Elite Shenanigans [Smoky Gears; Complete]

[RexDraco]

On a day like today Ponyville was quite a -- bore. It was usually quite an adventure just getting through a weekday without a Bugbear attack, or strange weekend parties. The sun was shining and the seasons were upon the cusp of fall. There was a rustic air to the large town that gave it a very -- homey feeling. But not eveypony would find it comforting in the least. It was unusually calm this day. Not a pony in sight. The sweet smelling grasses tickled the senses and humid air left many feeling they needed to keep busy inside and on such a day it left a mischief making monster with nopony to romp in devilry with! With all the ponies inside it left him with few to play with. Passerby's partaking in short strolls to stretch their legs, or wary ponies giving the chimeric predator a wide passing. The prickly chimeric spirit sat perched upon a hill of crass with an empty glass beside him, a crazy straw leaned leisurely rest upon the crystalline edge. 

The spirit of chaos sat on his belly, his peculiar body shape coiled against the hill. His paw lay against the soft grasses, whilst his claw held perched his skull, elbow to the ground and cheek smooshed against his clenched fist. His grey brows were held flat in annoyance, ears pinned to his skull. His legs were tucked against his feather covered sides while that red, dragon's tail beat impatiently against the terra firma. In all regards he should be off causing mayhem, but today he felt unsettlingly bored. Bored? Him? Nonsense! He was never bored! No, no, no. He just has not found the perfect vic-- playmate today. It had to be the silliest thing. Him, bored. That would be like one of the sisters forgetting to raise their Celestia bodies. Stars above that would be embarrassing! 

 

His ears pricked up, swiveling forward as his brows raised. A pair of spectacles appeared on the tip of his muzzle, a tape recorder in his claw. He held the device to his muzzle and cleared his throat. "Note to self, make Celestia late in raising the sun. Or Luna the moon. How much panic would that cause?" Tons... buwhahah. The objects in question, which had been manifested on a whim, poofed just as quickly. The idea made the end of his tail curl, the white tuft flexing as if it were a hand. The tuft rolled, a light bulb appearing in its grasp. "A little idea, but the perfect remedy for this slump. It is just an artist's slump, of course. We can't all paint happy, little trees in a moment's notice."

 

He pushed to stand, all fours making him somewhat less intimidating than usual. Stretching his body out much like a cat, the seemingly harmless spirit flopped on his side. Even if he had that brilliant idea, it had not changed the fact that he was bored now! He felt tears at the edges of his eyes before finally letting out a deep yawn. He felt on the verge of hibernation, even if the humid day was leaving his fur a but frizzy and feathers a bit stiff. Dramatic perhaps, but it wouldn't suit him to simply accept the dreary day. he had to be dramatic about it and complain.

 

"Woe is me. Shall I wither away? Naught a mortal to provide, ah, valuable lessons to." He tittered at his personal musings.

 

[Novaburst]

A pony arrived in Ponyville. Yet there was something odd about the Unicorn that had arrived. For unlike regular Unicorns, Smoky Gears had a cart strapped to his back via a saddle. The cart contained many mechanical inventions,  odds and ends and materials that were all chaotically jumbled together in the cart, so they could actually fit inside the cart. Said cart weighed a lot more than it should, because of the sheer volume of stuff he'd stuffed into it. Circuitboards, wiring, metals and a lot of other pieces of junk had been stuffed into the cart. It was at that moment, coming into Ponyville Smoky Gears came to two realizations.

 

One he was jealous of Alicorns. This was not due to the magic they possessed per say, but the Earth Pony Strength they had in addition to the magic of a Unicorn. Right now his sore and aching hooves and back could definitely use that magic. And he wasn't even half way across town yet, to the place he had rented. Little did he know he was about to run into the Spirit of Chaos, and his day was about to go from bad to worse. Accidentally bumping into Discord,  he'd ask. "Aren't you supposed to be the Spirit of Chaos? The reformed Spirit of Chaos, I might add?" 

The second realization was a variant of the first. The Pegasi Speed the Alicorns possessed, plus the Earth Pony Strength would have meant he'd already have been at his destination by now.  "Question. You can do anything with Chaos Magic, right?" 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Discord slipped into daydreaming, though his daydreams tended to physically manifest everyday and not so everyday objects. While he lay sprawled in the grass, complaining uselessly, his tail's tuft had already solved a rubix cube and began work on playing Solitaire. he contemplated dropping in on Twilight for a visit, or even menacing Applejack for a little attention. The pegasui of the Mane were too far. His desire to travel was slumped and sticked like a prehistoric mosquito in amber. He fancied himself the amber in this case. Trapped by his vice of troublemaking he struggled keeping balanced at times. His nature was not something easily controlled. As he lulled, his tail still working on its game, the limb soon found itself crushed beneath a pony's clumsy nature. A shiver stalked up his spine as his tail was target of the traffic accident. Vanishing the beast reappeared with a sour note, said sad trombone dropping in a crumbled, brass heap on the grass between pony and spirit.

