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Change: Avia

by tom117z

Chapter 9: 9 - Chaos

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The oddly mixed family of changelings, ponies and a dragon all entered Ponyville deep in happy chatter, having just returned from the train station.

True to form, everypony, and everyone, else was out and about while enjoying all that the day of the Summer Sun Celebration had to offer. More than a few bowed to the royals as they passed, the ponies naturally more towards Princess Cadance, but otherwise went about their days undisturbed. Their first stop was to be the market, to browse the selections and available wares and converse with the Ponyvillians hosting them.

And from there… Well, for once Twilight didn’t have a precise checklist. ‘Wherever they wanted’ would have to suffice for the time being, maybe a stop off for a light snack somewhere?

“Oh, why look at that!” Twilight Velvet spoke up, wandering off to a stand selling some lamps that held a rather… abstract design. “Oh, we must get one of these for the living room. Maybe the study?”

“I’m not sure it’d really fit in…” Night Light said hesitantly.

“We’ll make it fit in!”

“Uh-huh…”

“Maybe we should add it to the ‘maybe later’ list, hey Mum?” Shining Armor said, backing up his father and leading Velvet away from the stand.

“Traitor,” she shot back.

“I’m just the humble peacekeeper.”

“What about Mama?” Avia asked.

“I should tell you about the time she turned the house’s collection of books into a fort and defended it against the monster,” Shining replied with a smirk. “I was the monster, by the way.”

Twilight gave him a flat look. “I was five.”

“And a little terror,” Night Light jabbed. “But then so was Shining, going on imaginary adventures and coming home with all kinds of bruises and cuts, wanting Velvet to kiss the booboos better.”

Shining Armor blushed, all too aware of the snickering from his wife and daughter. “Well… we were all young once.”

“I still remember our ‘back garden camping’,” Twilight said with nostalgia in her tone. “Everything seemed so simple back then.”

“Back garden camping?” Avia said questioningly.

“Yeah, we’d pitch a tent out back and spend the night outside. We’d start a fire, roast marshmallow, tell stories. All the usual camping stuff, but with a house to retreat into if a rogue storm started up.”

“Which it never did,” Velvet pointed out. “Let it never be said that the Canterlot weather teams don’t do their job.”

“I’ve never been camping,” Avia mused. “Oh, can we? Can we?”

“Heh, we’ll see, kiddo,” Shining responded, ruffling the nymph’s mane.

Avia was about to complain to him about the ruffling and messing up of her mane, but then she spotted three familiar colours out of the corner of her eye. And as she turned, phasing out her family’s continued chatter, she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders all rushing to greet one another by the Sweet Apple Acres apple and cider stand.

Twilight seemed to catch it too, and she leaned down to talk into her daughter’s ear.

“You can go play if you want,” the Queen suggested.

“Can I?” she asked back. “I mean, since everyone is here now…”

“We can meet back up later, and we’ll be together for the ceremony,” Twilight replied, nudging her daughter forwards. “Go play with your friends, it’s okay.”

Avia gave her mother a beaming smile, and then after a quick hug and a word of farewell to the others, the changeling was scampering off to join her fellow fillies by the apple stand.

“Hey girls!” Avia chirped happily.

“Oh, hey Avia!” Sapphire greeted first. “You’re here early!”

“Well, I saw you all passing by so…”

“Well, the more the merrier!” Apple Surprise agreed.

“And there’s can never be enough of ya’ll, huh?” another voice spoke up, and Avia saw Applejack lean over and look towards the fillies from the stand. “I see you found each other after all.”

“Oh, hey Applejack!” Avia greeted with a wave. “I’m a crusader now!”

“I bet you are,” she replied with a chuckle. “Apple Surprise, you keep the Princess outta trouble, ya hear me?”

“Will do, Ma!” Apple Surprise agreed.

“We never get into trouble,” Awesome Blitz added in.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to assume that’s not an intentional lie and just foals being foals.”

“Hey!”

Applejack shook her head in amusement. “Well, you four enjoy yourselves now. I’ll be here if you need me; this cider won’t sell itself!”

“Will do!” Apple Surprise replied to her mother. “We’ll be back later!”

“Where are we going?” Avia asked as they began to depart from the stand, Applejack watching them go and vanish into the crowd.

“We’re starting at the park,” Awesome Blitz explained. “We’ve got some new ideas to try out.”

“Ever played hoofball?” Apple Surprise enquired.

Avia tilted her head. “Hoofball? I don’t think so… I’ve heard of it, though. You kick a ball into a goal, right?”

“Yeah, that’s about the gist of it. We don’t play, but who knows? Maybe we’ll be really good?”

“Good enough to get a cutie mark!” Awesome Blitz declared, her wings buzzing in excitement.

