The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 11: Deserving of Wings

It was silly, to think that anything was wrong.

Solar Flare knew that everything was going to be perfectly fine. There was no question. It was just odd.

Spending their second night on the road had been awkwardly silent. No conversations had popped up, not even an argument. In a sense, the Pegasus was desperate for some sort of interaction. Be it an argument about something benign or… well, anything.

They had stopped simply when Clockwork said they had reached the border between Equestria and Dystopia. It was rather easy to tell where Equestria ended and Dystopia began.

Dystopia’s ground, rather than simple grass or dirt, was a coloured checkerboard pattern, multiple different colours, often pastels, blending together and swirling, like some long-forgotten stream had dried up. There existed mountains, though they floated around off the ground, completely separated by several metres of air.  Some were even turned upside-down.

The place was a wasteland. There was no life, anywhere. It all looked burned. The sky was grey, dotted with the very few and occasional odd-looking pink clouds. There were crisp burn marks at seemingly random areas. Some light, and some heavily concentrated, entire charred areas of land. Ashes flew by, kissing the ground and often obscuring the patterns adorning the ground.

They had been puzzled at first. Surely it couldn’t be natural? They had walked over and it evidently had been, there was no evidence of any polymer-based substance or anything unnatural, as far as they knew. The ground had had a strange, smooth texture to it. It didn’t crumble, but they couldn’t skid across it like a tile or hardwood floor. It wasn’t pliable, and it wasn’t fabric.

They couldn’t think of anything to exactly compare the substance to, and after hours of speculation while setting up the tent and blankets, they had given up. They had set up camp just over the border, before Chaos had begun to complain of a vague pain in her stomach. Apple Core had promptly begun to take care of her, claiming she had a temperature and making her lie down.

Clockwork had given her the book he had been carrying for the entire time, and she had flipped through it. When they had woken up in the morning, much of the hair on Candied Chaos’ tail had fallen out, long red and purple hairs scattered across her blanket. Much of the hair on her upper left leg and lower right leg was now missing, short blue and pink hairs dotted across the area. She was shuddering wildly, and they had decided not to travel, and just look around the area for resources.

Solar Flare was now sitting outside the tent, enjoying the loose breeze blowing through her orange and navy mane. She could hear Apple Core fretting over Candied Chaos, using a small amount of her water supply on a wet section of blanket she had ripped from her own, and placing the damp section of fabric on the moaning, sweating filly’s forehead.

It occurred to her to at least attempt to fly, so she expanded her wings and took off on a running start, flapping her wings madly only to meet the ground once again.

Several hours of this ensued before Apple Core finally exited the tent, looking tired with her brow creased. “Solar!” She called softly.

Solar Flare landed, tucking her wings in. “Yeah?”

“Ah dunno what’s wrong. D’ya know?”

“Uh. Probably not. I can take a look, I guess.” Solar Flare shrugged, blinking and rubbing the back of her neck.

“Okay, come in.” Apple Core murmured quietly, turning and going into the tent. Solar Flare, raising an eyebrow, pushed the flap to the side and stepped in. The entire inside of the tent smelled of bile and sweat. She crinkled her nose, shrinking back and shuddering, feeling her stomach flip at the stench. Candied Chaos was lying on a stack of five blankets, curled weakly around a sixth, her head resting on a section of it.

Solar Flare heard her breathing, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Laboured, heavy. Her coat was dull and she was shivering. Even from a metre away, she could still feel the heat emanating from the filly. She was stunned.

“What’s causing this?”

“Ah have no clue…”  Apple Core grimaced, examining her now nearly-hairless two legs and tail. “I can only assume she’s been poisoned… But that doesn’t explain her hair loss.” She lowered her head, closing her eyes.

Cautiously, Solar Flare moved slightly forward, examining the foal’s tail. It seemed inflamed, the skin was peeling off of it. The same was happening to her back leg, but strangely, not her front leg. Her front leg, however, seemed to be chafing at the hoof. Her hoof was oddly thin, and was flaking at a miraculous rate, as though it would fall off entirely at any second.