 

He was floating off the ground, paw and claw crossed over his chest. His head was sunk forward as his brows were creased in annoyance. The red dragon's tail dangled down toward the grass, pooling in a way that made it look as if he was being supported by it. His hoof and talon were tucked upward and his ears pinned back. Such a comment made the fur on his neck bristle, down to the base of his feathered chest. Who was this brave little pony? While he should, of course, be recognized by stylish fashion sense alone (as such a pair of killer shades appeared on his muzzle while he sported a leather jacket with perfectly coifed hair....), the following remark deflated the proud, posturing brute.

 

"Excuse you?" he pulled his head back, clearly appalled at such a vile title. 

 

Discord the Reformed?

 

Never! Discord the Great!

 

Discord the Magnificent!

 

Why even Discord the Brave.

 

But reformed? He reformed for no pony. While he did give the hero business a chance -- it was not his sthick. He was more of a passive entity that preferred indirect assistance. "No, you may not add. In fact, you would be so kind as to forget such a discrediting nickname. I didn't earn my PhD in Quantum Mechanics to be called reformed!" W-what? Perhaps he was a bit sore on the matter, not yet used to his -- more passive position after a few years of terror.

 

A rolled diploma appeared in his paw as he now seemed to sport a black gown and strange cape. Though in the stead of a golden colored tassel hanging from the cap a small, spinning fan rotated atop. He looked quite annoyed. Lowering to the ground he would now stand upon his hind legs, with an awkward stance given that his talon was slightly shorter than his hoof. When the second question followed he felt as if he was walking into another dimension. Troublesome situation that when digging through your wardrobe for Sunday dinner. A bit disconcerting at first, but the universe could never have enough hims! Buwhhehehe!

 

"Of course I can! I am Discord the Wise after all!" A new nickname? It would only due to inflate his ego....

[Novaburst]

"Well then,  Mr.Discord the Wise...you can call me Smoky Gears."  said Smoky, a bit miffed that Discord could do all that,  and not even break a sweat. Most Unicorns would be exhausted by doing any of the one of the things that Discord had just done. Materializing items was difficult, even for Smoky Gears. Sure he had been able to do so in front of Princess Luna and the Guard when he had been in Canterlot Castle. But afterward,  he had been very exhausted. It was a good thing he hadn't attended the gala because he knew he wouldn't be needed there.  "I'm curious. Have you ever ascended some pony into an Alicorn, or taught a pony to wield chaos magic as easily as you do? It makes me curious,  because there have been no recorded ponies I'm aware of to wield Chaos Magic, or have been ascended by you. In fact other than Celestia or Luna, only three ponies are Alicorns. Those are Cadance, Twilight Sparkle, and Flurry Heart. Or is Chaos Magic something a Pony must simply gain, or take... or earn?"

 

"Which do you think it actually is,  Mr.Discord the Wise?" 

 

 

 

 

[RexDraco]

The objects in question would vanish. The spirit floated up as he crossed his right talon knee over his left hoof. Forelimbs would cross as he stared down at the pony in question. A rather rude and pretentious little fellow, His ears swiveled up when the whole title was called, but the spirit wasn't sure if it was a begrudging sarcasm or a 'I've no choice, I've things to do', either way it interested the formerly bored chaos god. His red tail curled over his lap showing, once and for all, he was indeed floating, and not using the muscular wing as a prehensile tool. The idea tickled him pink! In fact he shifted into a shade of pink for a moment as his paw's digits scratched at his still-grey beard. After a moment he looked to return to normal color before looking to the pony.

 

His head tilted, brows arching at the question. His lips pulled back in amusement, revealing those front, predatory fangs. He already decided this pony was going to be his play toy fora  while after his insulting words. Reformed -- puh. Nopony could make him do what he did not want to. He choose to be a bit more relaxed in his ways, but that didn't mean he wouldn't cause chaos, stir trouble. After all how would ponies learn important life lessons, like how to deal with a flood, or a bugbear. Not that he would never admit to releasing the Bugbear, or that he was innocent of it... But who was to say how chaos worked, really... He was just the expert...

"Chaos is capable of many great and twisted things," He because boastfully. "But -- why would you be interested in chaos magic?" Now he wasn't one to inhibit progress or chaos, but...

He arched a brow and put on a serious expression before lowering his levitation a bit. "Alright, you have my interest. "I shall tell you the secrets of Chaos magic, but that requires you to pass three tests." He motioned his claw, indicating three. "I must say it is interesting a little pony like you is interested in my magic." The smug, egotistical spirit was waking from his boredom.

 

Oh, this would be such fun! 
 

