All connected, and all sharing a single mind. When D27 ruminated on this state, wondered if, from a pony perspective, he was still an individual at all or if he had transcended to the form of a society, or perhaps a hive of some manner.

One of his numerous functional bodies looked out into the distance. His eyes shifted, magnifying the target. A city built into the side of a cliff, its parapets and towers barely visible through the luminescent shield of pure white light that surrounded it.

The shield itself was incredibly brutal in its construction. It was, at times, physically solid; trying to punch through with a tank or similar unit would be impossible. It was completely permeable to organic beings, though. Anypony who wished could simply walk through- -assuming they were approved. If they were not approved for entry or exit, they would reach the other side as flaming powder.

This was the sort of situation where D27 excelled. His mind seemed to endlessly calculate new tactics and new ways to kill, driven by his instincts. At one point he had tried to suppress that feature of his personality, because it was a part of him he hated. Now he knew that those thoughts related to his only, singular purpose. He only existed to destroy and kill.

He had already spread dissent and destruction across the land. It had at first been accidental as he tried to steal weapons to shift the balance of power away from the stronger party, but it had evolved rapidly. He supposed that they thought he was taking all the parts he had back to the Gloame, and destroying them or stockpiling them. Had they seen the half-assembled machine before him, they would have known that such a thing was not the case.

Suddenly, from the darkness of the forest, D27 heard voices approaching. That had been unexpected; he had chosen a relatively inaccessible place in the forest, and a region where ponies would not venture.

“I’m just saying,” said one voice, “It is not at all easy to defeat an OP enemy.”

“No way, D,” said the other. “I mean, you can do ten times what he can, and you still got defeated. I mean, you took Rainbow Dash’s wings- -her wings!”

“Only because it was funny!”

“Nopony thought it was- -who am I kidding? It was hilarious.”

D27 recognized the voices. They had been the two he had heard over the anachronistic radio, the pilots of the airplanes that had attacked him in Ponyville.

Before he could shift himself into something less visible, like a puddle or tree, the two who had been speaking suddenly appeared from the trees. For a moment, everything was still. D27 stood staring at two creatures: one was clearly some kind of greenish pony, a unicorn with a bizarre antler-like horn. The other was impossible to categorize; it was chimeric creature constructed from numerous parts of various different lesser creatures, who was now sitting comfortably on a floating pink cloud. They were no doubt as surprised as he was: D27’s sub-body’s current form was a many-armed version that stood on three largely immovable spines, an asymmetrical and alien bizarre form that he rapidly condensed into a thicker version of his normal headless biped form.

The green pony’s mouth split into a smile that immediately conjured images of a trihorn. It seemed as though he had far too many teeth. “See, I told you. All we needed to do was walk in circles for like half a week and he would show up.”

“Oh, Buttery,” said the chimeric being, patting the other creature’s head. “I must have given you my very smartest blood. Now run along.” His voice darkened. “The adults need to talk.”

“Righty-oh,” said the green pony. Before he left, he turned to D27. “You make Fluttershy cry, you’re gonna die.” He then disappeared into the background, something that completely astounded D27 considering that he was totally conscious of everything within thirty feet except for the green pony. He only wished he had had a chance to steal that pony’s rather unusual skull.

The air reeked of Chaos, and D27 could almost feel himself starting to choke on it. The chimeric creature turned on its cloud, and pulled off a piece. He promptly ate it.

“It tastes like Pinkie Pie smells,” he said, pulling off another tuft. “But it does not taste the same as her hair. I tried. Would you like some, monster?”

“It stinks,” said D27, his voice gurgling and deep.

“Oh, my!” said the creature, “so insulting! How would dear, dear Pinkie Pie feel if she heard you say that? I think she might just- -snnneeeeaaak attack!”

A bolt of Chaos magic burst from the cloud like lightning, its path unpredictable but its target quite clear. D27 raised one of his claws and projected a bolt of Order. The two met in midair, and the static-snow lightning bolt swirled with the crisp blue sparks of Order. The two collapsed in on each other, forming a tiny sphere that promptly fizzled out of existence.

“It is not a sneak attack if you announce it,” said D27. “Also, it would appear that our respective elements are self-limiting.”

“Well, if the ammo doesn’t work,” said the chimeric being, stepping off the cloud and producing an oversized chainsaw.

“Fine,” said D27 as the creature started to pull the starter rope. He turned back to his work. “I have work to do. If you need to kill this body, do it quickly so I can get another out here. I have millions.”

The creature stopped pulling the rope and put down the chainsaw. “So you are saying that you are legion?”

“That would imply that there are many of me. It is therefore incorrect. I am only one.” Although his was not able to communicate the emotion of the last part of his statement, it had not been said with pride.

