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The Chronicles of Swarm: The Equestrian Front

by kildeez

Chapter 20: Chapter XX: Chaos Rising

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“There has to be another way!” Luna gasped. “We will not accept that the only solution is to offer up one of our own as a sacrifice!”

“It’s perfect, though,” Discord said stoically. “Those soldiers outside have already demonstrated their willingness to throw themselves headlong against us, regardless of their odds for success.”

“But whoever remains behind will be totally overwhelmed!” Celestia exclaimed. “I’ve seen Mars in combat against Swarm; just one of us can’t fight both him and his soldiers! Now, if all four of us were to remain behind…”

“Then there is still a high chance for failure,” Swarm sighed. “Mars is very powerful. If we are going to fight him, we will need every advantage possible. The shock of suddenly landing in Equestria, combined with the American forces present when we land, will add such an advantage.”

“There just has to be another way,” Luna cried. “There has to be!”

“There isn’t.” Swarm replied, pushing himself to his feet. “We all know what must happen.”

“No,” Celestia said, racing to his side. “Not you. Why you?”

“I am responsible for Mars’ genesis,” Swarm replied, trying to hold back a sob. “As his father, I should be responsible for…for ending him.”

“We-we can still come up with something!” Luna cried. “Celestia, tell him! We can still come up with something!”

The Princess of Day just silently looked up into the man’s eyes. He gazed sadly down at her, then up at the seal protecting their time bubble. A massive thud resounded from the other side, followed by a microscopic crack in its surface.

“There isn’t time,” he said.

“I know,” she replied, choking back another flood of tears.

He stroked her mane a few times before slowly hovering off the non-existent ground. Her hoof remained on his pants leg for as long as it could before he ascended out of reach, heading towards the seal. “Thou can’t be serious!” Luna screeched hysterically. “Tia, he isn’t serious, right? This is some dramatic, macho posturing on his part, right?”

“Luna dearie,” Discord said quietly, speaking seriously for the first time in her memory. And that’s when it hit her: this was a thing. This was absolutely happening.

“It can’t be, it just can’t,” she mumbled, eyes wide in shock. Celestia walked to her side, resting her hoof against her sister’s. They watched solemnly while Swarm rose to the seal and inspected it. The microscopic crack was now an inch long. It would be time soon.

“Mr. Li?” Discord asked, and Swarm turned to see the Lord of Chaos hovering next to him, looking sadly into his eyes.

“Yes, Discord?”

“We may have our different philosophies, but that doesn’t change one simple fact: that you’re probably the bravest being I’ve ever met. Human, Equine, or whatever.”

“No I’m not,” Swarm replied with a half-hearted smile. “But the sentiment is appreciated.”

Discord offered his hand with a smile, and Swarm took it gladly. Almost instantly, a loud buzz filled the air and Swarm’s entire body seized, his hair standing on end as his face twisted in what had to be a perfect imitation of a cartoon character shaking hands with a few thousand volts. The Lord of Chaos released him and watched him drop. “Holy CRAP!” He screamed, barely able to contain an excited smile as he revealed the joy buzzer in his hand. “I can NOT believe you fell for literally the oldest trick in the book!”

“DISCORD!” Celestia bellowed, taking to the air with her sister on her heels. Feigning a yawn, the Lord of Chaos side-stepped their charges and tapped them both on the back of the head. Instantly, an assortment of jumper cables, garden hoses, and Christmas lights snaked out of his palms and wrapped themselves around the sisters, sending them crashing to the ground next to Swarm.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?” Luna screeched, struggling against her bonds.

“He’s betraying us, sister.” Celestia mumbled, not even trying to pull herself free of the tangle encasing her body.

“W-we knew he couldn’t be trusted!” The Princess of Night exclaimed. “Nobody wanted to listen, but we knew…”

“Oh, do cut the dramatics, Luna,” Discord grumbled as he descended to Swarm’s body and rummaged around in the semi-omnipotent being’s clothing, eventually producing the man’s cell phone. “It’s very unbecoming for a princess.”