[Novaburst]

"Main reason I'm interested in Chaos Magic? It would be intriguing to see what effects chaos magic would have when applied to inventions, such as my saddle blaster, or other pieces of technology I'm working on. Plus if Chaos is as powerful as you say it is,  then it should be able to strengthen the muscles of a unicorn's body so that when they carry that...."  He'd gesture at the heavy cart that was way too heavy to lift comfortably for a Unicorn. It hurt to move the thing. "Plus I'm a bit surprised you didn't do more to avoid being turned to stone, Discord. There are lots of ways I could think of that you could have oh so easily avoided the blast of the Elements of Harmony. In fact, why didn't you try oh I don't know, teleporting? Or simply a mirror? Or a Forcefield?"  

 

Smoky had to admit,  he was mostly unimpressed with Discord for the moment. "What's your tests?"  The idea of learning Chaos Magic would open new doors and who knows, he might even be able to make a better variant of the Saddle Blaster.  Plus learning Chaos Magic would be one step closer to learning all varieties of magic,  that was his eventual goal so that he could combine them all with his science. 

 

 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Discord felt a tick of annoyance at the arrogant pony. He glanced to the cart, vanishing before reappearing beside it. His paw would motion a bit, causing the items in question to move, were they light and loose enough to. He tilted his head as each object was examined. This pony was probably a hoarder. Poor thing. He twisted his body, allowing his wings to spread a bit as he now hovered laterally over the cart, objects, had they been able to be moved, placed back. His ears pinned back once more as he pondered the situation, trying quite hard to push away his tamper. This fellow surely liked to push his buttons though. He sneered and pulled back, holding up his right paw defensively, flexing those claws so they poked out of the sheathe of his digits. He gritted his fangs, but relaxed.

 

"You really don't know anything do you? If you can't understand the most basic concepts of chaos how do you expect to learn it?" Not that he could. Chaos magic was uniquely his. 

 

He felt annoyed. Perhaps he should teach the big-mouthed pony a lesson about dragging salt through another's old wounds. Another grin appeared before Discord poofed and reformed behind Smoky, standing on his hind legs. "Very well, if you want to take the tests...." Discord held up his claws. "I shall abide." With a snap he would attempt to teleport them to an area in the field where a rock sat in the center. 

 

On that rock was a loaf of bread. It was awfully suspect of Discord to be helpful, but than again if it was to perpetuate and show off his chaos magic it was very Discord indeed. 

 

"The first test is simple. All you need to do is make this loaf of bread vanish, but -- you cannot use your..." He moved to try and flick Smoky's horn. "...horn." He snickered.

[Novaburst]

"Make it vanish? Easy enough...." said Smoky, putting his muzzle down and starting to chomp up the bread. For since he had come here,  and hadcarried the heavy load of the Saddle Blaster and also other pieces of machinery. Letting the spirit of chaos flick his horn, Smoky watched the teleportations he had done before. There had to be a pattern, a way that the teleportations could make some kind of sense. It couldn't be that easy to work teleportation magic of any kind, Smoky Gears knew at least that much as he thought about it. Eating the bread may seem like cheating, but Discord didn't say anything about it... which meant it should be okay for him to devour the bread in order to begin his lessons in the magic of Chaos.  "Easy peasy, Lemon Squeezy...." He said with a belch, when he had completely devoured the bread, and thus made it 'disappear' alright. Disappear right down into his stomach which needed the nourishment. 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Discord was a prince of chaos by right. How he came to his power, nopony knows. Some say he has existed as long as Equestria has as a kingdom, but to the victor the spoils. Who wouldn't want such an epic tale in their history books? An ancient evil beneath the slabs of a raising civilizatiom, a new kingdom! But Discord would surely tell you it isn't true! Who had time to waste on such a small, helpless group? It was hardly challenge. That was what interested him, among other things, in the growing city in the mountains. It had become a challenge. A menace and lover of games who was he to resist something so vulnerable and weak? 

 

But this unicorn, he totally bent the game and eats his loaf of bread. Eats it! Barbarian! As was appropriate the action left the prince of chaos a little bug-eyed. He opened his claw, manifesting withing it a thick, leather-back tome. His paw flipped through the pages. As he turned each page various tentacles, wings, and other bits and bobs tried to reach out of the pages. He stamped his paw against the top corner of the page. 

 

"That isn't in the rulebook," he assured, even if he failed to present rules to begin with. "A rather barbaric show. Are you sure you're a pony?" He snapped the book closed as it dematerialized into smoke. 

 

He sneered at at the burp, head curling back. His gryph-claw pressed to his feather covered chest as he floated down to the ground, his hoof and talon settling. He leaned back against his tail, which coiled about like a stand. He gave the queer pony a disgruntled look, but the spirit wasn't down and out yet. He had many tricks up his proverbial sleeves~! He grinned, ears pinning back as his paw and claw digits steepled. His cheeks pinched up his mismatched eyes. 

