MLP: Age of Chaos

by religarro

Chapter 11 - Ultra-Drum

“Disarray, please stop this, I’m begging you!” screamed Twilight as her Power Pony alter-ego Matter-Horn “I won’t invade your privacy every again, I swear on Celestia! Now please let us out! One of the girls or I could get really hurt!”
Silence. There was no answer, nothing but the distant sounds of sirens, running water, and the crumbling of buildings. Maretropolis was a warzone. As soon as the team arrived they were jumped by gangs, grunts, and hench-ponies. They had to fight their way through wave after wave, block after block, using much more violence then the old comic rating would have ever allowed.
Finally, they found a break in the seemingly endless waves of generic baddies to catch their breath. Twilight took the time to try to once again plead with her baby brother, but he wasn’t there to hear her.
“I don’t think it’s going to work…” said Fluttershy quietly, now Saddle Rager. “We have to defeat the big bad guy to get out...but do you think Disarray really wants to...to hurt us?”
“Naw sugarcube, it aint US he’s mad at” replied Applejack, now as Mistress Mare-velous. She gave a brief glare to Twilight before turning to the others “We gotta figure out who the big baddie is here an what their evil plans are, and we gotta do it fast. Ah think the best thing ta do would be ta split up an cover more ground”
“No, wait!” called out called out Rainbow Dash, beginning to think. “Disarray had said something about being our villain here too, right? Something about an ‘Ultra-Drum’. Whatever that means…”
Matter-Horn nodded. “Ultra-Drum, the ultimate form of Humdrum. Yeah, he told me a little about that. Evidently Humdrum goes evil in the comics and becomes the Power Ponies’ greatest rival or something. From how Disarray was describing it, Ulta-Drum had their backs to the wall, like he was really a force to be reckoned with”
As the others were processing this information, an earthquake violently shook the entirety of Maretropolis, startling them Above them, projected across the sky, was the giant sinisterly smiling face of Ultra-Drum. The team could hear the terrified and panic screams of citizens throughout the city.
“Good Evening Maretropolis. It is I! Your worst nightmare incarnate; Ultra-Drum!”
Bright purple fireworks shot across the sky as six different spotlights shot their beams into the air.
“Allow me to explain tonight’s game. Atop of six skyscrapers throughout the city there are six beacons. Each beacon is attached to a bomb. That bomb is capable of leveling everything within a three block radius. At exactly midnight the bombs will go off simultaneously...unless your beloved heroines can deactivate them in time. Eh, more accurately, can deactivate them at the SAME time. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Power Ponies, I’m speaking directly to you now, I know you’re listening. I’ll get you back for what you did. I’ll avenge Hair Beauty. I’ll exterminate you, even if it means leveling this entire city! So let's see if you’re as powerful as you boast, because one little slip up and this will be your last night alive!”
He laughed evilly as the project faded away.
“...Is it just me or did this comic get like mucho darker?” giggled Pinkie Pie. “I never knew Disarray was into these kinds of dark comics. Then again, he IS one of our bad guys now. Like, in the real world, not in the comic. But now he IS one of our bad guys in the comic. So, is he like...DOUBLE bad now? Or is he just as bad but is just spreading it out? Did you see how well he got into character back there? He looked really frightening, massive chills! Oh! Oh! I need to get into character too!” said the now in character Fili-Second.
Matter-Horn sighed in annoyance. “As soon as we get out of here, I’ll writing a strongly worded letter to the author about this. These kinds of comics can’t be good for young minds”
“Ya mean before or afta you apologize ta Disarray? Cus Ah don’t reckon he’d be to apreciative about you messin with his comics too” scolded Mare-velous “But in the meantime, let’s get a move on!”
Radiance looked to Matter-Horn. “Alright darling, you’re the leader, what should we do?”
The purple alicorn turned superhero looked at her suit, then at her friends. “Right. All the bravado aside, we got a lot of information. Ultra-Drum warned us what would happen if we acted separately and rashly. Zapp, Fili-Second, If I’m right then you two will be the first ones to arrive to your beacons. Please don’t deactivate the bombs until ten minutes to midnight. Eleven fifty, understood? We’ll synchronize our watches, it’s our only chance. Remember, not until eleven fifty”
What if...what if we don't make it?” asked Saddle Rager. “I don’t mean to sound pessimistic, but you know, what if more henchmen come to stop us? How can we be sure the others made it in time?”