“Ah have no idea what’s going on.” She admitted, turning to Apple Core and sighing. “Why is she only losing her hair on two legs and her tail?

Apple Core nodded worriedly, once again pressing the damp cloth to Chaos’ forehead. “Ah don’t know what’s wrong.” She fretted for the third time, biting her lip. Out of nowhere, Chaos stood up, scrambling to her hooves and darted outside, leaving Apple Core, blinking in shock.

Solar turned, following the filly with the orange Pegasus following. The earth pony was vomiting several feet away from the tent, sick spewing from her mouth and onto the ground, mostly liquid, but also a small reddish colour. Apple Core gasped. “Are you okay?” She asked, panicking on her hooves.  “Uhm, oh no…” She agonized.

The filly continued heaving, groaning as she did so, and shuddering on her hooves. “What is… What’s wrong with me?” Her blue eyes filled with tears as she turned to the two Pegasi. She was pale underneath her ruffled coat. Suddenly, she paused, closing her mouth and spitting out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. “Wh… What?!”

“C-calm down, okay? Are you feeling better?”

“N-no!” She shuddered, limping back to the tent as fast as she could, looking as though she’d fall over any second.

Apple Core sighed. “Ah just got her to sleep…” She murmured, downcast. Solar Flare smiled weakly, exhaling and putting a hoof on the Apple pony’s back.

It was at that point that Sir Prize showed up behind them. “Hey, how’s Chaos doing?”

“Bad.” Apple Core responded brusquely, gesturing to the pool of watery blood and bile.

Sir Prize scrunched his nose. “Ugh.” A visible shudder rippled underneath his light grey coat.

Apple Core grimaced, inhaling. “Should we… Should we go back or something? What if-“ The colour promptly drained from her face. “What if she…” Her voice fell. “Dies?”

“Please don’t say that.” Solar Flare suddenly snapped and shivered. “Don’t say that. She’s going to be okay. We’ll take some more time.”

Clockwork galloped into view, his saddlebags clearly full. He skidded to a stop in front of them. “Hey, guys. I found a bunch of berries, we should be good.”

Apple Core just looked mournfully at him. “Ah still dunno what’s wrong with her. We need to stay another day…”

Clockwork’s gaze fell, and he sighed. “Okay.” He mumbled. “Alright, that’s fine.” He murmured, walking away and ducking into the tent.

The three remaining ponies exchanged nervous glances. Solar Flare sat down on her haunches. “Well,” She mumbled. “What now?”

Sir Prize shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wish I could do something.”

Apple Core shook her head. “Yeah.”

“You okay?” Sir Prize nervously turned to her.

“Huh?” Apple Core looked up. “… Yeah. Ah just, uhm.”

Solar Flare cocked an eyebrow. “Listen, if you guys want to be alone, I get it. You’re cousins and all that, right? So, I totally won’t be offended.”

“No, no. It’s fine. Ah’m just kinda homesick.” The orange Pegasus laughed sadly. “Ah kinda take things fer granted, Ah guess. Ah just wanna go back to Gala Farm an’ curl up on the couch with Mom and Pops, Ah guess.” She blushed, her eyes were slightly moist. “That’s silly, Ah know.” She blushed.

“No, I kind of am too, I guess.” Solar Flare sighed. “I miss Scootaloo and my parents. I mean, I don’t really miss Cloudsdale. I sort of do, in a weird way, I guess. The people sucked, but I liked the area. In the mornings, when the sun first started to shine, the rainbow would be spilling out all crazy across the clouds. Scoot and I would always go watch the sunrise by this big rainbow fall.”

“Yeah. I miss apple bucking and getting mud on my boots. Mom would be fine with it, but dad always freaked out.” Sir Prize smirked. “Sometimes I did it, just to watch him flip out.” He chortled. “Every Saturday morning he’d try to wake me up to take me to this Coltillion class, and I’d always sleep right through it.” He mumbled. “I never did wanna go.” He smiled weakly. “Mom didn’t think I needed it anyway…”

“Yeah.” Apple Core simpered, then chuckled. “I can see that happening.”