 

"A bit barbarous, but you did make it dissappear. " he begrudgingly admitted. "Well now test number two." He motioned towards town. "The ponies of Ponyville are used to a rather hearty lifestyle. Chaos magic's principle is based in a constant state of Opposite Day." He explained simply. "All you will need to do is find a pony and hug them." That… seemed simple enough.

 

What was Diacord's game today?

[Novaburst]

"Well, you didn't say how I had to make the bread disappear. Given that,  and carrying a cart works up an appetite....well yeah.   In any case, find a pony and hug them? Easily done."   Smoky Gears wanted to get this over with so he could have Discord do the labor of stuffing crystals full of magical energy, which was a pain for him to do normally. It was one of the reasons he was putting up with the antics of the Spirit of Chaos, for the time being and not leaving.  "I also have something you might find delightfully chaotic,  that I'd like to test on you. Assuming of course, you're up for it."  

 

Smoky was not going to tell Discord what the Saddle Blaster did. Sure it's intended purpose was demolition, but well? It might also be useful for blasting away Bug Bears or other nuisances. The only problem? It took too long for him to make power crystals for it,  way too long. He needed to find a way to somehow streamline the process and get it more easily accomplished. Plus soon he would have to deliver a few Saddleblasters to Princess Luna. Of course he'd hold onto his model, and continually improve upon the device in order to make it better than it actually was.  "So what do you say, do you want to be tested my way?" 

[RexDraco]

Discord didn't like the use of common sense to play his games. It was rather inconvenient to say the least. He sighed, giving up on the unicorn for the moment. He wasn't going to tire himself out because one of his tests were passed. He would just make sure to up the ante this time over and next. There was no way he would pass his next test. It was too clever. He would have to instate a penalty for failure.... All games had penalties, so even if he hadn't told him... The spirit was quite confident in his next test. It was the hardest thus far. No pony could get it in the first try.  He supposed eating the bread to make it vanish was fastest, but it was certainly very-- sigh. Regardless he would persevere, if only for the amusing end-result.

 

What would a pony want with chaos magic? In fact how did they even know about it? He rubbed his paw against his chin a bit as he pondered. His magic did act like any other magic, except that it did tend to disrupt pony magic and the basic energies of the world. Or they simply called his brand of tomfoolery chaos magic? That certainly stroked his ego at the thought of them naming an entire school of magic after his element. Oh who was he kidding? Of course they did. They had no choice but to recognize his genius! It was about time, but it wasn't enough. He wanted more than to just be known as --

Test? On him? He turned to look at Smoky, brow arching. He was intrigued. "Explain..." Somepony had something chaotic and it wasn't his? He vanished and reappeared behind the pony, all in his space. "Do tell little one. Since you are so content to leave our game unfinished...I will be sure to increase the point gain needed to pass. But if it is something chaotic, I shall be the judge if it is truly chaotic." 

[Novaburst]

"You see,  early on this wasn't mine...." Smoky materialized the saddleblaster onto himself with a quick igniting of his horn. Once it materialized he loaded a gem stone in it and approached Discord,  staring at his rear. "Normally I wouldn't waste the crystals, as they take months to fill with magical energy. But I am curious. How would you react, and how would your magic react to getting zapped by my invention? It's pretty good at demolition,  and since I doubt I could convince any of the Princesses to allow themselves as a guineapig for it.....well....."  

 

He'd look at Discord with a grin. "You see, I thought this could be useful for demolition purposes. But it may also have other uses. Uses that you might even find interesting, especially if there were ways to prevent creatures like Tirek from using the device as a magical battery...."  He'd say,  maneuvering to where he was behind Discord. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"  He'd fire the Saddle Blaster, aimed at Discord's rear end, hopefully too fast for the Spirit of Chaos to dodge. 

[RexDraco]

Discord was alancient, his wisdom spanning eons, but he had a shortdightedness born of egotism. His foalish nature was an immortal's curse. Dismissive to the woes and worries of the short lived, amused by the creative. His curiosity, desire, for new and amazing things left him quick to accept temptation. After all this was a pony. He wasn't Tirek so it was alright to listen, to observe. A pony manufacturing something chaotic was queer, more over it was overstepping their boundaries. He was concerned it may… The idea that somepony would try to take  from him his pedestal irritated him. 

 

If this toy was, in fact, chaotic, he would do away with it. When the unicorn teleported the object in question, to place, he crossed his forelimbs over his chest. That hardly seemed like an invention a normal pony thought up. Very mad scientist-esque. It would put Twilight to shame. He raised his paw to scratch at his chin, lips pulling back in amusement. How quaint really. The stallion shouted, rather loudly. It wouldn't be surprising if a few ears caught the noise. The device let loose its blast, doing well to kick up a bit of dust and debris. All was silent. When the dust calmed and cleared there was not a Discord in sight. 