“I was right about to get to that” said Matter-Horn. “Fili-Second, go buy us six industrial brightness flashlights, and six sheets of cellophane paper, all different colors. As soon as one of us arrives to our bomb, we signal the others”
Fili-Second disappeared and reappeared with the requested items.
“You owe me twenty five bits M.H.”
“Got it” replied Matter-Horn. “Now, when you see the other five lights in the sky, that would mean you’re clear to deactivate your bomb. But NOT until eleven fifty! Alright?”
“Okey-Dokey-Lokey! Power Ponies; assemble! I mean, separate!” cheers out Fili-Second before disappearing in a flash.
Zapp was dying to get into the action and, as Matter-Horn predicted, was the first to arrive to her bomb site. The device in question was sitting out in the open in the middle of the room. Too easy. As Zapp flew up to the device, she suddenly felt as though she were being watched. She turned around to find the was surrounded by ponies dressed in black with a silver U embroidered on their chests.
“Ultra-Drum’s hench-ponies I presume” said Zapp, taking her amulet in hand. A small tornado would easily do the trick.
The winds began to blow around her enemies. Enemies that were all suspiciously wearing gas masks. That was when Zapp noticed said winds were lifting a strange and rather suspect white powder off the floor around her. A powder that was causing her to cough and gag.
“I-I have more than just tornados!” she said between coughs, extending her wings to scatter the white powder away from her and then summoning bolts of lightning to finish the henchmen.
It seemed Ultra-Drum was still a few steps ahead as the power was explosive in nature. The sparks from the lightning bolts ignited it and caused an explosion that ending up sending Zapp into a nearby wall.
The cyan pegasus spit out some blood and grinned “this comic just got twenty percent cooler…”
The henchmen were approaching, some brandishing various weapons. Leaping onto her hooves, Zapp punched the one closest to her, and gave a power kick to the next. There only a handful of ways she could ever see herself being defeated but by a group of push over henchmen wasn’t one of them. Zapp quickly took her amulet and summoned a hail storm against her attackers, who ended up knocked out by it.
At least she thought they were, after a few seconds the bagan to get back up, shaking off the attack like it was nothing.
“We’re a lot stronger than before Zapp. We had to get some...improvements, when the new boss took over.”
Zapp just grinned. “Sounds fun, but I’m on the clock. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish you off now”
Once again Zapp took her amulet in hand and sent a blizzard that both blew away the powered and floze the henchmen in place. Then finished the job with lightning bolts; one for each henchpony. With the grunts now out of the way, Zapp was free to access her bomb.
“That was fun, but I don’t think Radiance and Saddle are up for T rated comics. I’d better go help out”
And with that, she flew off to aid her friends.
Meanwhile, back at Twilight’s Palace, Hymnphonic was walking around the castle’s library looking for something. Eventually, after checking the catalog cards twice, she found it.
“HA! Gotcha! The complete works of H.L. Ponycraft volume one!” she announced happily, looking through a window “this ought to be amazing. According to this, those two weird things fighting out there are Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. Two evil alien gods created by this author. That’s so cool! I have to read more in my free time.”
“You know it's rude to talk about your coworkers behind their back” said Maelstrom idily, as they flipped through a book on the history of radishes “and Ponycraft didn’t create them, she just kinda...realized their existence”
“Wait, so they actually exist?!” screamed Hymn “Can I meet them?!”
“Of course they do, they are like super stars around the department. Been doing it even longer than I have, waaaaaay longer. I’ll introduce you at the next department shindig, ok Hymn?” asked Mael, in time to get tackle-hugged by a grinning unicorn
“you’re like the best boss ever, you know that?”
“I try”
“Hey, look at this guys. Isn’t that Pipsqueak?” asked Shadow Blitz, who had been looking out another window.
As the two ponies turned cosmic beings were fighting, out of nowhere Pip charged into the battle, swinging around on some sort of steam powered contraption. The small stallion was in a blind rage.
“I’M GONNA KILL THEM ALL! I’M GOING TO KILL ALL THE TITANS!!!”
