Elements of Harmony Chapter 59: Kind of a Long Story, a X-overs + My Little Pony Crossover fanfic

59. Kind of a Long Story

THE LAND OF MONSTERS, OLYMPIC GREECE

"I guess we can condense all of your questions into one," Discord mused. "Where have I been for the past few days? Well, it all started when I sent a message to Eris telling her to meet me…"

BARDO, THE UNDERWORLD

SEVERAL DAYS AGO

When the letter arrived for Eris, written out in cuneiform on several banana peels stitched together, she began laughing out of pure joy and wasn't able to stop for a long time. Then she pocketed the banana peels and made her way to the rendez-vous point the letter had specified.

She came to the place where the Styx branched out into the Cocytus, a river that contained all the tears that had ever been cried only to hit the ground and dissolve into it. There, in the shadows, the draconequus waited, wearing a black trenchcoat and shades as though those disguised his identity.

"I NEVER expected to get a letter from you," Eris laughed. "To tell you the truth, you're kind of an idol of mine. I'd heard tell that you were gone away forever."

"Did you come alone?" Discord asked.

"Yes."

"Did you bring the briefcase?"

"You didn't ask me to bring a briefcase."

Discord whipped off his sunglasses, bursting into laughter. "I DIDN'T!"

Eris joined in chuckling at the joke. "I've modeled my work after your life, you know."

"Oh, I know, and you've done it BRILLIANTLY! I heard about your stunt with the gods' mapbook. The Book of Pizza or whatever they call it."

"It was actually the Book of Peace, but the Book of Pizza sounds FAR more entertaining."

"Book of Peace," Discord repeated. "How boring! Now, let's get down to plaid tacks. It is very important that Hades does NOT know I'm here. I stole something from him not too long ago, and I'm about to be stealing a lot more from him. If he knew I was here, well, things would just get messy."

"Hades and I aren't on the best of terms," Eris admitted. "He won't let me have charge of any segment of the Underworld outside Tartarus. He says my chaos is too 'new-age art' for his taste. He rules with an iron fist, and that means our least favorite thing."

Eris and Discord sneered the word at the same time: "ORDER."

"What did you steal?" Eris asked.

"Well, technically, first, it was a bunch of souls of Dark wizards and witches to set running around on Fourth Earth, though I can't remember if they were from this timeline or further down," Discord explained. "Then, DEFINITELY only a while ago in this timeline, I stole the last batch of that potion Hades had that turns gods into mortals. I had a goddess of hope I needed out of commission in order to put one of my favorite systems back into action. And the more I look at what I have to work with in this multiverse, the more it occurs to me that all the BEST agents of chaos are dead in their timelines." He opened his claw so Eris could see the Resurrection Stone on his palm. "I already have a shortcut to getting souls up to the mortal realm, and I can find places to store them once I've got them. But I know just how many tabs Hades keeps on who enters and who leaves, and I might just need a little help distracting him while I smuggle them out. Are you with me?"

"I'd love to hit that windbag where it hurts," Eris confirmed. "I can sabotage all his little soul-tracking machines so he won't notice what you're doing until the Underworld is half empty."

"Good!" Discord cried. "I knew I could count on my biggest mortal fan! Of course, there is the matter of the OTHER phase of the plan, but that requires you being willing to accept that someday, there's going to be a reign of chaos so great and so wonderful, you couldn't even BELIEVE it…except for the teeny tiny little detail that the Olympians won't be in charge anymore. You won't be the leading lady of chaos anymore. You'll just live in it."

"They say it's better to rule in Tartarus than to serve in Elysium," Eris told Discord, "but then again, even if I don't rule, we're looking at an entire EXISTENCE of chaos."

"No more fixed lengths for days. The sun rises and sets whenever we feel like it. The sky won't have to be on top of the land anymore, and the sea can just go wherever."

"Sounds like my kind of party. What are you thinking?"

"Well, you know about the ancient beings that have been part of this world since even before this world was ever made?" Discord quizzed Eris.

"First, there were the Primordials, during the Great Chaos," Eris said. "Then they gave birth to the Titans, who were young when the Great Chaos ended and the Lands of Legend began. The Olympians were born into Legend, and after time broke, we settled Olympus here."

"Now, the Primordials are going to be the most difficult to find, including Mommy Dearest," Discord said. "So I've just decided I'm going to worry about them later. But there are the Titans to think about. Not to mention the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes."

"The Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes sided with Zeus," Eris pointed out.

"ALL of them?" Discord raised a brow.

Eris laughed. "Of course…Aegaeon and Arges defected. Aegaeon was fashioned into the prison for those who break blood oaths, and Arges was imprisoned with the more powerful Titans at the center of the Olympic mortal world. I take it you're as interested in them as you are in the Titans."

"Exactly!" Discord snapped his fingers. "In a sense, I'm getting the band back together. If the Titans can rise up and overthrow the Olympians, we're that much closer to a grand chaos where Tethys can draw rivers in the sky, Crius can draw constellations of whatever he feels like and change the position of the stars every night, and Iapetus can go spear-crazy."

"It sounds wonderful," Eris admitted.

"And if the Titans rise up and DON'T overthrow the Olympians at this very minute, well, then I just have that many more awake and on my side for later," Discord concluded. "We can kill a few nights at Quadwrangle Manor playing Go Fish."

"So you want to find all the…'Old Ones' involved in the wars on the Titans and bring them out of exile," Eris reiterated.

"That's pretty much the plan!"

"And where do I play a part?"

"Well, Maleficent still thinks she can play Angel of Darkness and make us all into her little pets," Discord scoffed, "and Hades is working right in her inner circle. It's going to be hard to get this past Hades…unless, of course, he was distracted."

"Let's say, for instance, a certain lady of Tartarus were to approach him," Eris suggested, "and give him all sorts of plans for how to use Hera's golden apples and cause chaos in the mortal world."

"Then that lady of Tartarus would get a show worth watching out of that while I could do my work in peace," Discord said with a grin. "Oh, and just thinking for the future, you might want to look into getting access of your own to those apples someday."

"As of now, Hera is the only Olympian who can cross into that Garden," Eris griped. "But one day, those apples WILL be mine to do whatever I want with."

"So do we have a deal?" Discord asked. "You keep Hades running in circles while I collect all the souls I need and get all the Titans back into action?"

"This is going to be the most fun I've had in aeons," Eris admitted. "Consider our deal sealed."

"PERFECT!" Discord cried. "I have several visits to make! I'll see you at a new rendez-vous point."

"Where would that be?"

"Oh…let's say…the Land of Monsters in Olympic Greece. I'll send you another message when everything is ready. Until then, I'll be on a…" In a flash, Discord wore a Hawaiian print shirt and held a cooler in his lionesque paw. "ROAD TRIP!" He strung a pine-tree-shaped air freshener around his neck before vanishing.

Eris turned her attentions toward the palace that had been Persephone's, the palace where Facilier did his work. That was where all of the soul tracking devices of Hades' regime were. They would have to go down first.

TARTARUS, THE UNDERWORLD

The pit was wide, deep, and black, almost unfathomably so. They said, in whispers, that even Hades didn't like to go to this part of Tartarus. This was where the heart was of the original primordial being, Tartarus, who had become the realm of punishment. And in the pit…something more frightening than any punishment involving whips or chains or blades or flames found in all of the realm.

Discord peered over the edge into the inky blackness. Then he made a safety harness appear over his chest and began to rappel down the side, into the abyss.

It was a long way down, and Discord had to conjure up a helmet with a headlamp so he could see where he was going (though the course never changed: straight down). After what seemed an eternity, which, to someone like Discord, was more like five minutes, he reached a spot just before the bottom where he could see the pit's inhabitant…or what was left of him.

"Why, hello, Kronos," he greeted.

A voice – weakened over time, but still deep, raspy, and powerful – answered back. "Discord. It has been a long time."

"I'll say," Discord remarked. "Last time I saw you, your nieces and nephews were knee-high! And now you're – well – erm – how to put this delicately – you don't seem to have aged well."

"The Olympians destroyed my body and cast it into this pit," Kronos grumbled. "I, the most powerful of Titans, condemned by my own children!"

"Though, to be fair, I think I heard something about you swallowing all of them," Discord pointed out. "I can see why that would make them angry. Well, getting you back in shape will take some doing, but – " Discord cracked his knuckles. "I think we can pull it off."

"No, Discord."

"NO?" Discord was taken aback. "Excuse me, but I'm trying to build a new age of chaos! I've already got Mirage, the Ethereal, and my little brother on board, Eris can't wait to see it, and I even convinced the Incubators to take our side. Without you, I might as well just trash the whole thing! Well, actually, no, I won't, but it just wouldn't be the same without you. I especially loved your 'as long as I rule, there are no rules' philosophy!"

"It is not time, Discord," Kronos told him. "I had consulted the tapestry of fate when bearing my children! After my mother and father told me I was to be ended by their hand, I looked into the future. I do not rise now. It will not be long, though. I will be able to reform my body and leave this prison! From there, the tapestry was unclear. I do know that if I fail, another chance for me will come in two thousand years."

"You of all beings are going to let the rules tell you what to do?" Discord sighed.

"You of all beings would put me back together upside down!" Kronos argued. "If I follow what has been prophesied, I will have full strength! If I follow your being, I will become a discombobulated abomination!"

"You're sure?" Discord asked.

He felt the chill of Kronos' Titanic aura come upon him. Kronos was showing him what little of his magic was left, and given the circumstances, it was quite a lot. Were the two to battle, Discord knew he would either lose…or pull off a victory that would cause extreme tension between the two forever.

"Well," Discord asked, folding his arms in frustration and leaning back as far as his harness would allow, "does the tapestry of fate say I can't bring the OTHER Titans into this?"

"Not at all," Kronos admitted. "Perhaps their release will be the gateway to my own rise to power."