With a snap of his fingers, Discord watched as a set of nylon climbing rope snaked out of the Princess’ bonds and wrapped around their mouths, gagging them. Clearing his throat, he redialed the number he needed and pressed the little device to his ear. “Nasreen, darling?” He said in Swarm’s voice. The princesses screamed, trying to warn the woman on the other side, but with their gags the best they could manage were some barely-audible squeaks.

“Chen!” Nasreen screamed, “I swear, if you hang up on me again, I will…”

“There’s no time to explain, the enemy’s breaking through! I need that portal now! Please!”

After a few seconds of silence, the woman sighed. “Only because you said ‘please’, Chen. Don’t think this means you’re going to avoid sleeping on the couch for the next week.”

“Well, you cold bitch, why don’t you just go ahead and make it a whole month?” Discord said with an evil grin.

“Oh, you little pile of…”

“Love you, darling,” he cackled as he flipped the phone shut, crushing it in his talons before whispering to the unconscious man at his feet: “Sorry, Swarmy, it’s my nature.” A massive, green burst of energy illuminated their tiny bubble. Once the portal stabilized, the Lord of Chaos dragged Swarm’s body along the ground before simply tossing him through, watching him land safely in a field just outside Coltton. Luna was next, her muffled screams for him to “take thine unholy claws off the princess’ mighty body!” going unnoticed until he gave her one decent shove and watched her plummet through. Finally, the smile began to waver on Discord’s face. Sighing, he turned away from the portal and walked over to Celestia’s bound form. She didn’t struggle, though she was shooting him the meanest, most angry stare she could manage.

Kneeling beside her, he calmly removed the gag. “I swear, Discord, whatever it is you think you’re doing, you should…” she started.

“I rarely think about what I’m doing, Celestia,” he interrupted with a tiny smile. “I find it to be a rather distasteful habit, one which is hard to drop once it has been picked up.”

“Then I swear, you best release me or I’ll…” and he gagged her again, this time with a kiss. She couldn’t have been more shocked if he had whipped out an M-16 and shot her. It was long and filled with that same passion that burned whenever he spread his glorious brand of chaos to another stuck-up and orderly world. His eyes remained gently shut while hers rolled back, her initial shock melting away against that incredible, scorching passion.

It was over all too soon. “I…” she started, but found she couldn’t say anything more. So she kept on like that: “I…I…I…”

“Oh, don’t be so shocked, Tia, don’t you know the big hero always gets a kiss from the princess before running off to do battle with the horrible monster? At least, that’s how it always goes in your obnoxious little fairy tales.”

“I…I…”

Sighing, he replaced her gag and threw her over his shoulder. “Now, you and me, Tia?” He shook his head. “There’s one heckuva match. It certainly would be interesting to try, at the very least. Maybe if you just loosened up once in a while, eh?”

“Mmmph?”

“No, I’m telling you right now, those little ponies wouldn’t all descend into anarchy and warfare if you took a day off for the beach.” He cradled her in his arms, holding her right over the green glow of the portal. “I’m not asking for much here, just that when this is all said and done, you’ll take a day off once a year and just do something for your own sake, okay?”

“Hmph!”

“Okay,” and then he dropped her; just let his arms droop and watched her disappear down the portal. He watched her fade into the swirling mass of green energy and rubbed the back of his neck. “I must be growing senile with age,” he grumbled, “developing feelings for a pony. A princess, no less!”

A cocky little smile spreading across his face again, he turned to face the seal over their bubble, which by now had a hundred hairline cracks across its surface, with one massive, meter-long crack splitting right down its middle. “Okay little one,” he mumbled, “I have seen your power, just as you have seen mine. We both know what the other is capable of. Still, you seem to be laboring under the delusion that you can defeat me. I mean, come on!” He snapped his fingers. “In all your years of living, nobody ever told you? Nobody ever sat you down and informed you of this one simple fact?”

Raising his claws, he hissed under his breath: “In the end, chaos ALWAYS wins.”

And then the seal shattered.

Next Chapter: Chapter XXI: Brothers and Sisters Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 34 Minutes
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