Solar Flare sighed, pausing to think. “I guess, I mean, I dunno, but… I’m sort of homesick.”

She woke slowly. Sunlight filtered through the cloud roof of her home. The filly yawned contentedly. She leapt to her hooves, smiling. She had a performance today. She stumbled into the bathroom. The mirror was smeared and the tile felt frigid against her hooves. She turned on the glaciating water, splashing it against her face and instantly snapped awake, all traces of the bleariness lost from her eyes.

“Flare! You up?” She heard Rainbow Dash call.

“Yeah!” Solar Flare called back, a satisfied smirk plastered onto her face as she took a brush to her disheveled orange and blue mane before hopping down the cloud steps into the kitchen, where a plate of scrambled eggs sat.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t cook worth anything, but Soarin was relatively decent, and therefore took care of any and all food in the house, as Rainbow would simply buy junk food like Donkeyitos. Solar Flare quickly ate the egg before putting on her goggles and hopping out the window, smiling and catching herself on an updraft.

Scootaloo appeared beside her. “Hey, kid.” She grinned.

“Hey!” Flare grinned. “I’m just heading to that airshow.”

“Everyone’s freaking out since you did that triple Rainboom. Dash couldn’t even do a double. All of Cloudsdale’s talking about it!”

“Yeah.” Solar Flare smiled sheepishly. “I am kind of great, aren’t I?”

“You are. Hey, Soarin, Dash, and I are all gonna be in the front row to watch you with your best friend, alright?”

Solar grinned. “Kay!”

Everything paused suddenly. Movement stopped. Not even the breeze moved. She heard a voice come at her from all directions, reverberating from nothing. “Is one who is unable to use their wings truly deserving of them?”

And she was falling. Down, down down. People were laughing at her. She looked down. There was the ground. It came closer. And closer. And closer. Until finally, it was-

Crunch.

She awoke in a hospital bed, whitewashed walls, sheets, clothes. A heart monitor beating rhythmically. Artificial light spotlighting down directly on her, and Rainbow Dash grinning. “Hey, kid. Since you sucked at flying, we cut off your wings.”

It spiraled away, melting into darkness. She was alone, shaking, trembling. Tears were now running freely down her face, and a male voice laughed. “Do you deserve to really have wings, Solar Flare? Shouldn’t someone who knows how to use them have them?”

She shuddered. “I try really h-hard!”

“Oh, please. You slack. I don’t see you waking up every morning and staying until late at night, just practicing. You’re nothing like your mother.” The voice sneered. “Or your father, for that matter.”

“I work hard!”

“No, you don’t.” The sound of snapping fingers. “You joined the Wonderbolts and you lost it by messing up!”

Solar Flare froze, looking down at her hooves. Yellow. “Come on, Spitfire. You remember how it felt? Having them torn off? You’re going to be grounded forever!”

Solar Flare’s stomach lurched. “No…”

“You’ve always been a failure! No one cares about you, you’re a loser.”

“NO! I’m not, damnit! I try really hard!”

“That doesn’t mean you succeed.”

“Stop it! STOP IT! Who are you?”

“An honest friend.” The voice chuckled. “Poor, poor Solar Flare. All alone. I bet you never knew they love Scootaloo more than they love you? Sure, they loved you at first. But you couldn’t fly until you were almost an adolescent. You were a failure from the very beginning.”

She felt hands on her back, on her wings. Her hooves were blue again. A burning, stinging pain erupted on her back, a creeping, warm wetness running down her back and flanks as the pain continued down the base of her wings. Tears sprung to her eyes. Tendons snapped while skin ripped, joints popping out of place and the miniscule, hollow bones in her wings shattering. She screamed, stamping her hooves wildly while her wings were being slowly ripped off her body, blood oozing down her back and tears coursing down her  face.

“There we are! All done!” The burning continued down her back. She turned around, her wings laying neatly beside her.