"Goody!" Discord practically squealed. "So." He pulled out a notebook and pen; clicked the pen. "Mind telling me where they've all gotten off to?"

"Lythos, Pyros, Stratos, and Hydros have all been cast into the cosmos, where their bodies were destroyed into thousands of pieces," Kronos began. "I felt it as it happened. Oceanus has been cast into the farthest depths of the sea…"

Discord took notes eagerly. When Kronos was done, Discord clicked the pen.

"See you in a few years!" Discord called out, grabbing the rope to begin scaling the wall. "Or two thousand! Well, for you, that is. If I really wanted, I could go meet the risen version of you in the future whenever I wanted. Promise me you'll take my side if two thousand years doesn't work out?"

"Whether or not it does," Kronos vowed, "I shall stand beside you to recreate the age of chaos."

"Then T.T.F.N.," Discord said before grabbing the rope and climbing up out of Kronos' sight.

The pit was in a secluded area; the rest of Tartarus was less foreboding. Which, given that it was a realm designed for eternal torment, spoke wonders toward Kronos' pit.

Discord eventually found the land he was looking for: great caverns of deep gray and shadows, where seven great Titans were bound to the wall by great chains with no locks. They had been bound to the walls for so long, they could each feel themselves becoming part of the walls, permanent fixtures.

All were surprised when Discord marched right into the cavernous space, looking around at them. "Well, THIS is dull!" he stated. "Don't any of you know how to party anymore?"

"As if any of us can enjoy anything anymore," Crius, a male Titan with a bald dome of a head and a black robe with stars woven into it seethed. The stars were dimming. "After the Olympians locked us down here to live out eternal punishment…"

"I take it there's a bit of bad blood between you and the Olympians," Discord replied.

"More than a bit," Crius growled.

"Hmm…well, let's see what you think about this."

Suddenly, there appeared in Discord's hand a gigantic torch, the sort used for cutting metal.

"You can't be thinking what I think you're thinking." This came from Coeus, whose skin was tattooed with lines representing the axes of worlds.

"Oh, I'm thinking it." Discord fired up the torch.

"You cannot sever these chains," Hyperion argued. His hair and eyes glowed gold, and one could see why all who spoke of him described him as devastatingly handsome. "They were forged to hold us for all eternity – "

"And yet Hades and Persephone managed to break THOSE," Discord said with a nod toward an empty space in the cavern where Atlas had once been bound. "And if they can do it, so can I. After all, the rules of the universe don't apply to me."

He approached Iapetus – a black-hooded Titan with silver bracelets – and began to work on severing his chains. "So how is it that eight of you ended up down in here," Discord asked, "and all the others ended up…everywhere else you can think of between here, Olympus, and the Olympic mortal realm?"

"During the great war between Olympians and Titans over this world," Iapetus explained, "Hyperion, Crius, Coeus, Oceanus, and I stood beside Kronos as his generals. Lythos, Pyros, Hydros, and Stratos, along with the traitor Cyclops Arges, were the only ones who caused more damage than Kronos' generals. That is why they were given a special prison at the Olympic earth's core, one darker and more terrible than even this one."

"If there's something out there darker and more terrible than Tartarus," Discord muttered, "that just means Hades' designs are getting lazy."

Iapetus' chains went SNAP, and Iapetus stood, stretching out all his limbs. "After we lost the war, Kronos was given the worst punishment of all."

"I saw the pit," Discord confirmed, moving to Hyperion's chains.

"The third worst punishment had to go to us, naturally," Hyperion picked up where Iapetus left off. "We were condemned to Tartarus, where Hades and Eris were tasked with giving us this fate."

"Eris?" Discord laughed. "Well, there's poetic irony! She's helping me spring you, you know that?"

Hyperion's chains went SNAP. Discord moved to Crius. "So where's Oceanus?" he asked.

"Oceanus defected in the midst of the battle," Crius explained, venom in his voice from remembering it. "The coward withdrew from both sides and refused to fight. So the Olympians just exiled him instead of punishing him."

"Now, now," Discord scolded, "let's not have sibling rivalry get into this. I need all of you working together as a family."

"Family," Perses sighed. "If only we could see ours again. Our sisters and wives managed to talk the Olympians into giving them lesser punishment. Asteria was always clever like that. Well, she was before…"

"Before what?" Discord was curious.

"I heard rumors that Zeus wouldn't stop hitting on her," Perses growled, "so she ran away and turned herself into – "

"I know what she turned herself into," Discord finished, "and I have every intention of convincing her to change back. So why are YOU here? You weren't one of Kronos' generals."

"But I was one of the most destructive during the war," Perses admitted. "So was Pallas."

Menoetius, a muscular Titan who wore only a loincloth so that his physique was quite visible to all, gave a grunt of agreement. "It's PALLAS who got thrown down here for a humiliating reason. Tell him, Pallas."

Pallas was neither truly male nor female, or perhaps was both. Xe bore long, silvery hair and was clothed in shining armor. "Rhea talked the Olympians into believing I was innocent of war crimes so I could stay out of Tartarus," xe explained. "Then I became friends with Athena. We would spar every day, until we got in a fight. I don't even remember what I said to make her so angry, but I know I wanted to kill her. She ended up killing me instead when I challenged her to a fight. And I told the judges that I wanted to destroy her…so…Tartarus for me. And not even for fighting well in the war."

"Well, it happens to the best of us," Discord said as Crius' chains went SNAP and Coeus was the next to be worked on.

"What's your plan?" Coeus asked Discord. "You can't have come down here for nothing. We thought you were long gone, forever. For you to be here…"

"It's a little disconcerting," Pallas admitted.

"I just want to bring back the old days!" Discord announced. "I'm gathering all the Old Ones I can so we can bring chaos back to the cosmos. As it SHOULD be. Are you all in?"

"You're bringing chaos immediately?" Perses asked.

"Well, not as much as I'd like," Discord said. "There's still a lot of work to be done before we can actually have an age of chaos like we used to. But in the meantime, there's a LOT of fun we can have!"

"And revenge to take on the Olympians!" Crius cried as Coeus' chains snapped.

"Hmm…" Discord thought it over as he moved to Perses. "Well, all right, but only if it's fun revenge. Anyway, I'm arranging a rendez-vous point in the Land of Monsters in Olympic Greece for when everyone's been rounded up. Kronos is being a party pooper and won't come, but I'm sure I can rustle up everyone else. Well…okay, Atlas will be hard to get if what I heard is true, and there's still the fact that Lythos, Pyros, Hydros, and Stratos are out of commission. Arges, too. Could have used him. Until then, you're going to need to stay out of sight, but that shouldn't be hard. I have it guaranteed that Hades is going to be focused on something absolutely else."

Perses' chains snapped, so Discord moved to Menoetius. "What do you plan to do after we're free?"

"Hmm…don't know," Discord admitted. "I know my plan STARTS with setting you free, EVENTUALLY ends with us bringing about the new age of chaos, and TEMPORARILY ends with us playing card games in my rather spacious mansion, and in between, there are schemes of general chaos, but I don't know what those are just yet. I'm open to suggestions."

Menoetius was then freed, and Pallas the last to be unchained. As Discord worked on xyr bindings, Crius suggested, "I have an idea for what we can do to get our revenge…especially if we're looking to gather the Old Ones."

"I'm all ears," Discord said.

And he listened to Crius' suggestion until Pallas' chains went SNAP. Then Discord replied to Crius with a joyful laugh. "It's PERFECT! I hope you don't mind if I excuse myself from the actual conflict. I do hate it when things get, er, well, messy."

"You've already done more than enough for us," Pallas thanked, stretching out xyr joints.

"And I'm not done yet!" Discord announced. "It's off to elsewhere in the Underworld for me! And then we can REALLY have a family reunion!"

As quickly as he'd come, Discord vanished.

"I was a small child during the age of chaos," Pallas admitted. "I barely remember Discord. Was he truly the legend I remember him being?"

"Yes," Perses confirmed. "That and more."

"He's the son of a Primordial, just like the first twelve of us," Iapetus explained. "And that's why I wouldn't cross him if I were you. Not even you, Crius."

BARDO, THE UNDERWORLD

The great Lethe pool from which the Lethe river sprang was one of the most well known sites in Bardo. Those who drank from its waters or bathed in them would lose memories, memories that would become liquid as the waters of the pool and drain away. Gods could recover from the memory loss, but for mortals, it was more or less permanent.

Discord contemplated the Lethe pool for a moment. There was all manner of chaotic things he could achieve with it…but it wasn't his goal. What he wanted was the other pool.

It was tucked into a grotto far behind the Lethe pool. Hades didn't advertise it, much for the reason that he didn't want it known about. It was named for the Titan who inhabited it and bestowed the particular powers on its waters. For as the pool of Lethe drained memories away, the pool of Mnemosyne restored them.

Discord knocked on the surface of the pool of Mnemosyne as though the surface of the water was solid; it even made a knocking sound. The waters rippled as liquid does, though, and she rose from them until her bare feet stood upon the pool. Mnemosyne wore a green peplos with flowing sleeves, and her brunette hair was thick and curly.

"Discord," she stated. "I remember you."

"You remember everything," Discord pointed out. "Happen to remember the age of chaos?"

"Perhaps better than most others my age. A time when I had control over what people remembered and what they forgot."

"Would you be interested in helping me get a little of that back?"

"How so, Discord?"

He explained to her his plan. She was stil for a moment, contemplating it; her face was nearly always set into a hard frown. Then she nodded. "I will help you."

"PERFECT!" Discord cried. "Then I'll see you at the rendez-vous point! Don't go and forget, now!"

"If that was meant to be a joke…"

"You never did have a good sense of humor," Discord sighed as he began to walk away.

THE SPACE BETWEEN

Discord liked what they'd done with Atlas.