When he was close enough, he bit his own hand and turned into a giant monster who roared and joined the fight.
“Cool!” cheered both Cimera and Party Pop.
“Yeah” commented Blitz “Didn’t know Pip liked Attack on Titan”
“I’m more surprised about Feather Weight” said Bad Seed. Said pony was dressed in a light blue jacket and red scarf, running towards a volcano in the distance.
Some ponies were really obscure, making it hard to figure out who both their character’s and the pony’s identity. Others, not so much. For example, the human who was currently running down the street screaming “See?! I Exist! I Exist!” had to be none other than Lyra.
Bad Seed glanced back at the Power Ponies Comic. It’s cover still crackling with chaotic energy, and every so often the comic would twitch a little.
“Are any of you worried about them? I mean, that issue is where things get pretty dark, not to mention rather violent. Do you think they’ll be ok in there?”
“Meh, they’ll be fine, their Harmony powers will protect them from the worse of anything Disarray dishes out at them” replied Maelstrom, now reading a book on the history of The Funky Chicken.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Hymn.
“Well, just like I gave you all access to the powers of Chaos, they have access to the powers of Harmony. They just don’t realize it yet, which is why we get to have so much fun. However, some of their more passive powers should activate on their own”
Now it was Seed’s turn to be curious “Passive Powers?”
“Yea, things connected to their element. Ever notice how no matter how glum the situation, Pinkie Pie can make it seem cheerful? Or how even though Rarity is self-entitled, snooty, pompous, and rather full of herself, she can’t help but act generous...and those generous acts seem to have a direct positive impact on her, whether it be items or favors or prestige? Or even how your own sister, Applejack, seems to be a walking lie detector, and also seems incapable of lying? Passive harmony powers and effects” said Mael, nodding sagely “Both Harmony and Chaos have active and passive powers. If you don't know what they are, and the other side does, sometimes they can manipulate them to their own benefit”
Bad Seed, Hymnphonic, Shadow Blitz, Chimera, and Party Pop looked at their boss wide eyed as Maelstrom grinned.
“In fact, that gives me an idea for our next big thing….”
Back in the comic book, in the fictional city of Maretropolis, Saddle-Rager was immobilized by four of Ultra-Drum’s henchponies. She was trapped, scared, and wishing she could just be home in bed. Having been cornered, she currently had her back to the wall, surrounded by four henchponies.
She was frantically looking around for any way out when she saw a fifth hench-ponies slightly kick a stray cat that was getting too close as they walked towards the group. Something inside of Saddle-Rager snapped, causing the once timid hero to turn into an irrational muscle mass of might and fury that tackled the nearest hench-ponies and began punching them over and over again. Another tried to be brave and rush her, but she just backhanded them through a nearby wall, said henchpony didn’t get up. With a growl, Saddle-Rager leaped into the air, landing with an impact that cratered the ground and threw the remaining hench-ponies off their hooves. Saddle than grabbed one by their leg and used them to beat another until neither moved anymore. She then flung the limp pony in her hand over a nearby building.
“I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!!!!!”
The last hench-pony just stood there in a small puddle of their own urine, staring wide eyed and frozen in fear as Saddle-Rager balled her hands into large fists and leaped into the air with a loud shout.
“SADDLE SMASH!!”
The hench-pony knew pain, then nothing.
It took smashing a nearby dumpster, but Saddle-Rager managed to calm down. The poor pegasus breathing erratically at the sight of the destruction, mangled bodies, and her own bloody hands.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no wh-what have I done? What have I done???”
“It’s ok S.R.” said Zapp, flying above her. “It’s fine. This is a T rated comic, a lot more violence”
“But-but I really hurt them” whimpered Saddle-Rager
“Saddle...they aren’t real. None of this is, it’s just a comic. So you didn’t really hurt anypony” replied Zapp, landing her to her friend and rubbing her trembling shoulder.
“....r-really?” squeaked out Saddle-Rager.
“Really Really, now let's go save the day” Zapp said, gesturing towards another wave of hench-ponies that were running towards them. One of the hench-ponies made the mistake of stepping on a rat’s tail, making it squeal in pain. Saddle-Rager’s blood boiled. She felt herself become become enraged and gave out a roar, leaping towards the Henchponies.