She woke gasping and flailing madly, sweating. Solar Flare took a deep breath, flapping her wings briefly to ensure that they were still there. They were. It was relatively bright outside. Upon standing up, albeit shakily, she realized Clockwork was up. No surprise there. She sighed, shaking out her mane and stepping over the other ponies. She couldn’t clearly see Candied Chaos, but at least she was sleeping.

Solar Flare exited, ducking into the tent flap and slowly walking over the checkered ground, glancing over to Clockwork. “Uh, hey.” Ever since she had so foolishly asked him if his father was dead, things had been a bit odd.

Clockwork was calmly sitting there, watching the sun rise, with the breeze blowing his purple mane back. “Hi.” He mumbled. Though Solar Flare wouldn’t admit it in polite conversation, she thought he was sort of… cute. He certainly wasn’t bad looking.

She felt the sudden urge to touch his mane. It looked really soft. His eyes were a watery blue. He was an average height and weight. Downwind from him, Solar realized that, oddly enough, he smelled of the ocean shores that Scootaloo had taken her to one time while Soarin and Dash had been competing in some flying competition minors weren’t allowed at.

She inhaled deeply, and found herself blushing and sitting down right next to him. He glanced over briefly, raising an eyebrow. “Need something?”

“No, no.” She blushed, and involuntarily, her wings shot out to her sides. Her face turned bright red. She’d heard of these things before, but it hadn’t actually happened. She stared directly at the ground, at her hooves.

Clockwork looked away, laughing nervously. “Heh, uh, hey!” He mumbled, clearly changing to avoid the elephant in the room. He scratched the back of his neck. “Is Chaos doing any better?”

“I think. She was actually asleep. Not sure what we’re gonna do about that tooth she spat up or anything, but the only thing we can think of is that she was poisoned or something like that.” Solar mumbled. Celestia’s sun had yet to fully rise, so it was still rather cool. One of the low-hanging, pink clouds whizzed by. “Those are so odd.”

Clockwork nodded. “I think it’s kind of weird. This place looks like a wasteland of some kind. I mean, Equestria’s a couple metres away, but… I feel like this place used to be home to a lot of ponies or some kind of creatures, and now… There’s nothing. It’s almost post-apocalyptic. Categorically unnerving. It’s… perplexing. Like the place was detonated. The scorch marks suggest a fire of some kind, and that would support the fact that there’s no life. But it’s kind of…” She watched him shift, the rising sun reflected in his watery eyes. “Daunting.” He nodded decidedly on his choice of adjective. “I mean, this place used to be home to a lot of things, but something huge had to have come through here and just murdered it all.” A breeze rolled by and he shivered visibly. “It’s weird to think we’re preventing the same thing from happening to Equestria.”

Solar’s wings were now folded against her back again. She sighed, feeling the brief early morning breeze go through her mane and breathed in deeply. The scent of the ocean was still heavy in the air. Without thinking, she turned to him. “Hey, has anyone ever told you that you smell like the seashore?” and immediately slapped a hoof over her mouth. “Augh. I’m… Sorry.” She laughed nervously.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. “Er. No. I’ve never heard that one before.” He scratched the back of his neck.

Solar Flare swallowed, shifting on her hooves. “I’m a little silly. Sorry.”

“Hah. No, no, it’s fine. It’s kind of funny, actually.”

“Wha-?”

“It’s funny. Hey, uh, listen. I’m sorry for being… I dunno. Me. When we started this whole deal. I’m still kind of unsure, but… I dunno. I started this off not wanting anything to do with any of you, but you’re becoming more than bearable now.”

Flare blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean,” Clockwork shifted, seeming thoughtful. “I dunno. I just wanted to get it over with and go home. I still want to get it over with, but…” He shook his head. “Anyway, why are you up so early? I figured I’d let you all sleep in.”

“I had kind of a,” She fluttered her wings. “Weird dream, I guess.”

Clockwork turned, cocking an eyebrow. “I did, too… Do you wanna talk about it or something? I guess?”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “I’m fine. That’s odd that we both had nightmares.”

“Ah, so a nightmare?”

“Yeah, I guess. My wings got torn off.” She shrugged and shivered at the memory. It had felt so… real. She shuddered. “It, uh. Yeah, I don’t wanna talk about it.” She quaked again.