You could walk right into Atlas' vicinity from the Underworld. But he wasn't in the Underworld, not in any sense. He stood amongst a void, a void upon which Discord just walked without any ground or floor beneath him in order to see Atlas at eye level. Atlas was obviously straining to keep his burden above him; the massive, stone-skinned, red-eyed man still wrapped in chains bore the entire Olympic world upon his shoulders, and as such, he bore Mount Olympus. Were he to be removed from the equation, that world and Olympus would come crashing down; the Underworld would not be affected beyond getting a host of newcomers all at once.

"Discord," Atlas grunted.

"Hello, Atlas," Discord replied. "I suppose you really can't move from where you are, can you?"

"It is my curse."

"Hmm." Discord thought it over. "See, I'm having a Titan family reunion, and I was hoping you'd be able to show up. But you're obviously already occupied. Oh well. It wasn't as if Kronos was going to be able to show up either, and four of the Titans have already blown up."

"Why," Atlas asked, "do you not wish for me to simply move and send this world crashing down? It would be chaos."

"Chaos, yes," Discord agreed. "And at the same time, an awful lot of mess. I haven't gotten a fair shot to play with the Olympians yet, Atlas, and I'm not going to let you drop them into oblivion before I have that chance. Now, I am expecting that when the age of chaos comes back around, you'll be able to stand with us, but I'll have to make other arrangements to keep this world floating, and…" He sighed. "It will take millennia to make a statue of me that big."

"You would not."

"I think you and I both know I would, Atlas."

Atlas sighed. "You would. Go, then. Create your chaos. Leave me be for the sake of leaving two worlds untouched in a cosmos of many." His voice dripped with resentment.

"Oh, is that how it's going to be?" Discord asked. "You're going to whine? Should I call the waaaaa-mbulance for you? Oh, right, you wouldn't know what an ambulance is. I'll come back when I have a better pun that fits your time period. Anyway, you can keep your bad attitude to yourself. I'm going to round up the Titans that KNOW how to party!"

Discord practically stormed off. Atlas, despite being much younger than Discord, considered the elder being far more immature. He knew that Discord could find a way to relieve him of his burden, even if it meant dropping the Olympic world and Mount Olympus with it past a point of no return. But Discord wouldn't, all for the sake of having another board on which to play his games. Atlas didn't know whether to call that cowardly, sentimental, or purely idiotic.

And Discord was struggling not to apply nasty adjectives to Atlas in his own mind.

THE SEAS AT THE BORDER OF OLYMPIC GREECE

Off the coast of Arcadia, the waters ran deep, deeper than even the largest ocean. This space had been carved out of the ocean floor, a private expanse of water to hide those who wanted to be hidden. So deep the waters flowed black instead of blue, and the fish were all the bottom-dwellers, those with strange lights upon their bodies and flattened bodies to withstand pressure.

The eyes of the two Titans pierced the darkness, allowing them to see the sand of the ocean floor upon which they lived. And here they made a life in peace – a boring life, but one free of interruptions by vengeful Olympians, who had not been able to find them there. Oceanus – a well-built man with a teal and white beard and crop of hair reminiscent of sea foam, and wearing flowing robes of dark blue that billowed in the water as he moved past – and Tethys – a woman of dark green, curly hair, dressed in a gown of flowing white and wearing a winged crown upon her brow – had escaped the conflict with the Olympians, and their location had been entrusted only to Zeus – who promised them no trouble so long as they remained exactly there – and their brother Kronos.

And so both were surprised and a little frightened when a draconequus came deep-sea diving in their territory. He paddled past them, oxygen tank strapped to his back and scuba mask over his eyes. Discord waved before taking the snorkel out of his mouth and then dismissing the accouterments entirely.

"Discord!" Tethys flinched. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I…" A sudden thought occurred to Discord. "Shall I call you a ride on a pega-FUSS? Why couldn't I have thought of THAT back with Atlas? Oh well. Moment's passed. I'm here to get you out of this boring place!"

"That would be impossible," Oceanus told him. "We have taken these oceans as a refuge after the war against the Olympians. So long as we stay here, we are in accord with Zeus."

"Now, you see, that's where you and I see things differently," Discord replied. "My plan doesn't involve you being in accord with Zeus."

"If we are not in accord with him," Tethys said, "we are at war with him."

"NOW you're getting it!" Discord beamed.

"I don't understand…" Tethys muttered.

"I think I do," Oceanus stated. "Discord, you aren't attempting to reclaim this territory in the name of those of us from the age of chaos, are you?"

"Actually, in the long run, I'm hoping to do that with EVERY territory," Discord answered. "This is just the first step. And before you say no, all your brothers except Kronos already agreed to it. Kronos is waiting out some prophecy. Anyway, Hyperion, Coeus, Crius, and Iapetus are on board. So are Perses, Menoetius, Pallas, and Mnemosyne are also on board. So. Would you rather live down here in the ocean of boring for the rest of your immortal lives, or would you rather take a chance to stand with your family and get out of here?"

"I – " Oceanus began.

"Don't," Tethys warned him. "We only survived because you stayed out of the first conflict."

"Tethys," Oceanus said, "look at this. Look at what we have."

She took a gander around. The darkness. The sand. The fish that lit up. And that was it.

"All right," she said.

"That's what I thought," Discord affirmed.

ARCADIA, OLYMPIC GREECE

The woods of Pan were largely untouched, natural space that the satyr god had claimed for his animals. Which was not to say that Arcadia was a peaceful place of harmony. Nature could be beautiful; it could be dark and dangerous. The woodlands of Pan were thick and twisted, almost black with shadow and overgrown with vines. Creatures crawled among the trees, enacting their cycles of predator and prey, life and death. It was the perfect hiding place for three Titans.

Since Hercules had convinced Zeus to set Prometheus free, as his contributions to humankind had been more beneficial than harmful, Prometheus had been living on probation and in hiding. He wore only the simplest of rags, bearing a long and curly chestnut-colored beard. His brother Epimetheus, scorned by many others for being a fool, shared this place with him – only the other two Titans of Arcadia's woods didn't seem to ridicule Epimetheus for his lack of foresight. Even his former wife, Pandora, had abandoned him. Epimetheus had always connected incredibly well with animals, and for this reason, he and Prometheus chose Arcadia as the place to spend their exile and probation.

The third who lived there was Theia, whose entire body glowed a bright gold – she emanated light, but was not painful to look at, and was actually a soothing sight for most eyes. She took pity on Epimetheus, thinking it unfair that the other Titans as well as the Olympians bullied him, and she pitied Prometheus as well, wishing to offer him consolation after his long punishment by Zeus. So she stayed with them, acting as a companion to the two.

It was Theia who first looked up into the cover of the tree branches – she, Epimethus, and Prometheus preferred to remain the size of humans while living in the woods, so as to have more space for cover – and gasped in shock. Prometheus and Epimetheus looked upward.

"Well, hello," Discord said from the branch where he reclined.

"Discord?" Theia was perplexed.

"Well, let's hear it," Discord replied. "How'd you get here? I know only one of you participated in the war on Olympus."

Theia nodded. "Rhea spoke on behalf of our sisters and of me, and so the gods were convinced to forgive me so long as I…did not interfere with them. Prometheus and Epimetheus were outcast for other reasons, so I became their companion."

"Which begs the question," Discord said. "Prometheus, how DID you get off that rock, and Epimetheus, how's life treating you after BOTH Pandora cycles?"

"Hercules begged Zeus to let me go," Prometheus said, still somewhat surprised at the turn of events. "He said I brought good gifts to the mortals and didn't deserve to be chained up. And…Zeus listened, though he's watching. Epimetheus, on the other hand…"

"They think I'm an idiot," Epimetheus muttered. "They said if Pandora betrayed me once, I shouldn't have expected any different in this cycle."

"Well, idiot or no, I still appreciate that Pandora let the most of us out back in the first cycle," Discord pointed out.

"But I don't know," Epimetheus practically wailed. "Should I have left you there for the good of the cosmos, or should I have remained faithful to you?"

"What has happened has happened," Prometheus told his brother. "There is no use in recounting it or wishing you had done differently…"

"The gods trusted me to keep the others locked up," Epimetheus muttered. "And the others trusted me not to betray them."

"Oh, we backstab each other all the time," Discord said with a wave of his paw. "No hard feelings! Speaking of betrayal, how much are you up for getting out of these woods to reclaim the age of chaos?"

"Not at all," Theia asserted. "The three of us are safe. We promised not to strike against the Olympians again!"

"Hercules risked a lot to give me the freedom I have!" Prometheus added.

Before Discord could even try to convince them otherwise, Epimetheus spoke, and his words were different: "But I'm still the idiot to everyone. I don't want to be that anymore."

"I didn't want to say it, but you still lack foresight," Prometheus told his brother. "Whatever Discord's planning, it will only bring us ruin!"

"I – " Discord began.

Epimetheus interrupted him. "I locked him up! I kept him inside the box until the first Pandora…I have to make it up to him!"

"No," Theia said. "You owe him nothing."

"Technically – " Discord attempted.

"I think the Olympians owe us," Epimetheus went on, "for making us turn on our fellows from the age of chaos and for exiling us. Especially you, Prometheus! Is this really fair?"

"No," Prometheus admitted.

"It is better to be safe than sorry," Theia said.

"Is it?" Prometheus asked.

"Well, in my opinion – " Discord started.

"I've gone from punishment to lesser punishment for acting with good intent," Prometheus pointed out. "I wanted to bring something new to mortals that they could use to reshape the world, and have you seen how they repaid me? Maybe it's time to strike against Zeus and show him that what he has done is unfair! Whatever Discord has planned, I will stand with him!"

"Me too," Epimetheus agreed.

"I…can't let you two walk alone into this disaster," Theia sighed. "I am too."