 

The draconequus reappeared on the back of the object. "You know if you are trying to catch a pony off guard, yelling aggressively gives away your intentions." He leaned leisurely on said object before manifesting a bag of marshmallows which he stuffed into the blaster's opening. "Quite a dangerous toy you have there. Hardly chaotic though. Are you really serious about learning about chaos?" He chuckled.

 

Were he frank, he did not like the mention of Tirek and sorts. Luckily there just wasn't any witnesses that knew of his errors in inciting Tirek's chaos. He was thankful for nopony spreading such cruel things, but, moreover, he was still incredibly troubled by such. But he was Discord, not Frank. He kept the annoyance to himself, for now.

[Novaburst]

"Find a pony?" asked Smoky, and an idea shot through him like how easily a hot knife cut through butter. For now he had an idea of how he could pass this test of Discord's. He assumed the Spirit of Chaos was just playing games,  messing around. The chances of him actually learning? Probably slim. "And yes. Since it seems that is one field that has never been combined with science, I'll be pioneering in the combination of both science and chaos. As to your test, I believe I have the answer to the "hug a pony" requirement you set out. "  With that,  Smoky would hug himself which would probably catch the Spirit of Chaos offguard. Of course if that weren't enough,  he'd trot over to Discord and hug him from behind, making sure to get the Pegasi wing in the hug.  "So does that pass your little test, or not?" 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Discord was a patient sort, to a point. It was not only infuriating to see the pony pass the teats, but he did so in a manner that was wholly offensive to the case of chaos he sought to make. "No one likes a smart alec, Smoky." The spirit waved his paw dismissively,  even of he was usually the smart-mouthed one about.

 

Utterly disappointing. While this pony was clever, he was tragically boring. There was no effort, and no charisma put behind his attempts to complete the tests. There was a lackluster compliance of completionism. Science, chaos? To him, why they could be one in the same. There was no denying that hod magic held a sort of mystery, yet it was completely possible to study it. That meant it existed, on some measure, within the universe. Just as the sun and moon hovered in the heaven, so did his stars. Glittering, shooting, making wishes come true, or twisting them in the same tongue. The study of chaos often led many scientists and historians into madness.

 

The spirit lowered to the ground, pressing his hoof and talon against the warm grass. The sun was passing noon, the after hours drawing nearer each moment wasted. When floating and flailing about as he did: it was not as noticeable how truly large he was compared average ponies. His thin frame belied a tall and monstrous figure covered head to tail tip in the most threatening array of predatory parts. He was unique in his form, not something that could be replicated. Be it due to his chaos, or species alone: Discord was the truest example of what chaos was capable of. It could amuse, but on the same: it could ruin what would have been quite an ordinary creature. 

His twisted form, to him, was a glorious display of his granduer. This and that made him chimeric in his build. He was not short of monster parts, in the least. From a manticore's paw, to a gator's hind claw, these bits and tweaks were not just for show. They were the physical, non-abstract representations of chaos. It was also rather handy to have opposable thimbs. All the better to torment you with, m'dear.

 

Smoky's lame attempts to pass the tests created no contest. It drew no pictures from creativity and were, at best, a mockery of the institution of chaos. At worst the spirit had to worry what other ponies tried to declare themselves emissaries of chaos with such lackluster attempts. The spirit felt strangely a distressed by the dry attempts.

 

He pressed his paw onto his hip, wings hanging down from his back. "You have one more test to pass. While clever in your problem solving, I do suggest you think hard how it is you solve problems." Now, there was no need to get down and out! There was still one more test! 

The spirit would give the pone one more chance. Discord reached into his coat of feathers, as if it was a vest. From it he would procure a most curious object. It was -- a letter. To be specific it was an envelope with an address scribbled atop, a letter perhaps inside.  There was no telling what was actually inside of it. The weight was negligible and the smell, a hint of vanilla. The name of the recipient was a Fluttershy, but unless a native of Ponyville, it seemed a random pony's name.

 

"All you have to do is give that to the mailmare." He grinned.
 

[Novaburst]

"Fluttershy? Isn't she one of the Elements of Harmony?" asked Smoky Gears, thinking about it. "And didn't the Elements of Harmony defeat Tirek with your help after Tirek stole magic? Is this some sort of love letter to Fluttershy?" Smoky queried, a mirthful chuckle in his voice as he asked the Spirit of Chaos if he was in love with the mare known as Fluttershy.  "But very well. You want the package delivered, it shall be delivered to the Mail Mare."  

