Misc. Prompts: Chaos Control

PROMPT: https://boards.4channel.org/mlp/thread/34762033#p34766924 and others referencing a recurring idea.

>”Fancy meeting you here, Chaos.”
“Keep your voice down, Shadow, you’ll draw it’s attention.”
>”What if that’s what I want?”
“I know you’re stupid, but you’re not suicidal.”
>You look out through the human’s vision, a grand window at the opposite end of the chamber.
>The hiking trail continues to pass you by, so serene and…
>Boring.
>”How close did you get this time?”
“Whatever do you mean?”
>”He only comes out here when you’re working on him.”
>You turn your attention back to the dim recesses of the human’s mindscape’s perimeter, to the nebulous form of your unwelcome companion.
“You know how close I get. It’s as close as you get, as close as Fear gets, and all the rest.”
>”Yet you keep trying. Maybe it’s you who’s suicidal.”
“Please, you know I have a lifeline.”
>”Your ‘lifeline’ cares less for you by the day”
“Still better than you can say. Now stuff it.”
>Ah, there!
>Some of the trees here are marked.
>Why?
>Who cares.
>Well, some creature does presumably, but that’s why this would be interesting.
>You walk forward into the mindscape’s gloom, to the big glass orb that represented the human’s consciousness in the center of the abstract ‘room’. As you do, you reach out and tap a talon along one of the many iron chains holding it over that blasted pit, anchored to the outer walls.
>Once you arrive at that circular pit’s edge, that infinite void extending down, you reach out the the curved glass surface before you, admiring the many colors swirling within.
>When you tap the glass, unlike the chains, your talon sinks in slightly, sending ripples out across its solid surface.
>Not too deep now!
>You’ll wake it.
“Go over to there, switch those little ribbons around.”
>The colors swirl beneath your talon-tip, brushing it occasionally with alien sensations.
>You sink your talon to the first knuckle.
“Come on, wouldn’t it be funny?“
>Some of the swirling colors shift slightly, and a small vortex starts to form around where your claw penetrates the human’s consciousness.
>Just a little more…
“Even the forest needs a little redecorating time to time, huh?”
>From the pit below, a glow
>Oh no.
>”WHY IS THAT RIBBON ORANGE?”
>You jerk your claw back as fast as possible, the mind’s rippling surface reversing itself to fill the gap where you intruded.
>”GOD DAMN I HATE ORANGE.”
>You scurry back to the alcove where Shadow waits, your eyes wide and breathing heavy.
>”WHAT A STUPID FUCKING COLOR.”
>Shadow’s projected form is holding its stomach, a gnarled hoof over its mouth to stifle laughter.
>”ARE YOU RED OR YELLOW? MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY.”
>The glow from the bottom of the pit fades.
>Shadow finally lets its laughter ring out. ”Such a trifling task, and you couldn’t even convince the human of that.”
“At least I’m trying. You’re the coward too scared to even make a sound. Why don’t you take a shot and see what happens?”
>”You think I came here to try this folly again?”
“If not that, then why?”
>Shadow’s vaguely unicorn-shaped head turns to you. A dark band obscures its eyes as always, but a faint grin tells you enough of its expression. “I came here to laugh at you.”
“Bah. Take a shot.”
>Shadow looks you over, then tilts and dips its head in an exaggerated mock-acquiescence. “For old time’s sake.”
>As Shadow walks towards the center of the conceptual chamber, a pegasus mare comes into the human’s view.
>”An opportunity presents itself,” Shadow says, touching the tip of its horn to the mind-glass.
>Shadow has the swirling colors responding to its touch immediately.
>”I know your urges, human. Unburden yourself of them. I bet she’s in heat, it’ll be quick.”
>The same rough handling that allows Shadow to influence the human so easily, however, also rouses other things to alertness.
>”>RAPE”
>Shadow sets its jaw and pushes its horn deeper.
>”Take her!”
>The glow from the pit brightens, shafts of light like flickering flames reaching up to touch the huge glass orb chained over them.
>”I THINK I’M SOPHISTICATED ‘CAUSE I’M LIVING MY LIFE LIKE A GOOD HOMO SAPIEN”
>By the Poles, it’s singing.
>Again.
>Shadow’s gritting its jaw, now. “Do what you want! Do it, you ape!”
>”I WANT TO SAIL AWAY TO A DISTANT SHORE AND MAKE LIKE AN APE MAN”
>”Yes! Set yourself upon her like the ape you are!”
>The light’s blinding now, tendrils of fire licking up over the edge of the pit. The billowing smoke framing Shadow’s form peel away, blasted off of its source.
>”I’M A KING KONG MAN, I’M A VOODOO MAN, YES I’M AN APE MAN.”
>Shadow’s crying out with an indistinct shout, plunging its horn so far its face is almost touching the glass.
>But the flames from the pit are too much for its form, and it lets itself become incorporeal, a great dark cloud forced back by the copious light.
>Shadow resumes approximating a body when it’s blown back to your side.