"Well…" Discord waited to see if anyone else would interrupt him. "Welcome aboard! Now, let's talk about the plan."

"I cannot believe you talked us into this, Discord," Theia said, and Discord was dumbfounded by that.

METHANA, OLYMPIC GREECE

Discord found Thera, the forgotten one, in the caverns beneath the Methana Volcano. Magma of bright red roared around them as he approached the ledge leading to where she was chained to the wall. She had the same skin of rock and magma as Perses, but appeared to be a woman of much greater age.

"Discord!" she moaned when she saw him approach. "I have been here…too long. Free me…"

"Now, THAT is what I wanted to hear," Discord told her. "No griping about what Zeus would do if he found out. No excuses. You just want – "

"To answer to no one but Kronos for my actions," Thera finished.

"Actually, Kronos didn't want out for whatever reason." Discord shrugged. "So technically, you answer to no one. Not even me. And I wouldn't have it any other way!"

He was able to break Thera's chains as he was those of the Titans in Tartarus. She stretched free of the wall, standing as Discord informed her of the circumstances and the rendez-vous point.

"Now comes the hard part," he admitted. "The next place isn't just going to let me walk in as I am…"

DELPHI, OLYMPIC GREECE

Discord had transformed into his human shape, as the brunette. He fashioned for himself an elaborate white chiton edged in red – he couldn't stand not playing the part perfectly. When his look was finalized, he knocked upon the door of the temple of Delphi.

When the priestess answered, he said, "I'm here to see a certain one of your oracles. I have an absolutely PRESSING question about the future."

"Oh," the priestess replied. "Well, I'm sure we have someone free to – "

"The Moon Oracle wouldn't happen to be in, would she? I was so hoping to speak to her."

He expected the look of utter shock on the priestess' face. "How…how do you know the Moon Oracle?" she asked.

"We go back," Discord answered with a grin. "Now, I'm sure she's not busy, unless someone else happened to come along and ask for her by name."

The priestess nodded. "She is free. Come with me."

Discord knew this much about Phoebe: not many knew about her particular moniker at Delphi. She was, for all intents and purposes, a secret. But if anyone asked for her, whoever answered the door at Delphi was supposed to bring that someone to her. She was a secret, but not completely kept in silence.

The priestess led Discord to the very bowels of the temple, showing him a door at the end of the hall, shrouded in shadow. There she left him to enter the oracle's chamber. When he did, he found a chamber not unlike where Cassandra did her work. The woman here had snow-white hair, actually the color the moon looked on a clear night, and she was dressed in a peplos that matched.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Psssst!" Discord hissed, whispering in between a giggle fit. "Phoebe! It's me! Discord!"

"Discord!" Phoebe was taken aback. "But how…"

"Kronos told me exactly how to find you. But the question that remains is why. You're hidden completely in plain sight. The other Titans, well, they got as far away from mortal eyes as they could, but here you are, posing as a mortal. It's absolutely the opposite of what anyone would expect, and for that reason, you win for having the best hiding place yet!"

"You never did make sense," Phoebe said with a shake of the head.

Discord shrugged. "What fun is there in making sense? Be glad you haven't seen me in millennia, Phoebe, or you'd be sick to death of me saying that. It's always nice to find someone who hasn't already told me to shut up midsentence. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I have always been fascinated with the future," Phoebe answered. "Delphi held…an allure for me, shall we say? Themis helped me arrange to stay here as the Moon Oracle after she and our other sisters talked our way out of divine punishment."

"So you can see what's coming," Discord reiterated.

Phoebe nodded. "I can see many paths, in fact. There is not simply one. Many oracles see events that are unchangeable, that are certain, though they lack all the details. Given what I am, I can see so much more. Several outcomes that may be."

"So, looking over them," Discord asked, "do you see what I have in mind as possible, and do you want in?"

Phoebe did not need to utilize the Mists. Her eyes glazed over a brilliant white, sparkling in the dark. She grinned the grin of an opportunist.

"I see your potential future in the map of what is ahead," she admitted. "And I like it. To give up the chance to have THIS? Rhea was a fool."

"Actually, I was going to talk to Rhea next," Discord admitted. "Any convincing arguments I should give her to join the cause?"

Phoebe's eyes returned to their natural state. "Tell her what it means to her family," she said, "and she will join us. She always had far more heart, shall we say, than the rest of us. We came for power. She will come for us."

"Excellent!" Discord cried.

"You could go to see her next," Phoebe said, her eyes sparkling white again, "but it seems that the clearer path leads you to Asteria."

"She's on the way," Discord said with a shrug. "Why double back?"

"Because you don't like making sense?"

"True. But in this case, I'm on a time limit. It's only so long until Hades tries something silly."

"Good luck, Discord. I hope the future favors us." And then Phoebe laughed.

DELOS, THE BORDER OF OLYMPIC GREECE

A great bronze statue of Apollo, weathered by the elements and by some more immediate physical damage, was perched upon the island of Delos. And Discord, reverting to the shape of the draconequus to better greet Asteria, thought it was an eyesore.

So he knocked it down. Piece by piece at first, just because it was fun to watch the limbs go flying off into the ocean and see the thing that pinned Asteria down crumble. Then, at the end, he just shoved the entire statue into the ocean, causing a great splash.

Then the ugly thing was gone (though Discord was sure the creators had found it quite beautiful, especially given that it pinned the island of Delos right down to where it was in the sea) and all that remained were the rocky crags of the island of Delos itself.

But not for long, Discord decided. He knocked on one of the rocks in a decided pattern. Shave and a haircut…two bits.

"Who is it?" a voice called out from the very center of the island's earth.

"SURPRIIIIISE!" Discord cried.

The island recognized his voice, and it began to shudder. Then it transformed. The land stood up, shifted; suddenly it no longer resembled earth at all, and was the mighty Titan Asteria, rising up into the air.

"Thank Chaos it wasn't Zeus!" Asteria sighed as Discord flew up to her eye level; to him, her voice sounded at an adequate volume. "If that jerk turned up again, I was going to tell him to go to Tartarus!"

"Well, now, there seems to be a little more here than I thought," Discord muttered. "Something beyond the general Titan-Olympian feud?"

"Of COURSE!" Asteria roared. "After he locked my husband up in Tartarus, Zeus said I could live on Olympus with Helios, Eos, Selene…he made it sound like I'd be welcome. But do you know why he said that? DO YOU KNOW WHY HE SAID THAT?"

"Because…" Discord thought about it long and hard. He loved guessing games. "Because he wanted to borrow your clothes!"

"Because HE WANTED TO HIT ON ME!" Asteria howled. "For the love of…I'm still married! He should know; he's the one who put my husband in the Underworld! So I came here and disguised myself as this island so he'd cut it out. And wouldn't you know it, Hera must have caught on, because next thing you know, she's inspiring people to put a giant statue of Apollo on my back so that I can't get up! Talk about jealousy issues!" She took a few breaths to calm down. "Anyway. Discord! What brings you here?"

"Hear me out," Discord said. "What if, instead of running and hiding, you helped me in a scheme where we could get REVENGE on Zeus?"

"I'm interested…" Asteria began. "But you never plan things like this for nothing. What do you want?"

"I guess you could say I want to relive the glory days. When we did what we wanted without Olympians keeping you in line and pretty much every single mortal and ninety-nine percent of immortals trying but hilariously failing to keep ME in line."

"You want to revert to the age of chaos?"

"Eventually. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. Or. You know. On this world, WON'T be built in a day. Or is it being built right now? Anyway."

"What about Perses?"

"Already on board, chains severed and all!"

"FINALLY!" Asteria sighed. "THAT will show Zeus, when Perses and I are reunited! We'll see him try and hit on me THEN! Where is he now?"

"Laying low…"

Discord related to Asteria where she could find Perses, and off she went, to be briefed by him on the remainder of the details about the current goal.

MOUNT DINDYMON, THE BORDERS OF OLYMPIC GREECE

Mount Dindymon was actually some ways away from Greece. Rhea, it seemed, had wanted to get further away than most. The mountain itself loomed tall, with carvings of female forms in the side – a tribute to the occupant.

Almost at the summit of the mountain, there was a stone door, immense and heavy. It barred the entrance to a small cavern, one that Discord took into view when he just walked right through the rock as though he were insubstantial. The cavern was a one-room dwelling, with partitions for anything that required a separate room – a cooking pot over here, a mattress over there. The place was lit with dim torches. It was the place for a solitary being to live a quiet life.

And Rhea was dressed the part, wearing rags with a burlap hood, weaving on a loom in the center of the cavern. She didn't notice Discord at first, too busy concentrating on her warp and woof, and Discord contemplated how much loyalty he would lose from her if he decided to sneak up on her and yell "BOO!" But then she noticed him before he could even think to make himself into a spontaneously appearing pattern on the cloth she wove. She did a double take, but didn't scream or throw anything to throw him out.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her raven hair was visible beneath the hood, a darker black than could be made by mortal means. Her golden eyes sparkled.

So Discord explained it all again. Rhea listened, then sat in silence for long after Discord had finished.

"And?" Discord pressed.

"I fought to put the Olympians in power," she stated. "I fought for my family."

"And look where they put you."

"They did not put me here. I put myself here. I chose this life so I would not interfere. Relations between Olympians and Titans, as you well know, are not friendly."

"So…you're out. A real shame…the others all – "

"Of that I am aware, Discord, and that is very well why I may join you," Rhea countered. "I fought for my family when I helped Zeus grow to overthrow Kronos. But helping to overthrow Zeus would be yet another fight for my family."

"You would go back on the very Olympians you fought to put in power?"

Rhea read his tone perfectly. She looked at his crazy grin. She had no need to explain herself. Discord didn't want that. Logic didn't matter. And as a denizen of the times when he and his ilk had reigned, there was a bit of it inside her. Perhaps more heart than the other Old Ones had – they would fight for power, for revenge, or because a fight could be fought. But all the same, she did not feel a pressing need to justify the contradiction.