Shadow closed his eyes for a moment,  before walking over to his cart. "Nope." He'd say as he tossed various inventions out of the cart. None of these were capable of allowing him to track down the mail mare. His inventions were all worthless in that he had nothing that could track down the Mail Mare. Not knowing who the mail mare of this town was meant he couldn't use his magic to find the Mail Mare, which further complicated matters. "I heard you're capable of teleportation. Seeing is believing however, and I'd like to see you teleport me to the mail mare in question, unless you can't do it with your chaos magic..." He said, trying to goad Discord a little into teleporting him to the Mail Mare, which was going to allow him to pass the test or so he hoped anyway.  "... because you believe yourself to be underqualified to teleport ponies, that is..." said Shadow. 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Discord offered an annoyed snort. For an outsider… he seemed to know quite a bit. It now had Discord suspicious. Sure the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony did save Ponyville from Luna's temper tantrum and his own plots were thwarted, but he disliked that others outside of Ponyville has too much information on him. He likes his privacy. It let him hold an advantageous position. He floated back, expression souring as he crossed his forelimbs over his feathered chest. Very suspicious… this fellow was too rigid. He was starting to become bored with this game. Maybe he could spice it up, but how? Raising his talon to his chin, the beard at the thought.

 

His exploits were fantastic, he could agree with that idea in and of itself. It would be a shame if nopony heard them or experienced them vicariously through the wisdom of a bard. If he was going to be good it was better stories of his heroism spread across Equestria. Better they knew of his assistance in Tirek's defeat and not his collaboration in the taur's more nefarious plots. He had been easily roped into the former Prince's pace. It had been a most damning error and it did allow him to understand ponies more, but it left a scar on his heart. He hadn't taken notice of his claw moving to his chest, the pony across from him talking. The inventor's words took a moment to reach the twisted, cacophonous mind of the spirit.

 

The stallion asked if it was some sort of love letter, which made the spirit turn his face up in disgust. "How cliché!" He barked in offense, his claw still pressed to his chest, torso turned from Smoky. "I am not so low class as to stoop to some highschool tactic to garner the affection of a friend." The day he had to write a pony a letter of affection was the day he figures out how to booby trap them with live Parasprites and not get scolded by Derpy. Quite a stern one that one if you push her far enough!

 

She didn't like her letters to be messed with. Doing so quickly earned you a scowl from the mailmare.

 

Discord seemed to just appear where and when he wanted for it was at this time he was peering over the edge of Smoky's cart, watching him shuffle through his devices and dohickies. The mass of mangles parts floated with his forelimbs crossed over his chest, contemplating with the participant as to just what suited the game today! Alas nothing seemed prepared for delivering a letter. The unicorn would attempt to accost him into a shortcut. The spirit would grin, having a little laugh.

 

"I am sorry to say but aren't unicorns just as capable of teleporting… or are you to say that, you are one of the many who cannot?" He would reverse the tactic.

 

It was not to actually say unicorn were frequently capable of using the spell skillfully, if at all. It was a difficult magic to use. Not only did it strain one's reserves of mana but the mental focus one required to imagine where they were going, so they did not end up warping into a wall, was taxing. It took a high level of skill he only knew, at current, two ponies of traveling about with skill through such means, and it wasn't the Princesses of the Sun and Moon.

 

He curled his lips into a grin. "Just admit you can't do it. There's no harm in losing the game, you simply prove what I already knew." That arrogant tone, so full of confidence.

 

But he was right in his impudence, for once. The tests given, though simple, had many hundred ways to solve it right, but many more to solve them wrong. It was rigged from the start to be impossible. If it was so easy than everypony would have access to his unique knowledge of the deepest power that is unlocked in chaos. While it was possible to learn the basic art of topsy-turviness, the very basic of chaos… to reach he point of power Discord had was not united to be n the hooves of the average pony. Yes he misused his powers in the past, but from the had come o lasting destruction, choosing to omit the trouble abyss of chaos scaring land forbidden from trespass. Some at it since direct entrance to he realm of chaos. Others say it is a sentence to madness.

 

Smoky had but two options, unless he can deduce more: give up and fine no quarter with the spirit's knowledge of chaos, or find the mailmare and use his deductive reasoning for once.
 

[Novaburst]

Smoky Gears was not the type of pony who liked to admit defeat, but he had failed. Of course, if he were able to find the mail mare he could salvage some of his pride, and perhaps learn a bit about chaos magic. Learning about chaos magic was only a means to an end, as he planned to shield his technology of the Saddleblaster against such magic in the future. To do so required that he know more about it, and with that he started to look around to try and see if he could spot the Mail Mare in order to deliver Discord's letter. Smoky didn't even bother to answer Discord's jab about his teleportation, or the insistence of the Spirit that he give up on learning about chaos magic. Science needed to cover all the bases. If the Saddleblaster could shoot a destructive beam with just regular magic, Smoky Gears knew that whatever it could do with chaos was going to be more impressive. And if he could later get Alicorn Grade magic to charge the crystals he used to power the thing? Well that would be even better actually. 