Clockwork nodded. “Yeah, I can see why.” He shook his head and sighed. “It’s gonna be a long day again. I found some food yesterday but it was really far off. Not all that tasty, just some really sour berries. Not a whole lot of flavour, kind of hard.” He shrugged. “But sustenance nonetheless, I suppose.” He tapped his hooves, almost nervously.

“Yeah,” Solar smiled. “I guess so, huh?”

A long silence passed. The heat wouldn’t fully set in for about four more hours, so they had some more time to bask in the aftermath of Luna’s cool night. She couldn’t take her scarlet eyes off of him. The way the sun reflected in his eyes. Celestia, he was beautiful. Why hadn’t she noticed this before?

She heard a rustling noise behind them and they turned around simultaneously. “Morning,” Candied Chaos mumbled. They stood there, stunned. She was different. Very different. “Y’know, I actually feel better! I think we can travel today, if you want to.”

Both Clockwork and Solar Flare’s mouths were hanging wide open. “Guys? What’s wrong?”

Clockwork raised a hoof, looking back over to Flare. “A-are you seeing this?”

“Y-yeah…”

The pony was essentially the same. If you could call her a pony. Her body was the same size. Pink coat, blue zebra stripes, antlers. Yellow and green pin-straight mane.

But now, her front right leg had been replaced with the leg and paw of a lion. Her back left leg replaced with a scaly green lizard leg. The tooth she had lost previously was now an overgrown fang, too large for her mouth and poking out almost comically. Her tail was a red dragon tail with white feathers at the end.

` Both Clockwork and Solar Flare were stunned into silence. “What? “ Candied Chaos asked, furrowing her brow, clearly confused. She looked down at her lion paw and screamed. “Wh-what in Equestria?” She looked at her back leg and her tail as well, then crossed her eyes, spotting her large, single fang. “What? What?! What happened? How did this happen?” She was now running around madly in circles. “Oh, Celestia! What’s going on? Is this why I was sick? I was… I was transforming?” She swallowed, and the remaining three ponies came out of the tent, groaning and rubbing their eyes with their hooves.

“Whasrong?” Sir Prize groaned, then staring at Candied Chaos. “What the-?”

“Exactly my thoughts!” Clockwork chimed nervously. “O-okay, hang on. We can figure that out. I think I saw something like this… Something like this in, uh… This book!” He ran back into the tent, coming out with a book in his mouth and flitting through the pages with his magic. “Here!” He called, motioning for them to come over. “Okay, found it. Draconequus.”

He scanned his hoof down the page. “It says… It’s a creature made up of many different animals, often with a slender body. It’s the only creature that can survive that way, but is reproductively compatible with most other species. The most famous one is… Discord.”

The entire mood within the group dropped into silence. “Discord?” Candied Chaos blinked. “I’ve never heard of him.”

Clockwork nodded, flipping to another page. In shock, he looked up at Candied Chaos, then back down at the page with the illustration of the well-known draconequus. It was obvious to Solar Flare as well. They looked shockingly, disturbingly similar. “He tried to destroy Ponyville until all of our parents stopped him.” He mumbled. “He wanted to turn it into his own little personal funhouse.” Clockwork shivered. “And gleefully wanted to ruin the lives of everypony who stood in his way. The ultimate embodiment of disharmony and chaos.”

“That’s all fine and dandy!” Gem snapped. “But why in Equestria does Candied Chaos look like him?”

Clockwork paused, the  colour drained from his face. “Chaos,” He started slowly. “I don’t think you’re an earth pony.”

“HAHAHA! Oh, Twilight! Twilight!” Soarin watched Rainbow beckon over the lavender unicorn. “You have to check this out! My kid totally has a crush on your kid!” Rainbow poked the glass sphere with a hoof. “This is hilarious!” Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow.

They watched Clockwork glance over at Solar Flare. “Need something?”

Solar Flare’s wings shot out immediately to her sides. Soarin stared in shock, and Rainbow erupted into laughter, falling over. Behind him, he heard Scootaloo chuckle. Soarin leered at Rainbow. “Come on, Soarin! It’s just a crush.”

