Chaos Origin Chapter 23

Harmony Is Officially Dead

Twilight Sparkle continued to ponder Discord’s riddle. It was harder to do than it seemed, considering that her five uncooperative friends and their bickering distracted her from the troublesome, cunning message that Discord had given them. The constant change of the bizarre environment did not help her, either.

But at last, under the torrents of chocolate rain and the then nearly deserted area that once was the Canterlot Palace garden grounds, Twilight finally came upon a realization.

She figured out that the Golden Oaks Library, which was also her home, might help them find the Elements of Harmony. With plenty of struggles, she and the other five mares made their way back to Ponyville and reached the tree library. On the way, Twilight continued to be aggravated by her friends’ unusual nature, and, of course, by Discord’s teasing and smug gloating as well.

The latter was one of the most irritating annoyances of all.

And just as she thought of that... She nearly scolded herself for having summoned the draconequus with her thoughts. She watched as he slid across the roads, which were formerly made of dirt before he turned them into soap.

He smirked at Twilight as he slid past her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He proudly pointed to the town that literally floated upside-down before them. “This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes!” He leaned towards her while bending upside-down for a second.

He surprised Twilight when he popped from her side, seemingly out of nowhere, and carried her in his lion arm. “Picture it. The Chaos Capital of the World!” He held her in front of him for her to bask in the grandness that would be his Chaos Capital.

Suddenly, the moon slid up on the sky and surrounded everything in the darkness of night.

Twilight squinted her eyes as she did as Discord had told her. “I can’t picture anything. It’s too dark.” She turned away from the dark sight, then dropped down onto the soap road as Discord dropped her.

Discord waved his lion claw dismissively as he continued to smirk at Twilight. “Well, wait a few minutes and you’ll see it in the beautiful light of day. Or not.” With that, he sprang into the air with his arms raised over him and vanished in a flash of light.

Twilight held on to her resolve as she vowed to restore her beloved town to normal... But she was once again discouraged as her pessimistic friends put her down once again with their negative comments and mocking laughter. “Argh...”

~~~

Regardless of the delays and annoyances, Twilight Sparkle kept on moving through the altered Ponyville, though not as patiently and optimistically as she would have liked.

She sighed once they reached the library, and turned to the others with a pleading, tired look. "Okay, we're here. Everyone, pleeease, please, please just go inside, please?"

Applejack was the first to head into the tree library. As she did so, her color faded even more as she did. "I absolutely refuse."

Fluttershy flew over to the entrance after Applejack. "With pleasure." She stomped on some of the flowers that surrounded the tree before she headed inside. Her color was drained too, as were the others.

"I hate libraries!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed before she walked inside.

Twilight groaned and turned back to see that Rarity was still struggling to move forward with her ridiculously big and heavy ‘diamond’ rock in tow. "Pleeeease, we’ve gotta hurry!"

Rarity shook her head and gave Twilight a look. "Forget it, Twilight. I know what you're up to. The second I go in, you'll have your little minion Spike come and take Tom!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Tom?"

“Well, it’s not going to work!” Rarity patted ‘Tom’ affectionately and leaned against him just as the dim color of her mane, coat, and even her eyes practically vanished into gray.

Twilight gave her a weary and irritated look. "You're not going in without him, are you?"

Rarity shook her head firmly.

Twilight sighed. “Fine!” She grunted as she carried Tom into the library herself, while Rarity followed.

~~~

Minutes passed in an aggravatingly slow manner. Twilight had to deal with everypony's troublesome attitude while she tried to get to work. She was not in the mood to even properly explain what was happening to a confused Spike as he trailed along with Twilight.

Spike looked at the strange scene of oddly behaving ponies before him. "What's happened to everypony?"

Applejack walked behind him with a solemn look on her face. "Ah guess you just bring out the worst in us, Spike."

Twilight groaned and walked to the bookshelves to search. "Ugh. No time to explain. We've got to find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony before somepony does something she'll regret!" She gritted her teeth as she looked back at her friends.

"The Elements of Harmony? Oh, I know exactly where that book is.” He climbed up the ladder to get a book out of the shelf. He held it out for Twilight to see. “Found it!" He grunted as Fluttershy threw a scroll at him, then gave her a look once she caught it and mocked him when the book fell out of his claw.

Twilight glared at her pegasus friend as she approached her with her head lowered. "Fluttershy...” She stomped her hoof forward and spoke very seriously. “You'd better give me that book!"

Fluttershy smirked and looked at the others. "Keep away~!" She tossed the book forward.

Twilight had to go through the extra task of trying to get the book from her stubborn friends as they kept tossing it back and forth between each other.

Rarity lifted the book with her magic and ran away. "Mine!"

"Hey! Do you even know what you just stole?!" Twilight screamed as she quickly chased after Rarity.