"I assume you have a plan," she told him, prompting him to give details.

MOUNT OLYMPUS

The remaining Titans were all to be found in the home of the Olympians, Discord had learned, each in a position of subservience. They had been granted asylum after discussions of peace. And one was a prisoner there; apparently Tartarus wasn't the only place one could hold a Titan against his or her or xyr will.

Discord didn't have any trouble getting into the place. No matter how much they patrolled the gates, they couldn't stop him just popping in. And he wasn't noticed, either. He chose his human disguise – they would perceive him as more than mortal, but not immediately realize what he was, and so he could slip through unnoticed. In this way he went on his quest to find the last ones needed to join his cause.

The Olympians had grand palaces that glimmered beneath the blue sky; Discord knew he'd found what he was looking for when he discovered a much smaller house, like a civilian dwelling, tucked in between the majestic abodes. He entered without knocking.

The pale girl dressed in only her skirts stirred a creation in a soup pot over a brazier. For a moment, Discord was taken aback. He remembered her as a child, not as a grown woman. There was still a lot of the child in her face and her motions, but laced with much more sorrow.

"Eos," he addressed.

She looked at him, confused.

"It's me," he said. "You remember. Discord?"

"Discord…!" She gasped. "Of course I remember. Though you look different."

"You were very young when we met," Discord reminded her. "You're sure you remember?"

Eos nodded. "I remember you showing me how to bring the dawn. I asked you if I had to do it every day, and if it was hard to keep track of bringing it every twenty-four hours. And you said none of that mattered and that I should bring the dawn whenever it struck me to do so." She smiled at the memory. "It wasn't the most organized system. Not like how things are now."

"You mean predictable?" Discord asked. "Everything around here is PREDICTABLE. Now, I hear that you managed to get out of the Titan war without any charges."

Eos nodded. "I did nothing against the Olympians. Helios, Selene, Leto, and my Astraeus were also innocent of charges. Themis stood against chaos firmly."

Discord made a gagging motion. "Themis. Not looking forward to HER."

"We came here to teach the Olympians the ways of the sky," Eos explained. "We mentored Zeus, Apollo, and Artemis in the rise and fall of the sun, moon, and stars. Then, when they learned enough to take the tasks for their own…we were no longer needed. So we live here in truce."

"While the very gods that you taught everything put you in substandard housing and lorded it over you." There was more venom in Discord's words than usual.

The ground shook. Eos figured out what Discord was doing, and she begged him, "Discord, no!" The house rose off the ground, growing in size. Rooms sprouted from nowhere and branched off into still more rooms and towers. "Discord, I don't need this! THEY'LL SEE WHAT'S GOING ON!"

In one rush of movement, the palace was once again the size of a civilian home. Eos let out a sigh of relief.

"That was only because I didn't want to give the game away," Discord admitted.

"What game?" Eos asked. "Discord, tell me you are not planning something that could jeopardize us!"

"What I'm planning, if it works, will do the exact opposite. Imagine a place where you could bring the dawn again, whenever you wanted, and not have to even think about those goody-two-shoes moving in on your territory. Why is it always the ones that raise the sun and moon that become pretentious, annoying, and utterly boring? Gag! In any case…" He strode forward, just close enough to put a hand against Eos' hair. "They won't keep you like this again. No more of THEM breathing down your neck."

She was obviously trying not to, but she cried anyway, just a few tears.

"And the same will go for the rest of your family with the Titans," Discord added. "Even Astraeus, Selene, and Helios. Which brings me to what I need you to do for me. It's just a small thing, Eos."

"What is it?"

"Bring them all here. Helios, Selene, Leto, Astraeus, and…" He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Themis. Then I can tell all of you what I'm planning to do."

"I will," Eos promised. "Though I am afraid. If you fail, we will lose what little we have…"

"Well, I'm just not going to fail, then."

"I apologize. I should not have lost myself. I was merely thinking about all that we had, once, and how things are now."

"All the more reason to hear me out, don't you think?"

Eos nodded. "Yes," she whispered.

Then she moved toward the doorway without another word, leaving Discord to settle into one of the couches in her home.

When Eos returned, it was with a host of other Titans. There was Astraeus, husband of Eos, with his rosy pink hair and his shining tunic. There was Helios, radiant in gold. There was Selene, the sister of Helios and Eos, with her golden gown and her long silver hair. There was their golden-haired cousin Leto, dressed in a simple gown.

The last to enter was Themis, dressed in white and gold, her short copper hair bound close to her head. A white blindfold was tied around her eyes, and a sword was sheathed at her side.

"Discord," she snarled. "Must it have been you?"

"It's not like I'm happy about this either," Discord replied. "You and your stupid rules. Oh, don't drive the sun over there, you'll set everything on fire! Don't put the moon there, you'll ruin the tides!"

"Did you only exist to do the exact opposite of everything I commanded?" Themis challenged.

"Well, my name is DISCORD. Maybe that will give you a HINT about the way I do things!"

"Then why bother with me at all?"

"Because you don't get along with the Olympians."

"We get along well," Themis emphasized. "They allow me to live in peace because of my stance toward order."

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me rephrase that," Discord corrected himself. "You WON'T get along with the Olympians."

"And why would I turn my back on them?"

"Because you're going to think long and hard about the fact that all your siblings were either driven into exile on the mortal plane or thrown into Tartarus. But if your little blindfold keeps you from seeing anything outside of yourself, you might want to take a look at what THEY have and what YOU have."

"I have a lesser life because the Titans caused disorder among the Olympians and wronged them," Themis argued.

"Did you wrong them," Discord posed, "really? Or did they wrong you?"

"Don't play mind games with me, Discord. I'm not like one of those mortals you can so easily hypnotize."

"Well, maybe this will sway you," Discord argued. "Now, I didn't want to play this card, but are the OLYMPIANS actually perpetuating the order you like so much? Are THEY following customs? Are they just and fair? Do they follow the rules? Take, for instance, Zeus. How does he rank on your chart?"

Themis had to think it over. Even without seeing her eyes, all in the room could tell she was very, very steamed. Helios even laughed a little. "Low," she answered at last. "He doesn't even follow the rules he makes. The others are little better."

"Help me pull the rug out from under them," Discord offered, "and we each get a shot at what we want. You get a chance to rebuild according to your strict order. I get a chance to rebuild according to chaos. And I just know that Helios just wants power and attention."

"I was the mightiest and the brightest!" Helios insisted.

"You weren't the mightiest!" Selene smacked Helios on the back of the head. "The mightiest was Kronos! Then there were at least fifteen others who were stronger than you!"

"Please don't fight," Eos begged, shuddering; she backed into Astraeus' strong arms, and he held her, keeping her secure.

"All right," Themis relented. "I'll hear you out at least. What do you need us to do?"

Discord highlighted what he had told the others.

"It's perfect!" Helios bellowed. "Once again, they shall feel the might of Helios and his fellow Titans! After all…" He began to sing:

"We're the Titans!

We're the best!

We're bigger and we're stronger than the - "

"NO," Themis insisted, lifting the point of her sword to point at Helios' throat. Helios squeaked and ceased singing.

"Of course, there's one more thing," Discord pointed out. "I almost have a full roster, not counting the four that exploded, the one who's holding up the ground we walk on, and the prophecy party pooper. But there's just one more I want on our side, and I'm sure you'll all agree we need her. However, I can't get her without your help. You'll have to rescue her for me."

"I understand," Themis said. "And quietly, so that we are not suspected."

"Well, I was hoping we could make a loud production out of it, maybe with some confetti, but that's ultimately going to hinder us more than help us," Discord sighed.

"And I believe I know to whom you are referring," Themis said.

"Who, Themis?" Eos asked.

Themis and Discord said the name at the same time. Then they both recoiled in disgust, causing Helios to laugh again.

Night fell, and Selene, Astraeus, and Themis approached Zeus and Hera's palace on the sly. Helios had been forbidden from the mission because it was obvious he had no concept of stealth. Eos had remained with him – it was not only clear that she didn't have the "fiber" for such a mission, but she herself had wanted someone to keep Helios company while the others went.

The three Titans waited outside the window to Zeus and Hera's bedroom, perched on a small ledge of decorative molding below. Selene looked to Themis. Themis, blindfolded as she was, clearly was looking back, and the two nodded. Selene put a foot on the windowsill.

Hera stirred. Astraeus put a hand on Selene and Themis' shoulders. All three backed off, slipping out of sight behind the wall. Themis took a chance and turned so the window was in her peripheral vision.

Hera rose from bed, quietly making her way out of the room. When she left, Themis, Selene, and Astraeus waited a while until it was clear that she was not returning anytime soon.

"Where's she going?" Selene hissed.

"I don't know," Themis replied, "but this makes our job easier. Astraeus, can you see the doors from here?"

Astraeus was able to look directly down to the main entry to the palace. Eventually Hera left it, headed somewhere quickly. Where, Astraeus didn't much care. "Yes."

"Alert us if she returns," Themis ordered.

Selene slipped through the large window, and Themis followed. They walked silently over the floor of the bedroom where Zeus snored upon a cloudy mattress. As Selene moved to him, drawing from her pocket a small bag filled with a powder that would put him into a deeper sleep until morning truly came, Themis felt rage within her soul, rage at Zeus, that she had either never felt before or never recognized for what it really was. Had Discord raised a new point about him or just pointed out what she had been dormantly feeling all along? He did not conform to any custom; he did not follow any law but that which benefited him. That was why Themis was assigned to do what she was about to do that night. She had borne him many children, and while she would not have given up any of those children for all of existence, she regretted ever lying with him, ever giving in to his subtle seductions, the way he infected those around him with such joy that they didn't notice how he was getting under their skin. He'd done the same to the one Themis had come to rescue, and in all ways, he had betrayed commitment, throwing Themis' cousin away for Hera and throwing Hera away for Themis.