Twilight smirked. “Huh.” She mumbled, the smirk fading almost as quickly as it had come. “Funny.”

“Yeah, it’s a crush.” Soarin grumbled, on the verge of snarling. Who was this kid, anyway? He felt himself tense up, then relax. Just a crush. He inhaled. Jussttt a crush. Scootaloo came up behind him, nuzzling his neck.

“Come on, it’s just her first crush. It won’t go anywhere. It’s just cute.” Scootaloo smiled, and the young adult pony turned back to the orb, chuckling while Flare and Clockwork awkwardly carried on a conversation.

“Well, actually,” Soarin paused. “I’m kind of worried about Chaos.”

“Oh.” Rainbow’s face fell. “Yeah. It’s weird, though. I had weird dreams all night. She shuddered. The other three ponies in the room, Soarin, Scootaloo, and Twilight, all blinked and nodded, in a chorus of agreement. Evidently, they all had as well.

“Wait. You guys, too?” She blinked, shivering. “That’s weird,” Rainbow nodded. “Fluttershy found Pinkie freaking out in Sugarcube Corner last night. She was having some intense nightmares, I guess. Fluttershy had gone to check up on her and heard her screaming bloody murder and bashing her head in with her hooves. Blood everywhere, she was crying. The whole shebang.” She shuddered for a moment. “So Fluttershy’s over at Sugarcube Corner to keep an eye on her.”

It was only Twilight and the members of Soarin’s family who were used to waking up this early. Soarin and Rainbow for practice, and Scootaloo to take care of Flare and make sure she got off to that wretched, poorly-constructed flight school.

“Which somehow reminds me,” Rainbow turned to Scootaloo. “Listen, Soarin and I have an airshow day after tomorrow.” The Pegasus mare elaborated. “We need you to keep an eye on them,” She cocked her head toward the glass ball. “And call us if any emergencies should occur. But we’re gonna be gone. Cool?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Cool.”

“Yeah, so,” Rainbow sighed. “Pinkie’s gonna be staying at Sugarcube Corner for a few days with Fluttershy. She said she might take her back to Gala farm or at least the Apple place. Since, y’know, she’s family now. But she got all worried since her hair’s gone flat. She keeps babbling about how something’s missing.” She shook her head worriedly. “It’s not like her.” She mumbled. “I’m scared, Soarin.” She turned to the blue stallion, who nodded and rested his blue head on top of hers.

“Yeah.” He murmured, his eyes grazing the floor and walls. “I know, I am, too.” His eyes snapped back to the glass sphere sitting in its strange little stand. For some reason, Clockwork and Solar Flare had gone silent. That was a miracle. He didn’t think that girl ever went silent. He wondered what could possibly make her stop talking.

But a second later, he received his answer. Standing in the blue doorway of the tent was Candied Chaos, with various animal legs, a snake tail, and a large, fang-like tooth.

All of the wind left Soarin’s lungs. She almost looked like-

Rainbow and Twilight exchanged glances, simultaneously breathing, “Discord?”

They pushed their faces up to the orb in shock. “What the-?”

While Clockwork was busy flipping through an encyclopedia, the ponies back in the library were discussing what in Equestria was going on. This explained Chaos’ illness, though each of them was rather relieved that Pinkamena hadn’t been there to see what had happened to her daughter. Soarin swallowed thickly. Rainbow glanced over at Twilight. “Okay,” She inhaled in a vain attempt to calm herself. “Okay, okay, okay…” She murmured multiple times, then became entirely tense under her well-muscled blue coat. “Twilight,” She began tentatively. “You don’t think Discord…”

Twilight glanced over. “I don’t think Discord what?” She cocked her head. It was obvious she hadn’t slept in days.

“Had his way with her or anything? That’s… That’s not normal.” She gestured to the glass orb, looking concerned.

Twilight bit her lip.

~XXX~

^-^ Happy Christmas, everyone.

All I want for Christmas is comments, comments, comments!

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