“I can’t believe you stayed in that long. You’re definitely the suicidal one, between us.”
>”What even was that?”
“The human gets songs stuck in here all the time. For no reason at all. The songs tend to drown out whatever you’re trying to do. They don’t even mean anything, unlike the ponies he lives with.”
>The view outside passes the mare with only a lingering gaze.
>”This is insanity.”
“Yep.”
>”You’re insane for even attempting this, still.”
“Insanity was kinda my thing.”
>”Even still!”
>The trail winds around near a scenic overlook, here. The human slows as he takes it in, leaving the path to move towards its edge.
>A spiral of flame jets out from the pit, spearing the glass sphere and continuing out its other side to the mindscape’s ceiling.
>”HEY MAN, CHECK IT OUT. NO RAILINGS.”
>The human peers down the steep embankment.
>”LONG WAY DOWN, CHAP. DEFINITELY NOT OSHA APPROVED.”
>The view shifts back to the horizon, looking out across the landscape.
>”I WONDER WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO FALL SO FAR. CAN FIND OUT RIGHT NOW IF YOU-”
>The iron chains securing the orb of the human’s consciousness suddenly snap taught, lifting the massive glass sphere up a full three feet.
>The spiral flame winks out.
>The view outside shifts as the human shakes his head, then turns back down the trail, the way he came.
>You and Shadow slowly relax.
>”If insanity is your thing, feel free to describe that to me.”
“That wasn’t even self-loathing. That was genuine curiosity, destructive as it could have been.”
>”How is this creature still alive, with such whispering?”
>You pat where one of the chains disappears into a wall, as those massive iron links slowly reel out to lower the orb to its usual position.
“Willpower. Sometimes he wakes up in the morning with another dumb song stuck in his head. Sometimes he wakes up with the pit telling him that everything he could possibly do is meaningless, so he should just sleep in.”
>”Madness.”
“You know why we can never get a hold on him?”
>Shadow’s hooded gaze looks to you, its head tilted in curiosity.
“Because the only thing that bothers him is himself. Anything we can try to do, he’s already considered. Fear only gets as close as it has because the human gives it so much to work with. Love the same. But he can’t be compelled, because he’s spent his whole life resisting compulsions dumber than any we can try. If he’s going to do something, it’s either going to be because he wants to, or because that pit finally wins.”
>”So why do you insist on continuing?”
>You shrug your avian shoulders.
“Because I’ve grown fond of him.”
>That inquisitive tilt becomes a level stare. “Too bad you can’t choose anymore.”
“Mmm. Too bad.”

* * *

>You reach Fluttershy’s college just as the first signs of a headache start tickling your brain.
>You knock on the door a little harder than you’d meant to.
>This brings the nervous pony to the door all the faster.
>She looks up at you with a warm smile as she cranes her head up to look at you. “Hello, Anon. Are you here to see Discord?”
“You know it.”
>She beams up at you. Something about your height comforts her, you guess. She tolerates Discord despite her nerves, and he’s tall too.
>Marelets know their betters, you guess.
>She leads you inside, where Discord’s sitting at a table with a tea set.
“Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”
>”I’d be happy if you could join us,” Fluttershy says, barely audible with the distance between your head and hers.
>MARELETS.
“I need to talk to him privately about something.”
>Discord looks between you and Fluttershy, then smiles. “Don’t worry, my dear. We can pick up where we left off.” With a snap of his fingers, the tea set disappears. “I’ll even keep it warm for us.”
>Fluttershy initially looks sad, but brightens a moment later. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
>She then trots out a back door, towards where the animals are kept. Where she kept you, your first week here.
>You sigh and stack two stools on top of each other, then sit on them.
>Discord snaps again, and some alcohol and shotglasses appears where the tea set was. “I didn’t take you for a day drinker, Anon.”
“I’m not, and this headache doesn’t need any help.”
>Discord shrugs, and with a wave of his paw, the bottle and glasses blow away like whisps of fog, disappearing into the air. “Then why did you interrupt our most wonderful tea?”
“Your thing is in my head again.”
>”Oh?”
“Call it off.”
>Discord sighs, then taps your forehead with a talon and turns his claw as if grasping a rope. Then he yanks that imaginary rope back.
>A small grey fuzzy ball pops out of your head, towards his.
>He opens his mouth wide and intercepts it, snapping his jaw closed with a clack, then seems to chew and swallow it.
“Thanks.”
>”Surely you know this is just a temporary fix.”
“Yeah but it helps. I don’t know why it’s so interested in me.”
>Discord shrugs again. “It’s trying to escape.”
“Escape what?”
>He flashes a snaggletoothed grin. “Me.”
>You stare at him for a long moment.
>You’d never considered how, exactly, the power dynamic here worked.
“Er, what even is it, then? I thought it was chaos, or some spirit of it.”
>Discord nods, faux solemnity across his face.
“Then why would it be trying to escape the avatar of chaos? Are you being too orderly, lately?”
>The draconequus makes a show of tapping his chin in thought. “For all the drinks we’ve shared, I never told you, did I?”