Selene turned to Themis and nodded, letting her know that Zeus was asleep beyond being able to detect their presence in the room at all. So Themis crossed to where Zeus lay, held her sword high, and plunged the blade down into his head.

It didn't harm him; that wasn't her intent, though she rather wished she could just strike him dead there, even though he would come back later and track down whomever had killed him. Instead, a portal opened where blade met flesh, and it was as though blade was not piercing flesh at all but space. The door opened, circular and dark, ever wider, expanding as far as Zeus' forehead would allow.

For a moment, Themis and Selene worried that the one they'd come to rescue would not figure out what was going on and leave herself trapped in that prison. But eventually, a small housefly buzzed out of the portal. Themis withdrew her sword, and the portal closed; Zeus, as though nothing had happened, rolled over and snored.

The twinkling of twilight colors, pink and purple, filtered in through the window and tickled the peripheral vision of Selene, Themis, and the housefly: a noiseless signal that someone was approaching and they should escape. Themis and Selene leapt out the window; the fly buzzed after. Hera re-entered the room, shrugging off a dark hooded cloak, and slid into bed next to the oblivious Zeus.

When the Titans had reached a considerable distance away from the palace, the housefly transformed in a shimmer of light. She became a Titan as well, a woman with dark hair that seemed either black or very dark blue depending on the light, clad in rusty armor with a broken shield and sword. From her back protruded wings of gossamer transparency as those of the housefly.

"Metis," Themis sighed gratefully.

Metis had been prophesied to bear a child that would overthrow Zeus. For that reason, Zeus had imprisoned her inside his head much in the way that Kronos had attempted to imprison his children within him. You would think, Themis thought disgustedly, that Zeus would take that as an example and desire to be as little like Kronos as possible, but again, Zeus would do what suited him and denounce what did not. While Metis' daughter Athena had been released from Zeus' head, Metis herself had remained.

"Themis!" Metis cried. "Selene! Astraeus! What – "

"It is a long story," Themis told her.

They had enough time to relate it on the way back to Eos and Astraeus' home, where Eos and Helios waited; Discord had disappeared long before. Helios and Eos opened the door wide to welcome Metis.

"Metis has returned!" Helios cried. "And now all shall taste our might!" He attempted again to sing: "Boom shaka-laka-laka boom – "

This time, both the point of Themis' sword and the broken edge of Metis' blade were raised to his throat, and he shut up immediately.

"And now?" Metis asked.

"Now we wait until the rendez-vous, I guess," Selene answered.

THE LAND OF MONSTERS, OLYMPIC GREECE

PRESENT TIMELINE

"…And that's how we all got here!" Discord concluded.

"And what a coincidence that the sun just happens to be gift-wrapped for us," Coeus pointed out.

"I swear I didn't plan that," Discord said hastily.

"Whatever the case," Helios said, grasping the reins of the chariot, "the sun chariot is mine yet again!"

"NO!" Hecate snapped. "It's OURS! Do you know how hard we've worked to get to this moment?"

"How hard I'VE worked," Mozenrath muttered.

"Oh, Hecate," Asteria said, stroking her daughter's hair – Hecate jerked away from her, taking this time to retrieve her fallen headdress and replace it – "I'm so proud of you for doing this, but this is grown-up business."

"I AM a grown-up!" Hecate snarled resentfully.

"Well, it's Titan business," Asteria corrected.

"This will be the perfect playing piece to hold against Zeus," Crius remarked sinisterly. "I say we take it."

"To Aegaeon," Phoebe said, eyes sparkling. "That is where Discord intends to go next, anyway."

"Of course!" Discord confirmed. "Oh, but wouldn't it just be a shame if Hades' army were to show up there and try to take it from us?" He turned to wink at Eris.

"A shame indeed," Eris replied before dissolving.

"You're inviting Hades to just come right up to our doorstep?" Selene moaned.

"So we can throw him over as well!" Crius laughed.

"And what has been foretold will come true," Thera mused. "We shall be free of their chains."

"And as for the thief…" Themis began.

Mozenrath's gauntlet glowed with a blue aura, but Themis closed her own hand over his fist, and the energy fizzled out. She then forcefully spun Mozenrath around, wrenching both his arms behind his back and binding his wrists together using a chain she produced from seemingly nowhere. She pulled the chain tightly, sending pain into Mozenrath's left wrist so that it coursed through his arm. "You will be coming with us," Themis hissed. She grew larger and larger, back to her gigantic size, until she had enough room in her pocket to drop her prisoner.

"PUT MY APPRENTICE BACK!" Hecate commanded.

"Sorry, sweetie," Perses told her.

Helios cracked the reins of the chariot with a cry of "HEEYAH!" The chariot rose into the air, and as it did, the other Titans also levitated, flying after it.

"What kind of jerk are you?" Hecate asked Discord.

"The best kind," Discord replied before snapping his fingers and disappearing, leaving Hecate alone in the Land of Monsters.

BARDO, THE UNDERWORLD

A blue column of flame heralded Hades' reappearance into the throne room. All present could see the burn marks on his blue skin and the fraying of his robe. "DON'T," he said immediately, "ask. DON'T ask, okay?"

"So are we doing something, or are we not doing something?" Stheno complained. "Are we just going to give up because some jerk stole our sun?"

"And shouldn't you have been able to show him who was boss?" Tisiphone asked amusedly.

"Ha. Ha," Hades replied. "That issue's complicated, okay? Now…" He realized what was different about the room. "Where's Eris? And what part of DON'T leave the room did I neglect to spell out?"

As if bidden, Eris materialized in the center of the room. "Hades," she said with a slight laugh. "You always get so worked up over the tiniest things. I went out for some air. And I happened to notice the sun being drawn across the sky by several immortals. They got it from that mortal thief and were taking it to Aegaeon."

"The gods got it BACK?" Hades was dumbfounded. "Then why don't they just put it in the sky already?"

"Beats me…" Eris chuckled. "Perhaps you should follow them and get your answer."

"Why do I get the feeling you're telling me one of those half truths? Okay, fine. The ABSOLUTE LEAST we can do is bring the fight to that prison, and if the sun is there, we get it back, and we use it for ourselves. I am NOT going through all this for NOTHING!"

"YES!" Stheno cried happily.

"It's showtime," Facilier punctuated.

Eris giggled, and it echoed throughout the palace as the army moved out towards the dark chariots parked on the banks of the Styx.

MOUNT OLYMPUS

By the time the Olympian fleet made it to the Land of Monsters, the sun had been spirited off. All they'd found was Hecate, and she refused to speak, simply leaving the area.

"She's hiding something," Ares accused.

Zeus, dressed in robes of royal purple and with his right arm armored in bronze, raised that arm to signal the others of his fleet. "We must return to Olympus and seek the sun from there!"

The chariots did an about-face and flew through the night. Though a great many lived on Olympus, only nineteen chariots had followed the sun – twenty-one before Nemesis and Hera had broken away. First was Zeus himself. Then Poseidon, with light blue skin and darker blue markings radiating from his skin, raven hair falling over his shoulders and one great fin protruding from the back of his head; he was draped in a loose turquoise garment. Then Demeter, she of the curvy figure and light green skin, wearing a great headdress of leaves and a gown of green fastened with flowers at the sleeves. Then Athena. Then Hestia, who appeared as a child of only eight, her hair as brown as the robes and scarf she wore, covering all of her body but her face. Then Apollo. Then Artemis, glowing orange with light brunette hair and two diminutive goat-like horns, dressed in a beige tunic that was fastened at her left shoulder with a crescent moon brooch and cinched at her waist with a brown corset. Then Ares. Then Aphrodite, with pink skin and voluminous red-gold hair, her body shaped as an hourglass; she dressed in a tiny pink peplos, off the right shoulder and split up the leg, with a translucent purple shell draped over it and a headband of many woven beads. Then Hephaestus, grey-skinned and muscle-bound, wearing a black leather apron cinched with many belts. Then Hermes, with bright blue skin and short, royal blue hair; he wore a white tunic embroidered with red and gold, arms and legs covered in red-gold armor plating, his head and the back of his winged sandals appearing to glow at all times, and a pair of round rose-colored glasses to complete the ensemble. Then Dionysus, plump, with skin the deep color of wine grapes, dressed in a white robe, a red cape, and a headdress that wove purple grapes with laurel. Then Asclepius, with tan skin, purple hair, and a stark white chiton. Then Cupid, lean and violet with deep plum hair, lavender wings spreading out behind him; he dressed in a purple chiton fastened around the neck, with a winged helmet. Then Hebe, with purple skin and straight crimson hair, a bronze cup ever balanced on her head and a peplos of layered skirts that matched the bronze color of the cup. Then Pan, tall and imposing in his armor, with skin of moss green and circular markings on his forehead below his magnificent horns. Then Morpheus, blue-skinned with short navy-blue hair and a stocky figure, draped in a great blue cloak that was overlaid with an iron armor skirt and matching arm guards. Finally, there was Palutena, hair long and green over her pale skin, her white gown fastened around the neck with heavy gold ornamentation and skirt layers weighed down with more gold; a ruby medallion topped a slit that revealed one white-stockinged and black-sandaled leg, and her head was adorned with a winged headband of gold. These were the Olympians whose shining chariots, each in a color that complemented the rider, were drawn back across the sky to Mount Olympus only to find the chains Hera had set.

Zeus reined in his horses first. "WHAT IS THIS?" he roared.

Hera strode to the gates from the other side. "This is what you deserve," she stated. "This is the beginning of a new order."

"What in tarnation?" Artemis snapped in her distinct drawl.