“You’re no fun,” said the other creature, allowing the chainsaw to vanish. “I wasn’t actually going to try to fight you. It would get…hairy.” D27 was vaguely aware that the creature was now covered in fluff and unruly hair.

“Do you really need to punctuate your statements with visual puns, Chaos?” said D27, annoyed.

“No, you’re right. I suppose they can’t even see them anyway in print.”

D27 turned to the creature and re-examined it. “What even are you?”

“I am Discord,” said the creature, bowing excessively. “Artist, philanthropist, friend, burrito connoisseur, ordained minister, fugitive in sixteen fiefdoms, Postmaster General, potato, and overall brilliant and handsome Lord of Chaos. Well, two of those things. Maybe three.”

“You are as much a Lord of Chaos as I am a Lord of Order.”

“So you admit your crime!” said Discord, suddenly appearing in a red outfit with a broad red hat. He opened a book with a picture of Celestia on the cover. “By the authority of royal law,” he said, appearing to read from the book. “I declare that the punishment is…oh, who am I kidding, there’s no words.” The book disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “However, I assure you, I am quite chaotic.”

“But not a Lord of Chaos. A Lord of Chaos exists as all possible outcomes meshed with all that are impossible, simultaneously and randomly stretching from the future to the past and, in several ways, sideways across time. Were one to appear in a material universe, everything that could possibly happen and possibly everything that cannot possibly happen would occur at once. The universe would shatter.”

Discord wiped a tear from his eye. “So…so beautiful!” he whispered. He then became more serious. “But then what am I?”

“I do not know what you are, or who created you, or why,” said D27. “You do seem to be blessed by the Madgod, though. Perhaps you are her his and its mortal incarnation, or maybe something somepony made in a lab. I don’t know. Figure it out yourself. I’m busy.”

“You know,” said Discord, nearing D27 and bringing the stench of Chaos with him. Even through a sub-body, D27 found the horrid odor of the magic intolerable. “Buttery Snake is right. You did make Fluttershy cry.”

“And then you shot me with Chaos bullets.”

“I couldn’t help myself. You were waving her around like a gorilla on a skyscraper!”

“Aside from being grammatically incorrect, I did what I had to. If they had deployed that spell, I would have been killed.”

“Ah, yes. The ‘Elements of Harmony’. Really a nasty piece of magical engineering. Why, they once turned me completely to stone! I was frozen in the most humiliating position for over a thousand years.” He twisted in the air, and his face approached D27’s, his red eyes staring into D27’s blue double-triangle insignia. “So I understand why you did it. Still, for touching my Fluttershy, I should banish you to the dimension of pure itchiness, or worse, the one with the moose. But since I’m a fan of your work, I will let it slide.”

Discord dropped to the ground and skated across the forest floor as though it were made of ice. “I mean, with so little, you’ve done in less than a week what it would have taken me years to do! Just by appearing places and doing your little song and dance, you’ve already started to cut up and sell out the harmony of this land…like a butcher.”

“Not because I enjoy it,” clarified D27. “I enjoy nothing. I have only done it to further my goals.”

“You mean all that chaos? The soldiers pwning civilians, the anti-blue movement, turning Celestia into a fascist? And you didn’t even enjoy it? Such a waste! Oh well. More enjoyment for me.” He leaned back into an overstuffed armchair. “Somewhat strange for a creature of Order to do, though.”

“Order is just a means toward an end.”

“How very strange,” said Discord. “And I suppose I will defintly be interested to see how this turns out. So I’m going to sit this one out…for now.” He stood up and appeared close to D27. “However: if you even think about hurting Fluttershy, I will end you. And then begin you again, and end you a second time. I don’t care if I have to completely crack open that satellite dimension of yours.”

“You have my word,” said D27, “for what the word of a betrayer counts for. Fluttershy shall not fall by my hand.”

“Good.” Discord returned to the couch he had been sitting on. “Perhaps when this is over, we can have some real fun. You and me could watch this world burn. After we light the fires, of course.”

“I have already seen this world destroyed,” said D27. “It is not something I wish to witness again.”

He turned, and saw that Discord was gone.

D27 sighed. If even Chaos was on his side, it meant the he had sunk further than even he had expected. It was no matter, though. All that mattered was rendering the Finality Core inoperable.

He stepped back from the pony-sized machine he had constructed. Most of the parts had been minor and easy to steal, but the remainder were far more difficult. Many he would need to substitute parts of his own body for several pieces, but based on his assessment, it was able to fire.

From inside the Gloame, he opened a tiny portal. The part of him that was external reached a pair of long fingers into it, and withdrew a long, narrow, hollow violet crystal.