“This sounds like a quick way to a ruined mane,” Sapphire murmured. “Again.”

“Not if you’re careful, Sapphire.”

Avia wasn’t sure if ‘careful’ was in the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ dictionary, but she didn’t tell the others that.

Still, this was a day to try new things! And maybe she would be good at this ‘hoofball’. She already had ideas on how to calculate the angle to kick the ball at for maximum effect, the force that would be required along with the speed…

Oh yeah, she had this in the bag!

She was so into her inner calculations for a game she’d never even played or seen played, that time completely passed her by and, before she knew it, they were on approach to the park. There weren’t quite so many people around there, but there were still a few enjoying a picnic or the odd foals playing in the grass.

The four of them all found a spot under a tree that’s leaves swayed gently in the morning breeze, sitting down under it as Avia looked around in a small amount of confusion.

“So… where’s the ball?” the nymph asked.

“I have somepony bringing it over,” Awesome Blitz explained with a huge grin, “Just wait a moment.”

Avia frowned, looking around for the mysterious individual that her pegasus friend spoke of. On finding nothing, however, she sat down with the others and elected to wait patiently.

It only took around a minute to see a result.

A result that took the form of a speeding orange blur appearing out of nowhere, before coming to a sudden stop and hovering over the fillies.

“Hey there, Blitz!” the orange pegasus with the purple mane greeted, saddlebags slung over her back.”

“Mum!” Blitz returned happily, fluttering up to Scootaloo and glomping her hard. “Did you bring them?”

“All in the bags,” Scootaloo confirmed, returning the hug for a moment before lowering herself and her daughter to the ground. “So, hoofball huh?”

“Think we’ll get our marks?”

“Maybe,” she responded, patting Awesome Blitz on the head. “Just keep at it. Worked for us.”

“Actually, stopping and helping others worked for us, Scoots,” an earth pony retorted as she trotted up to the group alongside a white unicorn, both having almost identical cutie marks as Scootaloo. “Don’ ya’ll remember?”

“Eh, it was just one of the many things we tried,” Scootaloo replied with a wave of her hoof.

Apple Bloom just gave Scootaloo a deadpan look while Sweetie Belle looked towards Avia, and then towards the younger unicorn next to her.

“Oh, Sapphire! You’ve made a new friend,” Sweetie Belle said to her niece, offering a bright smile. “Princess Avia, right? You’re Twilight’s kid?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me,” Avia responded, surprised at the sudden appearance of all three of the original Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“She’s a crusader now, Aunt Sweetie!” Sapphire announced cheerfully.

“A crusader, huh? Bet Twi just loves that,” Apple Bloom quipped.

“My mother was fine with it,” Avia assured. “She was happy I made some friends.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. They haven’t been giving you too much trouble, have they?”

“Well…”

“I’ve been watching out for her!” Apple Surprise claimed, moving over and sitting directly next to Avia. “So don’t you worry none! It’s all fine!”

Avia guessed she wasn’t supposed to mention the ‘hanging upside down in a tree’ part from the day before.

“Pfft, if she’s anything like Twilight then she can hold her own,” Scootaloo pointed out. “Remember everything that happened, you know… before?”

“Oh yes, where you three troublemakers were but the unimportant cameos and the rare mention.”

That voice hadn’t belonged to any of them.

But Avia was certain it belonged to the owner of the serpentine tail falling from the tree and casually dangling in front of her.

All eyes looked up, and each met the taunting gaze of the Spirit of Chaos.

Avia only just suppressed a ‘meep’.

“Wow…” Awesome Blitz muttered. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yes, it is I! Discord! Bow before me etcetera etcetera,” Discord answered with a yawn, sliding down the tree and up next to the equines below. “It’s too early in the morning to be dramatic, but I saw these little chaos machines trundling by and I just HAD to see what was on the menu today.”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders aren’t for your enjoyment!” Scootaloo seethed.

“Oh, but they really are,” the draconequus. “The stench of chaos just flows from each and everyone one of you, old and new, in spades. Back when I was all stoned, after dear Sunny lost her hold over me through the elements, it was still quite the struggle to free myself. But then comes the mighty CMC! And out I pop, fed by your mere presence! How is that not something for me to enjoy?”

None of the six pony Crusaders looked overly happy about being a spirit’s magic buffet, but he paid them little mind as he looked down specifically at Avia.

“And now you have this one in rank and file. How predictable, and yet completely delicious.”

“Um…” Avia muttered, frozen in place.

“Oh? Still shaking in your chitin?”

Avia gaped like a fish for a few moments, before shaking her head and forcing an increase in her resolve. She promised herself she’d make a friend out of Discord, and that’s what she’d do! Besides, Fluttershy said he wasn’t so bad. And she’d know, right?