"For too long, Zeus, you have betrayed me!" Hera cried, flinging her arms outward. "And for this, I deny you entry into Olympus. I deny you all entry until Zeus is no longer king and has answered for his crimes of infidelity!"

"Or how about I just RIP THESE CHAINS DOWN?" Ares leapt at the chains, beating at them with all his power, but they would not break.

"They were forged in the same manner as the chains that bind the Titans in Tartarus," Hera informed him. "Only I have the key, and only I know how to enter and leave."

"This is foolish!" Athena told her. "Zeus' infidelity is not a crime!"

"You would defend him?" Hera pointed at Athena. "You, whose mother he imprisoned within his head?"

"Nemesis would not find it punishable," Athena argued.

"Where is Nemesis now?" Hera asked.

It was then that the Olympians took notice of her absence.

"It looks like Nemesis is not on your side," Hera said with a smirk.

"Hera…" Zeus attempted. "It's not like I'm the first god to father demigods, or the first god to have multiple – "

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" Hera roared, stamping on the ground hard. "It doesn't matter what the other gods have done! You have hurt me for years! And you have hurt the others as well! Don't you see the way of your own tyranny? How you ignore our plights? How you build Olympus into a pleasure palace for you and you alone?"

"Well, now, that's just not true!" Zeus argued.

"Well…" Poseidon said softly.

"Hey, don't take HER side!" Ares snapped at Poseidon.

"She makes a point," Athena told Ares.

"I don't think we should be fighting right now," Morpheus interrupted, his voice as cool and even as ever. "If we talk this out, we can – "

"Either reach the right conclusion or the wrong one," Hera finished for him. "All who live on Olympus are now under my control until you make a decision. Is Zeus to remain king, or has his time as ruler come to an end? But in the meantime, perhaps you could demonstrate what competence you have by finding and bringing back the sun."

"The trail was cold," Apollo informed her.

"Really?" Hera asked condescendingly. "Have you TRULY looked?"

At that, the entire military fleet turned to look down at Olympic Greece from the divine mountaintop. They could see everything from above, and all was darkness except one glimmering location, sparkling with the light of a buried sun.

"Aegaeon!" Zeus realized.

"Go," Hera commanded.

"We must!" Palutena cried anxiously, turning her chariot to steer toward the sun immediately. Before anyone, even Apollo, could argue as to why she shouldn't, the others had no choice but to follow her.

Hera, on the other hand, left the gates to exit the mountain by a route only she knew about…or she thought only she knew about. Of course, Discord had shown it to the Olympian Titans to smuggle them out, and back when Hera had told Hades how to infiltrate Olympus, she'd directed him to send his imps through that passage. And, of course, it was the way Hecate had put Mozenrath in proximity to the sun. But the majority of Olympians did not know it existed, else Hera's plan would have fallen apart at the seams. She knew there would be a battle at the Prison of the Damned, though she didn't yet know the true scope of it. She only knew that she didn't want to merely wait for the other gods to decide to overthrow Zeus. She was going to take steps to make sure he was taken down and out.

Ares' chariot veered off course.

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Athena barked.

"To get some REAL muscle," Ares answered. "You think that mortal jerk was acting alone? There will be a nasty surprise waiting for us, and I intend to be prepared for it!"

"You will more likely cause our defeat than our victory!" Athena yelled as Ares' chariot plunged toward Sparta.

Ares had told Kratos to prepare for combat. It was time to cash in on that. Besides, the man had already lived through one potentially eternal night.

ATHENS, OLYMPIC GREECE

The motley heroes' journey to Athens, while familiar, was not easy. The polis was on the way to the Land of Monsters, and it was scheduled to go there after a stop in the city-state to get bearings, but it was difficult to imagine heading from there to a barren wasteland with no lights, populated by known enemies. With no sun, no stars, naught but blackness that even the deities of the night were not correctly monitoring, the entire world felt colder. For the first leg of the journey, no one spoke…and then the loneliness set in. Seeing nothing but dark landscape from east to west, every now and then, the passengers in the wagon from Delphi had to look back at each other to make sure they were still there. Then Pinkie and Icarus HAD to talk, about anything, any random little thing, so that the night didn't chill everyone down to the very soul. The others all joined in until they were making awkward conversation about the landmarks they passed, and at last, when the torches of Athens were visible on the horizon, a certain warmth of relief was felt.

"Maybe the shops are still open," Twilight surmised. "We could look for equipment. In case we need it." She'd had her wand out, casting Lumos for the majority of the journey like a headlight for the wagon. Not for any purpose besides comfort.

"You think there'll be any place open we can get some food?" Pit wondered out loud.

"No one's going to have opened the shops," Cassandra sighed. "Everyone's going to be inside. Sleeping. Or…hiding."

"Then why are there LIGHTS on?" Icarus asked.

"Maybe everypony was scared," Fluttershy suggested, "so they all lit up the torches before closing everything. That's what I would do."

Hercules sighed as the wagon rolled closer to Athens. "I know I shouldn't be the one saying this, of all people…but going to the Land of Monsters now just sounds terrifying."

"Wait," Zoë said. "Will there not be one shop open? Icarus, do you not have your own shop in Athens?"

"OH YEAH!" Icarus remembered. "We can go hang out there!"

"Hey, no hiding!" Phil chided. "We have to go FACE our fears!"

"But everypony's feelin' off 'cause of this darkness," Applejack retorted. "We could use some time to rest indoors with some lights on!"

"I hear that," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Me too," Meg chimed in.

"Fine," Phil said with a huff. "We can stop."

"THANK you," Rarity said with a huff. "This darkness is absolutely dreadful."

They rolled into town; the streets were deserted even though torches were lit. Some lights were on in home windows as well. The people, it seemed, were trying to act as though it were a normal night and get some sleep while injecting enough light into the darkness that they could feel that it was not as crushingly cold and lonely as it was. The wagon stopped outside Icarus' small shop, and in they all went; when Icarus lit up the indoor lamps, the shop blazed brightly.

"I'm just really worried about one thing," Twilight admitted. "What if we're wrong about where we're going? Then we end up in a land filled with our enemies with absolutely no light, and we're not close to saving the sun at all."

"But it is the best lead we have," Zoë argued.

"I just wish there was more of a way to be sure," Twilight groaned.

"Maybe if we got up really really high," Pinkie suggested, "we could see it shining!"

"We should have looked from Olympus," Twilight moaned. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because Hera made us all too angry to think about anything like that," Meg pointed out.

"Do you think we could go back?" Rarity pondered.

"I doubt Hera's gonna let anyone get that close again," Phil answered.

"So is there anywhere else that's high up enough that we could see everything?" Applejack asked.

"Everything in the whole world, you're asking?" Phil reiterated. "Yeah, right. You'd have to get to where the sun actually was in order to see all that."

"Well, why can't we?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Two of us here have already done it."

"Yeah!" Pit realized.

"And I've got all of my best wings right here!" Icarus added.

"Plus, I bet I could make it up there," Rainbow Dash concluded.

"I say we do it!" Pit cried. "The three of us fly up to where the sun was, and we can see where it is if it's even on this world!"

"And if we don't see it," Rainbow Dash concluded, "that means it's probably in the Underworld."

"You're going up into that awful darkness?" Rarity asked as Icarus picked out a pair of wax wings to attach to his arms. "Just the three of you?"

"But there will be three of us," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "And you have to admit this is a lot safer than just rolling into the Land of Monsters blind."

"Wanna take the Team Strategist title for a while?" Twilight asked teasingly.

The group stepped outside. Icarus, Pit, and Rainbow Dash looked straight up.

"Last time I went up there," Pit said, "I got burned pretty bad."

"Me too," Icarus said. The two exchanged glances.

"You know," Pit said, "this is gonna make up for everyone who said you should have died."

"Yup. Guess you're finally gonna really earn that nickname of yours."

They remained planted on the ground.

"WHAT'S TAKIN' YA SO LONG?" Phil yelled.

"It's really freaky looking up there, okay?" Pit argued, looking again at the great blackness. At a certain point, when the land disappeared below, darkness was all there would be.

"Well, if you guys don't get going," Rainbow Dash threatened, spreading out her wings, "I'm gonna beat you to the top." She launched into the air, speeding upward, leaving a rainbow trail.

"HEY!" Pit and Icarus yelled in unison before taking off after her.

Up and up they climbed, into darkness, focusing on the chase, the rush of the air, the prismatic trail Rainbow Dash temporarily left behind. It wouldn't be right to say it felt like an eternity, but it was not a quick journey, either. Finally, Rainbow Dash reached the endpoint and Pit and Icarus yelled at her to stop because she'd made it. So she did, and when the other two caught up to her, she bragged, "I totally beat you."

"AW, MAN!" Pit and Icarus groaned at once.

"Now let's take a look!" Rainbow Dash suggested. They looked down, keeping aloft in the still and lightless night.

All below seemed to be lightless as well. Even the lights of Athens were distinctly faded. But there was a distinct glow visible elsewhere, brighter than anything else.

"You see that?" Pit pointed.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash and Icarus chorused.

The others awaited them on the ground, anxiously looking up at the place where the trio had sped upward and out of sight. Then Cassandra stumbled and fell to the ground.

"CASSANDRA!" her friends all cried.

She blinked her eyes open to reveal that they were the bright green of a vision. And yet she would not speak.

Her vision cleared at the exact moment that Rainbow Dash, Icarus, and Pit became visible on their way down; they touched ground as she stood up.

"What did you see?" Twilight asked.

"A great battle," Cassandra said, blinking hard. "Gods, monsters, and us. And…Titans."

"No way," Phil said.

"Titans?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I destroyed the Titans, though!" Hercules argued.

"Four of them, anyway," Zoë pointed out. "There were many more."

"But what ARE they?" Pinkie pressed.