Zapp smiled and gave a proud nod, softly saying “You go get em mare” before flying off. It seemed Saddle-Rager had things covered at her beacon. The weather mare wondered how the others were doing, especially how Rarity was holding up. Even with her powers as Radiance, she wasn’t the most ‘hardcore’ so to say.
Speaking of Radiance. She was currently using her light crystals to create cages, large pillows, and paper balls to attack and keep the baddies away. Surprisingly it was very effective. This was mainly due to the confusion her attacks were causing the hench-ponies who were trying to understand the heroine’s new strategy.
“I...I don’t get it. Do you think she’s trying to lure us in, thinking she’s gone soft, then knock us out with a pulsewave?”
“Naw, I think she’s just trying to get us to lower our guard so she can do to use what she did to Bob”
“Oh don’t remind me! That poor guy, did he ever wake up from the coma?”
Suddenly a cage of light appeared around the two hench-ponies, who looked around frantically until their eyes met that of Radiance. Said heroine was camly walking up to them.
“Excuse me darlings, but what exactly did I do to your friend? I don’t remember.”
“Don’t remember?! You almost killed him!” one of the hench-ponies angrily proclaimed before remembering that they were stuck in a cage and may suffer a similar fate.
“Yea!” the other spoke up, feeling a little better as Radiance dropped the cage. At least now they could possibly run away if they needed to. “You knocked up into the air and threw a building with a giant bat, then fly up and smash him into the ground with a giant energy fist. It was scary.”
Radiance just blinked in surprise “I did all that?”
“Of course you did! That why we don’t understand your moves now!”
Radiance was about to answer when Fili-Second appeared next to her, giggling.
“Oh, hi Radiance! I came to help you because I saw you fighting and while throwing pillows can be super fun this is a big kid book and those are kiddy comic book moves and you need to really start to get in there and fight so i thought you could use a quick lesson in comic violence beat-em-ups so I came running over to show how it’s done!” Fili said, then inhaled. “Now check my moves!”
Radiance just shook her head.
“Fili-Second, I am well aware of how teenage comics are. I CHOOSE not to partake in such filth, I know how overly violent and...sexual...they can by. That’s why I NEVER allowed Sweetie Belle to read such things”
“But isn’t your favorite book series…” Fili-Second began to ask.
“Completely different! That’s TASTEFUL violence, and POETIC sexuality! Totally different! Anywho, I don’t need help, I have anything under control here”
Of course, Fili-Second wasn’t listening. She grinned and focused on a baddie who began to sweat nervously. Crouching in a runners position, she gave a wink to Radiance and took off at full speed, hitting the henchponie in the chest. Said pony beck knocked back a little, but none of the worse for wear, looking around confused to see where Fili-Second had gone. She was nowhere to be seen as she was picking up speed, running around the planet.
Running an entire lap after just ten seconds, she came back up on the guy, this time punching him with enough force to launch him several meters into the air. Without missing an instant, or loosing any speed, Fili ran up the side of a building and launched herself off, punching the guy mid air and knocking him higher. She then landed on another building, ran up a little, launching and knocked higher. She kept this up until the two were almost a hundred meters off the ground. She then ran up, launched into the air on last time, and landed a downward kick that knocked the guy down so hard it left a small crater.
“Just. Like. That!” Cheered Fili-Second “It’s easy, try it!”
Back in the outside world, the Master of Mayhem were all crowded around the comic, reading what was transpiring within
“Oooo, I think I felt that one. Poor guy” commented Blitz.
“Just look at Rarity, she’s in total shock!” giggled Party Pop.
“Did you sis really ban you from reading teen comics?” asked Chimera.
“Puh-lease! I’ve been reading ADULT comics since I was a teenager. Have a nice collection stashed away too. But yea, look at my sister tremble, she looked like she’s about to freak!”
The others just giggled as they went back to reading.
Back in the comic world Radiance gulped, still in shock at the demonstration of blatant violence and the fact that Fili-Second just assumed her role in this crass comic so naturally. She would have to remember to ask Twilight about keeping an eye on her. The remaining hench-ponies were slowly backing away, not wanting to have to deal with both Radiance and Fili-Second.
