fell to the ground. "We have to go help!"

Wilder raised an eyebrow, then followed Celestia as she rushed towards the fallen pegasus. As they arrived, he got closer to the colt and poked him. "Hm... Hey, is it normal for a pony's body to be cold?"

Celestia looked at the pegasus pony with worry. She looked up as Luna approached. “Ah, there you are. Just in time.”

"Thou saw him too..." Luna muttered as she noticed Celestia and Wilder before she looked at the pegasus. "This ist no ordinary pegasus pony..." She noticed the dull sparkle of his coat.

Celestia leaned down towards the pegasus to observe him better. "I have heard about ponies like this... I believe they are from a land called the Crystal Empire... Already more civilized than this land is. I'm surprised they are actually... real.”

Luna looked at Celestia. "He ist not in good shape. Sister, we mist take him to the palace. The doctors--”

The pegasus groaned and opened his eyes. "Ngh..." He looked up and gasped when he saw the three strangers before him, then quickly scooted away from them.

Celestia waved her hoof a bit and spoke to the pegasus calmly. "Relax, friend. We are not going to hurt you. It is alright.”

The pegasus shivered a bit as he turned to look at all three of them. He scooted back as quickly as he could. "Wh-Who art thou?!" His voice rose a bit out of fear, and he breathed heavily. At that point, he was not sure whether he could trust those strangers, but... At least two of them seemed like they could be relied upon...  

"Wow, talk about scaredy-cat with a capital S. My name is Wilder." He presented himself as he summoned a couch, which he sat on.

Celestia smiled as she looked down at the colt. Though she sounded a bit younger than him, she was actually a bit taller than he was. "I am Princess Celestia, and this is my younger sister, Luna."

Luna did a brief curtsy before proceeding to question the outsider. "Whence camest thou, stranger?" Her voice was as serious and businesslike as ever.

"I... I came from, from the Crystal Empire... I-I barely made it out of there... King Sombra..." He shivered again and covered his head with his hooves for a few seconds before he composed himself.

Celestia patted his back. "There, there, calm down... Come with us. You need help and we’ll be glad to do so. I will call for some guards to come assist, you must be too exhausted to fly.”

Luna looked over her shoulder at the sky. "The time to raise the moon ist coming. We must go, sister."

Celestia looked at Luna as the pegasus stood up, though he still shook slightly. "It is okay, Luna. You may go and raise the sun. We will be alright here.”

Luna nodded and flew off.

Wilder glanced at Celestia, then smirked a bit as they started to walk. "You know, it's none of my business. But if you two are princesses, does that mean this King Sombra guy is your father?" He snapped his fingers and made his puppy-royal guards appear to assist them.

Celestia frowned at his question. "Of course not! We are not relatives of his, especially with all the evil that has been told about him. We would never be related to that. Our parents were completely different royals. The King that raised the Sun and the Queen that raised the Moon. They were not relatives of Sombra's, either. To be honest, I do not think he has any relatives."

"Phew! That’s a relief. You really don’t strike me as the type with connections to a guy like him.”

Celestia gave him a dull look. “Really?”

Wilder ignored her sarcastic remark as the royal pup guards lifted the pegasus, despite the pony’s weak protests, embarrassment, and the puzzled looks that he gave to the guards. “Well, let's take this one back to the palace. I'm just as curious about him as you are."

Celestia nodded and walked towards the guards. Before she got very far, she stopped and looked at Wilder again. "Thank you for helping. It is quite considerate of you."

"You could say that..." He floated next to the pegasus, smirking as he watched him. "Or, maybe I’m just really interested in how he got his candy skin."

They appeared inside the palace. Wilder continued to study the pegasus pony that the guards carried. He ignored the fact that it made him uncomfortable.

“Um... E-Excuse me...” He stammered and looked away when Wilder floated closer. “Nnhh...”

Celestia stepped closer to the two. “Oh, please do not mind him. Wilder does all sorts of odd stuff in order to have some fun. Do you not, Wilder?”

Wilder chuckled. “I’d say he’s one of the most interesting ponies I’ve met so far! Mainly because of his candy skin, really. I’d like to know how he--”

“Enough, Wilder, our guest needs his rest. Please have him taken to the infirmary.”

Wilder sighed and waved his paw so that the guards obeyed his command.

Celestia shook her head. He really needs to release them from that spell already... She frowned a bit and looked at Wilder. "Candy skin? It does not really look like that..."

“You’re right, more like... dull diamonds. But I’ve never really been a fan of those...” Wilder floated beside Celestia as they walked down the hall. He looked around the palace as they chatted.

“Do you like it, Wilder?”

“Hm. This place is very big, isn’t it? But very dull, too. Boring... Why do you keep such big places if you’re going to make them boring?”

She chuckled and shook her head slightly. “Are you hungry, Wilder? I could have something prepared for you. It is dinner time, after all."

"Don't worry, I already ate.” He floated up to the large windows of the palace. “I must say, these have some delectable glass frames." He appeared a small piece of colored glass, which held the face of a pony, and swallowed it.

Celestia blinked as he watched him. "You can... eat glass?" She did not sound very surprised, though. She figured that would be something normal for him to do, considering all the oddities that she had witnessed from him so far.

"Care for a piece?" He pulled another piece, one with a bearded pony painted on it. "What do you eat?" He gestured to her as he ate the frame of Starswirl the Bearded.

"We eat... well, organic stuff. Fruit, vegetables, grains, flowers, things like that. We also consume dairy and sweets." She looked at the pieces of glass that floated out of the windows, towards Wilder. "I suppose our diet is very different.”

“Yeah, I suppose. What you eat does sound pretty appetizing, though. But enough of our dietary conversation. How’s our guest doing? Do you plan to ask him anything about the king guy?" He disappeared and appeared above her. "It seems like he has a different... style, to rule his people."