“Look, I have no idea how this stuff works. You’re sitting here in the forest, there’s alicorns fucking with the sky, Twilight’s shooting friendship lasers at people, this whole place is whack.”
>Even through his theatrics, you can see his expression darken slightly. “Don’t compare me to them.”
“Why not? I mean, they beat you. Isn’t that why you’re here? Because you acknowledge it?”
>”What I’m about to tell you, Anon, I tell you out of respect for your companionship. You’re not to tell this to any other pony, not even Fluttershy. There’s few alive today who know how the old ways worked.”
>You’ve never seen Discord look so…
>Severe.
>You nod mutely.
>He brightens considerably, at that. “Excellent! Oh, where to start, it’s been so long since I’ve gotten to talk about this stuff.”
>A glowing shape appears in the air, like sticks forced through a ball, each end sticking out the same amount and each end perpendicular to two others, so they correspond to the three physical dimensions
>Then there are a couple more sticks, forced through on dimensions that don’t exist.
“If you insist on making my headache worse, I may as well have those drinks to match.”
>A glass of hard cider appears in your hand.
>You close your fingers around it before it could fall and take a swig.
>”I’m sure you’re aware there are great forces in this world. Forces with wills of their own. The figures you mentioned before represent some; Chaos, Light, Dreams, Harmony, respectively. But the forces exist separately of their avatars.”
>He knocks the glowing form with a knuckle, sending it into a spin. Those fake dimensions rotate around and implode through the center as the more mundane ones simply turn.
>You take another swig from your glass.
>”But there’s a big difference between those silly alicorns and I. The proof is easy enough to see.”
>He sweeps an arm to indicate his own body.
“I thought you just looked like that because, y’know, chaos.”
>”Oh yes! But it’s the extent. The severity, you might say. I was dreadfully symmetrical, in my youth.”
“And the Alicorns?”
>”All creatures touched by these forces are changed, their physical forms twisted in ways suiting their powers. Harmony changed the three alicorns you mentioned. When it abandoned the rulers of this land, new powers found them, and kept those changes. Twilight, of course, still holds Harmony’s good grace.”
“But they just got all the pony bits smashed together. So why are you so much more twisted?”
>”Because, my good human friend, I’m on an entirely different level.”
>Where was he going with this, anyway?
>You took another drink to put that thought into words.
“What does this have to do with Chaos trying to escape you?”
>”It’s grown to despise me.”
“But you are chaos!”
>”Of a sort. I’m whimsy. Chaos thinks that’s limiting.”
“Er...”
>You take another swig.
>A long one.
>Discord picks up on your continuing confusion. “The difference between the Princesses and I, in our power levels, is quite simple. They were chosen by their forces, they have access to only a portion that force desires them to have. That’s why they need their silly little gems to use it. Me? I wasn’t chosen. I took Chaos by force. And I took it all.”
>He snaps his fingers again, inverting the whole room upside-down, and gravity with it as to not disturb its arrangement.
>”I need no trinkets or baubles. I can use Chaos as I see fit. But, more relevant to this discussion, I can shackle it to my will. That was, after all, the whole reason I did it in the first place.”
>By now you’ve drained your glass, and you slam it down – up – on the table.
“Run that one by me. Why was that?”
>”I was tired of it interfering with my plans.”
“You? Plans? You fuck up your own plans on the reg.”
>”It keeps things interesting when I give the world a steep handicap.”
“You’re telling me you went out and harnessed some fundamental force of the universe because you were irritated?”
>”Oh yes. Chaos enjoys messing up people’s work. I grew tired enough of that I decided to put an end to it. It was easy really, I simply had to outplan its ability to screw up my plans.”
“That’s insane.”
>Discord grins. “Insanity is what Chaos was doing before I stepped in. Now I limit it to just whimsy. If you remain unconvinced, ask Celestia sometime. She remembers what I was like when I decided to actually put my strategic talents to use.”
“Alright, so Chaos wants to escape you… into me?”
>”I would assume!”
>The room’s back the way it should be.
>You don’t remember it happening, it’s just like that now.
>Was it even screwed up in the first place?
“Why does it want me?”
>Discord stares at you blankly for several seconds, then his face lights up. “Oh! It seems it likes you. You have a curious resistance it wants to know more about.”
“Resistance?”
>Discord punches himself in the side of the head a few times. “Ah there it is. Yes. Says it’s not the only force messing with you, just the most persistent. Oh. Curious.”
>Discord looks you up and down intently, as if seeing you for the first time.
>”Apparently, they can’t do anything to you that you haven’t already done to yourself.”
“That’s fucked up.”
>”It’s your mind, friend. It raises some interesting possibilities, though!”
“Like what?”
>”Like this world might finally see another master, instead of just a bunch of champions, if you put your mind to it.”
>What.
>Is he saying what you think he’s saying?
>Holy fuck.
>You take a long swig of your cider, then lean forward across the table, meeting his uneven gaze.
“Teach me.”
>That snaggletoothed grin shines again. “Oh, this’ll be fun.”