In another part of Maretropolis, Mare-velous didn’t have any problems accepting the new nature of the comic; especially when she had to defend herself from a group of ponies with knives and swords. With her unbreakable lasso she opened a can of whoop-ass on them something fierce.Another wave appear and she just ginned. It’s been awhile since she’s gotten to use her full strength. Seems the only thing that can get her serious is that rival of hers Bad Seed. Mare-velous frowned. Best to not think about Bad Seed right now and just focus on the task at hand.
With the final grunts out the way, she walked up the bomb and turned on her flashlight. Looking out onto the city’s skyline, she could see Fili’s signal, Zapp’s, Saddle-Rager’s, and Radiance’s. There was just one more to go. She checked her watch. There was still enough time, but they may be cutting it close.
“Almost there. Come on Matter-Horn, apologize. Do the right thing”
Back in the real world, in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was enjoying herself by looking out over her city and guessing who were who. After a couple hours of this, she had come to the conclusion that she had a lot to read. Rather sad that she got so behind, but paperwork is no joke.
She saw many princesses from old folk stories and tales. She saw animals from fables. She saw beings that could only exist in the imagination.
One of her female guards was wearing a black dress and showing to a bunch of winged monkeys. “Fly, Fly my minions! Bring me the red slippers! Now fly!”
Another guard with wild hair was just walking around muttering “Who created the Pyramids? Humans! Who is conspiring with the government? Humans! What’s the answer to all the mysteries of Equis? Humans!”
It was chaos, but enjoyable chaos. Everypony liked different things, and it was nice to see so much diversity. Ponies like to act like one big uniform herd, but they are all different, they are all individuals.
Smiling happily, Celestial went back to the Throne Room. Inside, Nightmare Moon was sitting in the middle of tables full of Hearts Warming decorations and Scientific equipment.
“Luna? Nightmare? What’s up with you?”
Nightmare Moon, the pumpkin queen, grinded her teeth in frustration and began to sing.

“Luna? Sis, are you feeling alright?” asked Celestia. Nightmare just ignored her and continued her song.

Again Celestia shot her sister with a memory spell, more worried than before. Luna just looked around confused, than gave her sister an equally worried look.
“Tia, we must hurry! The more time we spend like this, the more the character takes control of our minds! What delay’s Twilight Sparkle and her friends? What haven’t they stopped this already?”
“There must be something holding them up” reasoned Celestia, getting slightly worried. “Perhaps the Master of Mayhems’ tricks are affecting them just as much as they’re affecting you. I’ll help them, but you need to stay here. This version of Nightmare Moon, she isn’t dangerous is she?”
“No. I think the most I’ll try to do is steal Hearts Warming Eve, maybe scare a few ponies, but nothing more”
Celestia nodded and left the throne room. Quickly she found the nearest balcony and took off, flying to the aid of her once faithful student now fellow princess. She could see tall creatures in the distance; from giants, to elder dragons, to strange beasts.
After almost fifteen minutes of flying she arrived at Twilight’s castle, eluding the battle between Smog and a colossal pony. Stopping for a moment, she wondered to herself why she didn’t just teleport like she always did, remembering the lessons of the first prank.
“Twilight? Twilight where are you?” she called out as she entered through the front door. She easily deduced that Twilight would have been turned into a version of Starswirl, and so would probably be in her library reading. The solar alicorn quickly made her way. However, instead of finding Twilight, she found Maelstrom and the Masters of Mayhem casually reading a comic book.
Chimera looked up and smirked “Huh, Princess Celestia. I’m guessing from her autobiography?”
“No, it’s actually me. Thanks for asking” she responded, looking at each member. This was the first time she’d seen Party Pop and Chimera. They were strong, she could feel the chaotic energy they gave off. In fact, she could feel the energy all the members of Team Harmony gave off. She could feel the difference in power from when she first met the few back during their first prank, to now. They were definitely getting stronger. What unnerved her the most was Maelstrom. She couldn’t detect anything from them.
Celestia wasn’t in any way worried about Team Chaos though. She had thousands of years more experience than they did. Besides, she was here for Team Harmony.
“Where are your counterparts?” she asked.
The green haired one, Hymnphonic, just pointed to the comic they were reading.