"No, but if you want it, I want it!" Rarity continued to run away from Twilight, even when the unicorn librarian growled and exploded in anger. As the two ran around the library, Rarity knocked down objects for Twilight to trip and fall with, though Twilight dodged them.

The other five all continued to give Twilight a very hard time. They even went as far as to help each other avoid the violet unicorn to further aggravate her. The last straw was drawn when Fluttershy lifted Rarity up in the air to make Twilight crash face-first into Tom.

She breathed heavily as picked herself up from the floor. “Where is she? Where’s Rarity?!” She turned to glare demandingly at Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

Applejack turned her face upwards as she answered Twilight’s question. “Beats me.”

“LIES!” Twilight pounced on her friends and got into a very intense fight with them. Despite the blows and bites, she defended her right to the book with tooth and hoof. Finally, she ended up victorious, clutching the book in her hooves as she landed on the floor, away from the others.

"Get back! All of you! This is MY book. And I'm going to READ IT!" Twilight screamed at them hysterically when they tried to approach her.

Spike threatened them with a rolled scroll as he stood guard beside Twilight.

Twilight opened the book once she figured it was safe to do so. She gasped as she looked down at the open book, which was supposed to have words and different illustrations printed across the pages. Instead, the book was hollow and held the six Element artifacts inside. "The Elements! They were here all along!"

Spike smiled at Twilight as he turned to look at her and the Elements of Harmony. "This is great! Now you guys can defeat Discord and put everything back to normal!"

Twilight ran over to the other five. Spike followed her and held the book up over him for them to see. "See, girls? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony! Together!"

They remained unresponsive to her enthusiasm. Rarity was busy polishing her Tom, Fluttershy annoyed Pinkie Pie by swatting her hoof at her mane, and Applejack shamelessly yawned.

Twilight walked closer to them and gave them a deadpan look. "You don't even care, do you."

They were quick to reply, and, surprisingly, all of them did so with unhesitant honesty. "NO!"

Twilight sighed discouragingly. "I never thought it would happen. My friends...” She frowned and raised her voice. “Have turned into complete JERKS!"

She firmly placed the Element necklaces on everypony. "Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! And..." She donned her own Element tiara. "Big crown thingy! Come on, everypony. Let's go!"

Spike caught up to Twilight as she walked. "But, Twilight, aren't you missing somepony?"

"Nope. We've got the Liar, the Grump, the Hoarder, and the Brute. That just about covers it."

He looked at the other five. "But, what about Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight looked up, thoroughly annoyed. She got an idea, placing the remaining element on Spike's neck. "Congratulations, Spike. You're the new Rainbow Dash. Now, let’s go!"

Spike gasped. "Me?! B-B-But, what if she finds out I've been impersonating her?!” He groaned as he shook his head and stared at the ground. “Ohh. That won't end well."

Twilight ignored him. "Too bad, you're Rainbow Dash.” She walked forward, towards the exit. “Now, let's go defeat Discord so we don't ever have to talk to each other again!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Spike was trampled by the other eager, cheering ponies that stampeded out of the library.

...Except for Rarity, of course. She was still pushing Tom along.

Twilight had thoroughly lost her patience by that time. She dashed behind her and snapped at her. "Move!” Her yell made Rarity let out a startle neigh and cower. Meanwhile, Twilight, once again, took care of Tom’s hauling herself. “Look out, here comes Tom!" She threw the rock out of the library using her magic.

As the Mane Six made their way out, they were met by Discord, who floated outside of the library. "Well, well, well. I see you have found the Elements of Harmony. How terrifying!" He spoke with plenty of mockery and irony in his voice.

Twilight walked closer to him and glared. "Discord! I've figured out your lame riddle. You're in for it now!"

He stepped down on the multi-colored tiled ground. "I certainly am. You've clearly outdueled me." He mocked her with a dramatic act. "And now it's time for me to meet my fate." He appeared a pair of green shades and placed them over his eyes. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire, when ready." He spoke in an unanticipated tone, followed by the forming of a target circle on himself.

"Formation, now!" Twilight called as the other four appeared around her. They seemed quite uninterested.

"Eh" They all said as they walked up to her.

Twilight looked around and found Spike hiding behind Tom. "Rainbow Dash, get over here!"

Spike reluctantly joined the others.

Twilight faced the front with determined eyes. "Alright, let's get this over with."

The Elements they wore all began to shine. All except for the one Spike held around his neck. The ponies were levitated in the air by the force of the Elements. They each released the aura of the Element they wore, and finally, a blinding flash of white light was quickly expelled from them.

Discord lowered his shades a bit to stare at them as the Elements were activated. Doubt lighted in him as he became unsure if the spell would really work or not.

After a short time, however, the light simply vanished, and all five of them fell back on the ground.

Twilight looked around them with confusion in her eyes. "What’s going on?"