"Beings older than this world," Zoë explained. "Almost older than time itself. Most of them were beings of chaos."

"Oh, no…" Twilight nearly whispered. "The Old Ones…Discord…"

"Well, we'll be ready," Rainbow Dash insisted. "We found the sun, by the way." She described the direction, the position of the light.

"Hoo boy," Phil said when she was done.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm guessing it's not the Land of Monsters."

"Nope," Phil answered. "Remember that prison the Furies told you about? The one that's basically Tartarus on earth?"

"Yes," all chorused.

"Well," Phil stated, "that's where we're going."

Chapter 59:

· Prepare for the author's notes edition that's basically where I got all the designs, concepts, and personae for the Olympians and Titans!

· So, yes, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas DID happen, but not in the world of Olympic Greece. The Ten Cities are on a different world entirely.

· Because of the version of Aegaeon in GoW and the fact that he's serving as the final battlefield (yes, he is the field), I'm retconning all mention of Briares in HTAS.

· "Arges" is an actual name of a mythological Cyclops. It's what I'm calling the Cyclops in the main film of Hercules.

· The Titans in Tartarus were the ones that were (now, keep in mind, Wikipedia is currently my source for most of this, and it's usually pretty accurate on mythological things, but if I got something wrong because it did, I apologize) listed to have been punished in Tartarus in the Titanomachy.

· Kronos is in the pit because of Percy Jackson. Now, I know he's a huge thing in GoWIII as well as Percy Jackson, so…I couldn't actually figure out how to get him out without ruining those two timelines, and I NEED him in those timelines. So he's going to be a party pooper in the pit. Every party needs a pooper; that's why we invited Kronos.

· Lythos, Pyros, Stratos, and Hydros are all the canon names of the Titans in Hercules. They're all OC creations of that universe.

· Crius was the Titan of constellations; hence the stars. He's a bit of a hothead – this comes from me letting the Titans' personalities just write themselves when I didn't already have one to work from.

· Hyperion is basically the Titan of hotness. Everyone just writes about how pretty he is. I'll be darned if we know what he actually DID.

· Coeus is the Titan of the axis of the earth. Hence the tats.

· As mentioned, Perses is a GoW design with a personality I added.

· Pallas actually has conflicting sources. Some myths say xe was a man and some say xe was a woman. So I decided…why not both? It finally gave me a chance to conjugate the "xe" pronoun. All versions say xe was killed by Athena.

· Mnemosyne is the Titan of memory and associated with the Lethe, so I just put her there.

· Atlas is actually NOT on the world proper because he's holding it up. And again, Percy Jackson requires me to leave him right where he is.

· Oceanus and Tethys should have rather obvious designs and a rather obvious location, given that they were sea Titans. I placed them offshore of Arcadia because Oceanus is associated with Arcadia for some reason; this also made Arcadia prime territory to locate the wilderness group.

· Prometheus in HTAS and Prometheus in GoW are again similar enough that I could just go with the basic personality and it works. His exile in the wilderness is actually due to the HTAS ep where Hercules convinces Zeus to let him go because the only reason Zeus had him chained up was out of prejudice against Titans. I really liked that episode, as it actually called out Zeus for screwing up.

· Epimetheus, being Prometheus' brother, would only naturally be with him. The others think him a fool because his very name means "lacks foresight" and he was tricked by Pandora. ("Two" Pandora cycles? Yes, I still have a master plan…)

· Theia is always described as bright and as being a mother. She isn't described much beyond that. I thought she'd make a great maternal figure for Prometheus and Epimetheus, even though she's actually the mother of Selene, Eos, and Helios.

· Thera is a GoW original Titan whose location of imprisonment is under the Methana volcano. Design and personality are strictly from there.

· Phoebe is in Delphi because myths have Themis grant Delphi to her. (Both were seers; that's how come Themis can have a blindfold on and not be blind.) She is associated with the moon as well, hence her title and the white in her design. And her personality was actually my favorite that I made. I thought she would end up being a wallflower, but she actually turned out…more of a psychopath. I'm looking forward to having a little more fun with her in the upcoming battle.

· Asteria, in the myths, transformed herself into the isle of Delos to escape Zeus' advances. In GoW Ascension, there's a giant freaking statue of Apollo on Delos. I had to go for the connection.

· Rhea is a complicated case. She is actually often considered to be the same entity as Cybele; Mount Dindymon is the resting place/altar for both. I haven't yet decided whether they are the same deity or whether they share a mountain as roommates or something. (Leaning toward the latter, but I already decided I am NOT going to separate Roman and Greek gods and this will actually be a plot point.) Rhea is also one of the two Titans who I had a hard time reconciling with the whole concept of chaos. I knew I wanted all the Titans to be considered Old Ones, but Rhea cares a lot about the ones she loves whereas the Old Ones have Blue and Orange Morality all over the place. I made her so caring because of how she rescued Zeus from Kronos (though I'm a bit surprised that no source actually lists her as living on Olympus because of this).

· All the Titans found on Olympus are listed to mythologically live there (taking into account the way I'm splitting Helios and Apollo as characters).

· I have this very strange idea that Discord has a protective big-brother attitude toward Eos. I have no idea where it came from.

· Astraeus is the Titan of dusk, so he gets dusk colors.

· Selene is a moon Titan, hence her color scheme.

· Leto is kind of the "midwife" of Olympus. She doesn't have a cosmic or nature theme, so she dresses simply.

· Themis was the other one that was complicated to reconcile as an Old One because she's the Titan of customs/traditions/laws. She's actually, I found out, the figure represented as Lady Justice in courtrooms with the scales and the blindfold (and that's what I chose to interpret in her design). She's basically the precursor to the version of Nemesis I'm using. But I philosophically decided that even order has a place in chaos, mostly because I wanted her in on this and I wanted her to argue with Discord.

· The idea to use the song "We're the Titans" from Hercules and Xena was inspired by reader Heavylight. I only even know that song because it ended up on a "Top 13 Worst Songs in Movies" list by YT user F1315NJ. (I think that particular installment of the list was taken down, as I can't find it now but I found the other vids of his talking about the worst songs.) I decided it would be a somewhat humorous gag to have Helios (yes, it's OOC for him, but only by a LITTLE) try it and get silenced. I do have one more big musical number planned for this storylet, but trust me, that was not it.

· Timeline reference: when Selene, Astraeus, and Themis see Hera leaving the palace, she's going to talk with Zoë and then warn Hades that she knows.

· Myths always tell of Zeus swallowing Metis to prevent her from having children that would overthrow him, and of her birthing Athena in there; the other gods rip Athena out of Zeus' head. But I never heard anything about Metis being released. So she stayed in Zeus' head. Myths also say Zeus transformed her into a fly to swallow her. Since she forged armor for Athena while in there, I figured she should have some armor and weapons as well, though in definite disrepair from lack of use. (TBH, I kind of want to make Metis into a plot device that affects things more at large, but I don't know how to make the timing work and am still thinking on it because what I want her to have started would only have started while she was in Zeus' head.)

· I realize the timing is a little off here – that we're supposed to believe that Hades teleporting back to the Underworld took as long as it took Discord to tell that story. Well…I didn't know how else to tell the order of events, so you're just gonna have to run with it. After all, I completely switched where Kirra was on the map.

· The Olympian gods' fleet was basically me flipping back and forth between the GoW, Disney, and even Percy Jackson Wikis.

· Zeus is mostly Disney, but the GoW personality, again, fits in okay with that persona, and that's the design where I got the "armor on one arm only" thing.

· For Poseidon: his fishy attributes, blue skin, and turquoise chiton are from HTAS; the blue markings and black hair are GoW.

· Demeter's design is all Hercules.

· Hestia's design is actually all Percy Jackson, since she's not in GoW and I somehow had forgotten at the time that she showed in HTAS. And the idea of an eight year old (relatively) goddess in the military fleet entertains me greatly.

· Artemis' design is mostly HTAS, down to the Southern accent; the horns are GoW. Her GoW personality is really bland and she doesn't have a full-body design there.

· Aphrodite is so generally accepted as promiscuous that I actually literally imagine her wearing her GoW outfit on top of her Hercules outfit and it makes a whole outfit. GoW makes her a redhead; Hercules makes her a blonde. So you get to interpret "red-gold" however you want.

· Hephaestus' gray skin and apron are from Hercules and the belts from GoW.

· Hermes' blue skin/hair and glasses are Hercules; his outfit and "glow" are GoW.

· Dionysus' skin tone is from Hercules and his outfit is actually from Fantasia.

· Asclepius is generally accepted in mythological canon as an Olympian, but I haven't seen him in any pop culture/fiction outside of that. So I got to design him. As he's a healer, I decided plain white would fit and sort of look lab-coat-ish.

· Cupid actually has a canon design that appears in multiple eps of HTAS…but in a strange case of discontinuity, he has a distinctly different design in the film of Hercules itself, one that looks more like a warrior. I went with that one, as much as I like the Cupid eps of HTAS. HTAS makes him look more like a cherub. Also, even the mythological anthology I read in high school switched all the gods to Roman names just so they could call him Cupid while all other stories used Greek names; hence he's not Eros here. NOBODY seems to like the name "Eros." So to make it easier on all of us, I'm just going to use "Cupid."

· Hebe actually is a background character in some of the scenes on Olympus in Hercules (main film)! So that's where her design comes from.

· Pan has an HTAS design, but I don't like it. What you're seeing is actually the design from the film Pan's Labyrinth. (Only lives in Ofelia's head, you say? Doesn't mean I can't hijack the design and personality anyway. BTW, absolutely love that movie.)

· Morpheus' design is all HTAS.

· And of course, Palutena is Kid Icarus original and her design and personality are all from there.

· No, you don't get to know the secret way in/out of Olympus. Why? Because Chekhov's Gun.