“In there, after Twilight got Team Harmony back together, Disarray laid a trap for them and zapped them into the comic. I think he’s trying to work out some things with Twilight. Believe me, I’ve never seen him that pissed off before in my life”
“Pissed off?” asked the sun princess.
“Popcorn?” offered Maelstrom. “This is really starting to get good”
Celestia thought for a moment, weighed her options, then nodded and sat down next to the multi-limbed blue chaos god, reading the comic alongside the others.

Matter-Horn ascended level after level of her building, reaching the top no problem. There were minimal goons, all of them pushovers. The way might as well have been completely clear for her. Soon she was at the top, staring at the beacon and bomb. It was all too easy and she knew it.
“What’s going on here?” pondered Matter-Horn.
As she walked towards the bomb, she stepped on a landmine that sent her flying into a nearby wall. She felt like she might have actually sprained something. “Oww……”
Ultra-Drum’s laugh could be heard echoing around the room as he appeared, purple fire dancing off his black scaled body. “I hope you’re ready Twilight…”
“R-ready for what?”
“For a rated T comic. This is going to get violent.”
Twilight gulped. “Do you think you’re really capable of hurting me?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Do you think you’re really capable of breaking into my room?”
Twilight cringed a little at that, looking into the solid purple eyes of the being that was her baby brother and pleaded with him. “Please Disarray! I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have done that but please try to understand. I was just so afraid for you, and wanted to make sure your friends weren’t a threat to you, or to the rest of Equis. Please Disarray, I HAD to do it!”
“THAT DOESN’T EXCUSE WHAT YOU DID! DOES MY TRUST MEAN SO LITTLE TO YOU?! I’m the team leader. They answer to me and I answer for them. Doesn’t my word mean anything to do? I was your oldest and closest friend, I’m your little brother, doesn’t my trust mean enough for you to not break it so casually? Why can’t you trust my decisions?”
“Disarray…I...”
“It’s so much deeper than that. You didn’t respect me before, and you don’t respect me now, even though I have the power to warp reality itself at my claw tips. I’m as powerful as you are in magic, and yet you try to pull this? You betray what trust I have in you just because you had a hunch it’ll serve some greater good? All because you couldn’t trust me and my judgement”
Disarray sighed and continued “Honestly, I know it looks like I’m blowing this out of proportion. After all, all you did was go in my room without permission. But this isn’t the first time you’ve betrayed my trust. This is just the latest piece of hay in an ever growing stack. Do you realize how much I had to stuffer all these years before I got these powers?”
“Disarray...no, Spike, try to remember! We spent so many great times together!” This was it. She’s reach him and turn him good again! If she could break the spell Discord had put on her friends all those years ago, she can undo whatever that Maelstrom did to her brother! “Remember all the friendship lessons? All the adventures we had together? The diary! Remember the diary we all wrote together? Me, you, and the girls?”
“You mean that stupid diary you made ME write FOR you all when you all had those adventures without me? Do you even realize I wasn’t there for nearly all of that? Did you ever realize? Did you even care that you always left me behind? Did the thought ever even pop in your mind?”
With each question, the flames around Disarray began growing bigger and more wild
“And by the by, in case you still don’t get it, my name isn’t Spike anymore. It’s Disarray! Draconic God of Chaos! Chief Master of Mayhem! You can go straight to Tartarus Twilight, now prepare yourself!”
The two stared at each other, a pair of eyes literally sparking with fury, and other pair teary and ashamed. It was around this time Twilight began to realize the truth. This whole thing wasn’t the temper tantrum of a child begging for attention, or the wrongdoings of a corrupted teen acting out just to be rebellious and edgy. No, these were the cries of somepony hurting. Her brother was hurting, and it was all her fault.
After almost a minute of silence, Twilight lowered her head.
“Just….do it. Get it over with”
Disarray just raised a brow “what?”
“I realize I should have respected you more, and I’m sorry Disarray. You were...ARE...my best friend, my first friend next to Shining. You’re my baby brother and I love you. I love you, and I hurt you. If beating me up makes you feel any better, if it stops the hurting, than go ahead. I won’t fight back, I promise. I deserve it, so just go right ahead, beat me all you want”
With a roar, Disarray lunged. His large clawed hand engulfed in purple flames and crackling with black energy arching towards Twilight, who just closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable.