Darting off, he'd come back about 15 minutes later without the letter, having successfully delivered the letter.  Of course in doing so, he'd made a big mistake. The mistake? He'd left Discord alone with his inventions. A vein throbbed above his eye, as he thought about the potential destruction the Spirit of Chaos could cause with JUST one of his inventions.Trotting back as quickly as he could move, Smoky wanted to make sure the Spirit was not messing with his stuff. It was a matter of principle after all, you didn't leave dangerous toys out for Foals. And Discord probably had the curiosity of a Foal, so....yeah. Smoky was more than a bit concerned. The letter had been delivered by him by turning it into a Paper Plane, casting spells on it to seek out the nearest mail mare, and a spell that would reset the letter back to the form of a letter, as opposed to being a paper plane.  "Letter has been delivered." 

[RexDraco]

Discord floated there. His body was laid back as if reclined in a throne. He was a proud snake with a devoid mentality. While his games could be fun, they had a tendency to seem quite one-sided and unfair. The takes bordered on impossible while the rewards did not stand proportional to the puzzles presented. But it was not true at all. While the measure of success for a pony was greatly disadvantaged, his games created an important scale of balance. Yes, he was the prince of chaos and so he would test ponies accordingly. Though among it all he did miss his throne, but alas it seemed around here you had to earn one. 

 

He stroked at his chin, the white beard as he thought. "Not even a bit of effort." He spoke to himself, Smoky off on his errand.

 

The spirit appeared over his cart, the device in paw. He inspected it, ears pinning back in disappointment. It was machines like this that took the fun out of using ones imagination to create spells and change it up a bit on the fly. What was the point of having a unicorn's horn if you were going to just copy magic so lazily? He felt it was just a waste of good talent. Tossing the object back in he would manifest a squeaky tot and hide it among the cart's collection of goods. Honestly the way he solved problems weren't even capable of the elite shenanigans expected of chaos. 

 

Sure he was random, arbitrary and unexpected, but chaos was also a type of problem solving. To think one could simply bribe others, play off their insecurities. No those were the games of a tyrant, the sort he was hated for in the past. It had taken just a pawful of memories to understand just why these ponies held such a fierce belief in friendship. It had become a question about trust with this pony. He couldn't afford to undo everything he had built to fuel an investor's wild fantasy. Dreams of grandeur, but he had no respect for the art!

 

"Oh, back so soon?" He grinned and swam through the air like a dragon at sea. "You didn't just airmail the letter?" He let his head sit just over his shoulder, his back legs in the air as his noodle body curled, twisted, toward the tail. "Or did you built a small contraption to locate the post office?" It was yet another test that left the spirit ill impressed.

 

He appeared in front of Smoky Gears, a long piece of paper in paw and a pair of bifocals on his muzzle. He wore a white, collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The paper was being fed through a counting machine that sat on a small table. The table was decorated with a single potted plant and papers scattered around it while a strange bird figuring would dunk it's beak into water, only to raise again and repeat the action, infinitely. Discord sat on a stool and would type in numbers with his claw before pulling the lever to calculate the numbers in question.

 

"Let us see you used an incredible amount of problem solving abilities and according to these numbers…" he pulled the paper our and when he tore it off he turned it over to show the word F-A-I-L-U-R-E written across the paper, which was also, incidentally, covered in zeros and ones. "Chaos isn't your run-of-the-mill unicorn magic. The truth of the matter is that each problem you were put against you showed an active desire to win, rather than to play. You solved everything, perfectly. And honestly a perfect streak like that will ruin my record." The objects vanished as the arrogant chaoslord floated up.

 

He was an imposing sight, though horribly common amongst the citizens of Ponyville. He had a pride when it came to his pranks and the arbitrary ways and roundabout manners in which he committed to his environment. He held out his paw and manifested a tall, paper cone. The white cone appeared on the stallion's head. From it a small cat poked out from beneath it and moved to try and bat at his muzzle. 

 

"The point of any test is to determine if you can even use the skills you seek, but you don't seem able to see the world from the eyes of the universe. Staying closed in your box of possibilities blinds you to the impossibilities of your actions." He shrugged, turning his head away. "But it was quite amusing seeing you run my errands for the day. I would have never made it to the mailmare in time." He chuckled.  "Sometimes the cat is alive..." He floated over to pluck off the cap of shame. "…and at other times…" he flicked his wrist to raise it. "…completely non-existent." The dunce cap vanished. "Sorry, you just don't meet my rigid standards. There's always next year." He cooed.
 

[Novaburst]

Smoky Gears had sighed. So he had failed. His inventive skills needed work,  he had a lot to learn. A year of further training, and inventing couldn't hurt. Besides he had a lot of work to do anyway. A new Saddle Blaster had to be built, as Discord had sabotaged the invention. Replacing it was not going to be an easy mission, but one he'd have to do. Still he knew he had a lot of work to do. When Discord materialized the Dunce Cap on his head, he groaned. Was Discord insane? Oh wait. Of course he was, you had to be to conquer Equestria because you'd inevitably get defeated. Smoky was no idiot, and knew that even if he had the power he'd never try to do such. 