“Maybe we got off to a bad start,” the nymph admitted. “I’m Avia! Nice to meet you!”

“Oh! Finally, some basic respect! You’re already one point ahead of your mother,” Discord quipped, bopping Avia on the nose with a talon, briefly causing the nymph to go cross-eyed before she shook her head to regain her senses. “And I suppose I did go over the top, Fluttershy gave me quite the verbal lashing last night. She’d have my hide if I didn’t say ‘I’m sorry’ so… I guess I’m sorry. We good now?”

Avia nodded. “I guess so.”

“Oh good! Maybe now we can get down to business!” he stated, stretching himself out to unnatural angles alongside several loud cracks of his bones. On seeing the glares he was getting from the original CMC, he just rolled his eyes. “You can go back to cameo land now. Everything is fine here, no need to go rushing for the guard.”

They didn’t seem convinced, but nevertheless relented.

“Enjoy the hoofball,” Scootaloo said to Awesome Blitz, ruffling her mane. “Give us a shout if he gets annoying, and I’ll show him how Wonderbolts deal with pests!”

“I’d like to see you try, orange bird horse,” Discord shot back.

“Pony!”

“Whatever.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Come on girls, let’s get out of here. We still have things to do.”

“You girls play nice,” Apple Bloom said to the group. “No getting into too much trouble.”

“Especially if he wants you to,” Sweetie Belle added with an accusatory point at the draconequus.

“Alright, you can go now,” Discord said, snapping his talons and making the three mares vanish is a flash of light.

The fillies all sprang up in alarm.

“What’d you do!?” Awesome Blitz said in a small amount of panic.

“Oh, calm down. I only plopped them into the nearest fountain,” he responded, crossing his arms. “They’ve become such killjoys in their adulthood. But you three… Oh yes, you still have that young enthusiasm for all things chaos that I can appreciate.”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that…” Apple Surprise denied, scuffing the ground with a hoof.

“So, what do you want…?” Avia asked, a little concerned. “We were just about to try hoofball.”

“Which I’m sure will involve at least three fires by halftime,” the Spirit of Chaos said with a rather sinister chuckle. “Do what you will, I’ll just be enjoying the inevitable carnage. Your presence will certainly do wonders for that, your family line seems to have a knack for chaos.”

“What do you mean? My mother’s an Element of Harmony!”

“Oh yes, but it really is a ying and yang situation. There has to be chaos for harmony to prevail over, or everything just… stops,” he responded. “And dear Twiggles has found herself in some most chaotic situations, before as a pony and then later as a changeling. Not to mention what Chryssie got up to before that got ended, which brings the topic to your own great great aunt Crudelis. Wasn’t she a dear?”

“She sounds mean in the stories.”

“Very. As I said, chaos for harmony to prevail over. Perhaps a bit too chaotic, too much death and not enough style, but chaos nonetheless.”

“Death? I don’t think we really want to know about any of that…” Sapphire muttered.

“Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t. My style of chaos is far superior anyway, a good kick up the flank with a lesson learned and no fatalities along the way. Old school style,” Discord stated, demonstrating just that by clapping and causing the tree they sat under to begin growing tiny chairs in the place of fruit. “I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it. I’m sure mother dearest has told you all about how things were before Crudy came along, running in with magic rainbows and saving the day with no harm done. All starting at that little castle in the forest.”

“Oh, you mean the Castle of the Two Sisters?” Awesome Blitz guessed.

“Bingo. A castle of fun little traps and more secrets than Twilight has lists. Now isn’t that a feat?”

“Secrets? Like what?”

“Whatever Sun Butt and Moon Butt horded to themselves. They were quite the chaos magnets themselves in their day,” he casually remarked. “Nothing too much now though, it being an abandoned ruin and all. Not worth my time to look at, not when there’s plenty of chaos going on right here.”

Avia would have asked more questions, but they were interrupted by the distant eruption of party and the manic shouts of a very familiar pony.

“Ho ho, looks like the pink one is up to something!” Discord mused with a stroke of his goatee. “Hmm, perhaps it is worth a look. Who knows I might even be able to lend my… ‘assistance’. Ta ta, ponies and/or changelings!”

And then in a flash, he was gone.

“What a creep,” Awesome Blitz deadpanned.

“What kind of secrets do you think he was talking about, though?” Sapphire asked. “In the Castle of the Two Sisters, I mean.”

“I don’t know,” Apple Surprise replied. “But anything in the Everfree Forest makes my spine shiver.”

“I don’t know, Zecora is pretty nice.”

Avia let their talk about the Everfree be drowned out by her own thoughts. Discord was still pretty weird, though he had made her a little curious about the castle. She’d heard about it previously, but on the mention of secrets kept by the princesses…

Curious. Curious indeed.

Next Chapter: 10 - Captains Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes
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