Applejack held her necklace. "Mine's workin'. There must be somethin' wrong with yours.” She looked and pointed at Twilight accusingly and received a glare in return.

Pinkie Pie huffed a bit. "I HATE the Elements of Harmony!"

Fluttershy took her necklace off and threw it aside. "Hmph! Garbage."

Rarity launched herself at the abandoned necklace to snatch it. "MINE!"

Spike took Rainbow Dash’s necklace off and set it down beside Twilight. "Sorry, Twilight. I guess I'd better get back upstairs and clean up the library. Good luck with all this--whoa!" He screamed as Fluttershy tripped him with her tail.

"Oops. Sorry, Rainbow Crash." The pegasus giggled.

"Bravo, ponies! Bravo!" Discord mocked them as he walked towards them. He clapped his claw and paw together, but switched the clapping noise to different sounds. "Harmony in Equestria is officially dead!"

He spoke joyfully as he walked over to Twilight. "Discord rules, Celestia drools."

Twilight growled and glared at him. Oh, no way. He didn’t just...!

Discord laughed triumphantly and skied away in the new soap roads.

Pinkie Pie glared forward. “It’s your fault it didn’t work!”

Twilight looked at her. “Who are you talking to?”

“Any of you! To ALL OF YOU! I’m outta here!” Pinkie Pie then bounced away from them.

Applejack frowned as she walked away in front of Twilight. “Ah better go, too. I've got new better friends waiting for me at the farm.”

Rarity grunted as she pushed Tom with her back.

Fluttershy flew away. She glared down at Twilight as she passed her. “Yeah! I’m sick of you losers."

"FINE! Leave! See if I care! With friends like you, who needs... enemies...?" Twilight lowered her head as she lost all of her color as well. She shed broken-hearted tears before she walked away too.

~~~

A cotton candy cloud rained chocolate milk relentlessly upon Twilight as she walked through the chaotic Ponyville without paying it much mind.

She couldn’t stop thinking as she walked. I can’t believe it all led up to this. I should have known. Why even bother, then? Ugh, all that we went through... All that I went through... Everything, ignored and just... cast away with Discord’s lame magic. Some friends they were... It just meant nothing.

Discord appeared before Twilight and laughed. “Oh, my stomach!”

He teleported again, and appeared floating beside her. “Twilight, you've got to see what I just did.” He pointed forward with his eagle claw.

Berry Punch sneezed after being subjected to a giant pepper shaker’s torture. Her sneeze brought cardboard buildings down all around her.

Discord laughed again. “It's priceless!” He looked at Twilight and saw that she had not even glanced upwards to see. She still walked with her head lowered, wallowing in gloomy thoughts, under the chocolatey rain of the cotton candy cloud.

He disappeared in a white flash and then appeared in front of her, holding a pink and white cone. “Come now, Twilight Sparkle. You've got to get into the spirit of things!” He pulled the cloud from above Twilight and started to eat it. “After all, this is your new home.”

Twilight looked back at what used to be the nice, tranquil town known as Ponyville. She contemplated the bizarre disaster that she had become.

Just a day... or some nights, or... A while ago, anyway, the town had been normal and happy, as she had been. She and her friends were most likely going to do something fun together. It was going to be a new day where she perhaps would learn something new, worth sharing with the Princess.

Or perhaps it wasn’t going to be that much a novelty, their day. Maybe it was going to be nothing but routine. It wouldn’t have mattered to her and the ponies of Ponyville. They would have all been quite content in the peaceful lives that they had led until that day.

She would have happily performed the routine with her friends, and they would get together with her just as content as she would have felt. Or... So Twilight believed, anyway.

She would never know what that day, or those days, would have been like. She would never even be back to a normal life for that matter. At the moment, she was only full of doubts, sadness, regret... and resignation.

Not to mention the thoughts that plagued her mind and would not let her be. She had always confronted the unknown and the uncertain or problematic. But at that moment, she felt she had had just about enough. She was tired and sad, and could not look at the problem for one more second.

Her life would never be the same. Those she believed were her best friends had left her and changed. The happy memories were leaving her, as was the meaning of everything she had done until then. The meaning of her friendship, her fight against Discord, her education, her ‘fate’ altogether.

Things would be forever changed. Nothing would return to normal. So why should she return to the town that she had failed to help? She had had enough hopeless problems. The harmony within her, at last, was dying and cast away.

She lowered her head with disappointment and walked away. She didn’t even bother to give Discord a piece of her very troubled and depressed mind. He wasn’t worth it, and she wanted to move on from the failure Ponyville had become as soon as possible. She had enough failure to deal with in herself. “Not anymore...”

Discord watched her leave. “Yes!” He then swung his eagle claw down and leaped in the air triumphantly. He laughed and wiggled in the air as he thoroughly enjoyed his victory. He snickered as he got a few more ideas to further his amusement.