"Well, I'll be back in a year Discord. But first, since I'll have to remake everything anyway..." 

 

Smoky's eyes closed, and an orb of energy appeared above his horn. Firing it at the cart, it exploded and destroyed all his inventions... not leaving anything remaining of them because he didn't want anything remaining of them. He'd go back to the drawing board with his inventions, and rework them until he got them right. 

 

"Impressive tests, I'll remember them next year..."   Smoky Gears said with a smile on his face. 

 

"Anyway, I'm going to be on my way..."  said Smoky Gears, starting to trot off. 

 

 

[RexDraco]

Chaos was an unreliable, indeterminable existence. Was it an element as harmony was, or was it a state of being that endured when harmony faltered? There were always more questions than answered when it came to the entity known as Discord, but comparatively: there were too many questions to provide answers to in a span of time survivable for the average pony. Certainly beings long lived like Celestia or Chrysalis were able to confess knowledge of the much longer lived Discord. But were they to divulge the secrets of their true age, even they lacked the elementary wisdom to defer the nature of Chaos onto a mortal. That was why there were no books written on the subject older than recent, after all it was only until recently that one could get so clsoe to an entity such as he, and be spared the madness. 

 

Chaos, by Discord's own words, was an art form that took years of dedication to practice. Yet the very next day he should assure you that he doesn't practice a day in his life, as it comes naturally to him. Both could very well be true of him, and so could neither. Displaying his skill in games of chance and flaunting his worldly knowledge through visual representative miming often instilled confusion in any pony who believed themselves correct in their chosen way to define him. While ponies dictated chaos be a brand of magic anypony could learn, he would inevitably debunk such proof by changing the rules. If order was a result of Harmony: it could also be debated that disorder was the direct justification of Disharmony. It wasn't enough to simply rival the element he had to actively validate its existence by, therein, enduring himself. 

He raised himself up, practically puffing with draconequus pride. His claw pressed against the expanse of feathers on his chest. The tuft of plumes gave the appearance he sported more shoulder than he actually did, the scrawny noodle using his body more as a tool for expression than intimidation. No matter how much later than he was when compared to ponies he was always harkened to a snake with his devious habits of spitting only half truths. This was a difficult habit to break, given that many of these partially beige tales were imposed to himself to present a sense of existence that he knew had been since empty before he had made his friends. This unicorn presented to him many of the errors he had made in the past and twas not something the spirit cared to remember. He had ben seen as a troublemaker and malicious tyrant when, at the center, he was gooey and sweet. At least -- when given the chance to show what he was capable of.

 

Yet no matter how many chances he gave Smoky the young Unicorn just could not see that sometimes the most obvious answer, isn't the best. "No need to be sore. You're not the first to fail the test." Insanity was a perspective on the belief an individual held a sane view of the world, but chaos played by very different rules. One needed to be utterly sane to deliver what was necessary of chaos. "Remake?" He questioned and pressed his paw and claw together. "What a waste to redo wha--" he moved to stand on his hind legs and speak, turning away to present his back to Smoky.

 

He felt a sharp sense of smug knock upon his window as he thought of quite the speech. Smoky was clever, and took many shortcuts. He had the makings for a terrible wizard! Often those turned out rather dark and it was not something Celestia would be keen on him supporting, even if it was a joke. He remembered the lectures she gave, Twilight too, who was but a miniature replica of the solar-mare. He would swear the Celestia was grooming the young mare to take over her role, but he also knew it was not a position Celestia was wont to give up easily as she has become the all-mother for these ponies. Without her their tribes were sure to collapse back to the days of infinite winters... As he was about to give the impromptu lecture the spirit's fur and feathers were ruffled to the wind as the explosion of the cart and everything else with it. His eyes widened as he seemed part of an action movie and he had been on the verge of monologuing. He had almost broken the tenant of his former villainy! Never get caught monologuing! While he would submit a disaster had been averted, he did very much like to hear himself talk. He winced and moved to rub his paw against the back of his head before turning to face the disaster left behind by the unicorn. Something was very odd about his reaction to his refusal. 

 

Discord manifested a pair of bifocal on his muzzle and pulled out a pad with a quill in paw. "Next year, well that will give me time to adjust the test. Be sure to take the survey on your way out of class." A massive stack of papers appeared right beside Smoky. "Bon voyage~" He waited a moment, arching a brow as he shrugged.

 

The motion would reveal on the pad naught but a doodle of a stick-pony before it vanished. He was not to be the one to clear the mess and he was sure the explosion alerted some ponies nearby to what was naught but a pile of ash and atop it -- the squeaky toy that looked like a trumpet! He spun around before vanishing, cackling a bit, that laughter fading away into nothingness, as did he, just like grinning cat into the night.

 

END