"Yes, indeed it does. I do plan to find out more about the Empire and how we can help it. But I think we should let him rest before we ask questions that he will find difficult to answer. I would not want to upset him when he is finally calming down.”

Wilder tilted his head a bit as she sighed and paced around the floor.

“It will, however, inevitably lead to King Sombra... We'll have to find a way to stop him... I cannot stand by while I know that other ponies are being harmed and tormented..." She looked up at the sun as she started to set it, and the moon began to show on the sky.

He gave her a puzzled look. "What is so bad about disharmony? I have been here only a few days, but I still don't understand. Why the big fuss over peace and order? If nothing made sense, then no pain or harm could be done. Don’t you think so?”

Celestia turned back to look at him again. Her face was patient, for she understood that Wilder needed a bit of time to get used to their lifestyle. She had figured out a while ago that perhaps Wilder had come from an environment that perhaps was not the best.

Who knows, maybe he had even run away from it, but he did not remember. Whatever the reason for his arrival, she would always be happy to explain with all patience why their way of living was necessary, why their world needed order and positive actions and emotions to survive. Patience and good teaching was all he needed, she decided.

“It would do harm, actually. I have told you before, everything is connected to the balance of right and wrong. It is from this perfect balance that life is sustained. Creatures depend in the benefit of nature’s rightful course to survive and grow, Wilder.”

Wilder looked up in thought. He tried to understand Celestia’s explanation, but... Something inside him just would not budge. It told him that there had to be another way to live... That did not make much sense, either, but Wilder enjoyed to think of it.

“Hm... I bet everypony could ‘survive and grow’ in a more flexible way. Something less tedious.”

She walked to the window as Wilder floated closer to her. She pointed with her hoof, at the large gardens, and the land that surrounded the palace. “See all of this? Is it not beautiful the way it is? Believe it or not, it is natural beauty, Wilder. Our subjects and us did not have to do much to make the land grow. Our parents began their dream of building a kingdom here, and we have kept it alive ever since, working hard to achieve the best for our ponyfolk.”

“But, it could be--”

“We have achieved this by working together with the creatures that already existed in this place. My family made treaties and agreements with them all, and before long, ponies moved in when it was safe to do so. The ancestors of this land were happy that we respected the agreements and rules, and my kind was happy to comply and live in peace. I know you think it is tedious, but unity with one another helps us work together to progress. We achieve unity by being in harmony, by understanding one another. Like the ancestors of this land once understood my parents’ dreams.”

“Some genius creatures they were.”

“Yes... But, everything must be in order for all to be safe. Otherwise... Danger would arise, because of rebellious forms of life, and... it would endanger the life that has already been built here.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is important that you understand what I am trying to explain to you, Wilder. It is important that everypony does. Otherwise... Others have failed to understand in the past. Like, King Sombra. Like, perhaps the dangers that my parents dealt with before our time. I do believe it could have been avoided, if only our message of peace had been clearer.”

“Message of peace...?”

“Yes. Look around you. I believe that you can see it. Everypony is happy with peace and harmony. Without it, everypony would be against each other, with no bonds and no happiness at all. There really is no reason to disturb this peace, is there? It does not harm anypony, at the contrary. An environment that does hurt others... Our guest probably escaped from something like that. From a place that was anything but peaceful and understanding. He seemed very exhausted, sad, and worried. I would not want anypony to feel like that. I want the best that I can offer to them. Would you not like the same?”

Wilder shrugged as he looked away from the window. “If you say so... Now stop the lecture, will you?” He held his head and blew his white bangs away from his eyes. “You’re giving me a headache.”

Celestia walked away from the window. “I myself do not get why it is so difficult to understand. It makes me wonder where you came from, Wilder. Was it from a very chaotic place?"

"I already told you, I don't remember. I only recall a voice that spoke in the dark. If you know of a way to reach more memories than that, I’d love if you told me about it."

"Concentrating very hard is a way. Letting yourself think back until that point." She laughed a bit and shook her head. "For you to do something like that would be difficult, though.”

“Pfft, yeah, you’re basically setting an impossible task... If that’s what it takes, then I’ll be amnesic forever--”

She walked up to him. “It is okay, Wilder. If you would like, you could become a part of our community and live here, in this land. We would be glad to have somepony like you. They would be glad to play with you, and put up with your antics... As long as your magic can be reversed... and you let ponies keep their free will.”

“You’d be willing to let me use my magic after all?”

“Oh, of course! The things that you make with your magic are fun, in a peculiar way. After all, you are right: it is healthy to have fun... So long as there is a balance. Perhaps you are the embodiment of that, Wilder. The bringer of fun and spontaneous occurrences."

"I had not thought about it that way...” He smiled brightly as he looked at her with an excited expression. “Maybe you're right. The ponies around here could really use a laugh.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, for sure. And I'm the perfect guy for the job!" He transformed the room into an indoor beach and put on his sunglasses. Then he laid back in the air and blew his tuft of mane out of the sunglasses' view.

She laughed again and shook her head as he gave her a thumbs-up. "You definitely are."

“Alright, then! Let’s go find something fun to do! Ponies are in urgent need of fun and novelty! C’mon, princess, let’s go!”

“Wilder, you hyperactive joker, you...”

Wilder started to float away while Celestia followed. He took his plannings seriously, if only to amuse Celestia and himself, for they knew that he never really took anything ‘seriously’.

“I wonder what it could be. Maybe turning the palace into cheese! No, not good... We should have a ramp and then slide down from it with boards or something! Imagine how fast we would go! And, it’d fall upwards, right into the clouds! Oh, I love doing that.”

She gave him a small smile as he continued to talk with hardly any moment to catch his breath. “Just do not forget to put the windows back the way they were, Wilder..."