The lavender princess could feel the air heat up. She felt hot wind moving past her face as Disarray’s attack got closer and closer. Just as it was about to make contact with her face, he stopped.
“I can’t…”
“Huh?”
“In the comic...this comic...I’m supposed to kill you. There’s this big fight scene, and some stuff is said, and Ultra-Drum kills Matter-Horn...but I can’t do it”
Disarray let his arms fall to his sides, sighing. “I won't…”
Twilight gave a half smile and hugged him.
“Thank you. I know I hurt you but I promise I’ll make it all up to you. Everything is going to change from now you, you have my word. We’ll be closer than ever, and do all kinds of stuff together. I’m not just saying this cus you’re a chaos god now. I’m saying this because I really owe you big time. I hurt you, and I’m going to make up for it.”
Disarray shrugged sadly “Too little too late Twi, sorry...I have my own life now. I have my own group of friends, and my own place in the world. We joke around and do crazy things. We see exciting new places. We have our own adventures, just like how you and your friends do. We have our own goals and dreams…” the black drake said, before taking out a small remote and click it. The bomb behind them beeped a few times before shutting down.
“Just for the record” Disarray said “You would have lost”
“How do you figure that?” asked Twilight.
“Well while the Power Ponies could have handled it...and you pretty much did almost exactly what they did in the comic...I don't think Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, or Applejack know how to disarm a bomb. One mistake would have set off all the bombs, and boom, bye bye Power Ponies”
Twilight just stared. How’d she miss such a simple but critical detail.
“Hey, don’t sweat it. You all were really getting into character back there. Now, how about a Harmony Wave to fix this whole mess?” he asked. Twilight nodded and Disarray snapped his claws, teleporting him and Team Harmony out of the comic and back into the real world.
“Hey team, whats up?” greeted the dark drake.
The team in question, Team Chaos, was currently still lounging around the comic, snacks and drinks all around them as the were reading. The Master of Mayhem were trying to avoid their team leader’s eye contact, as to not unintentionally cause an uncomfortable moment by mentioning the conversation had occurred between Ultra-Drum and Matter-Horn near the end.
Maelstrom couldn’t care less and casually said “Was a good read, lots of action, great set up, however the ending was rather sappy and anti-climatic”
Disarray gave his boss a glare, who the chaos entity returned, before the two chuckled and Disarray turned to the others.
“Whoever said reading was boring, obviously never opened a book” Hymn said, pointing out the window “I really wanna learn more about those two big guys” she said, gesturing to Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth.
“That's the spirit Hymn, one can always expand your horizons with a good book” respond Mael with a smile and nod.
“I wholeheartedly agree. I have sadly gotten behind on my reading, I’ve seen so many interesting characters that I haven’t the slightest idea where they’re from” added Celestia.
Disarray blinked in surprise. “Celestia? What are you doing here?”
“Since this particular ‘prank’ had been going on longer than normal, I came to check up on Twilight and the girls to see if they needed my help”
Disarray shrugged and pointed to the pile of ponies who were currently shaking off some dizziness, and dusting themselves and their normal clothing off. “They seem alright. Shook up, but alright”
Celestia nodded and pulled Disarray into a hug. “I’m proud of you”
“Huh? For what?” replied the drake.
“You had every right to be mad. Furious even. You felt justified in what you were doing, and you had the chance to really hurt Twilight...but in the end you didn’t. You controlled yourself, and that’s something worth praise”
Disarray just smiled sheepishly.
“Aw, I knew he wasn’t going to do it” Maelstrom said, smirking.
“Oh? And how would you know that?” questioned Celestia, raising an eyebrow.
“Simple” they responded, smiling at Disarray who in turned smiled back “I have full trust in my team”
Mael reached out with one of their arms, and brofirsted Disarray. The rest of the team talked about how much fun this prank was, even if it was rather spontaneous and they didn’t have any real part of it. Mael opened a nearby door, ushering their team through “Looks like Team Harmony’s gearing up to blast away our fun, time to go gang”
As the door shut behind them, Team Harmony blasted their Harmony Wave, and everything went back to normal. The girls all said their goodbyes, and then left the castle, going about the rest of their day. Soon it was just Celestia and Twilight. The former looking down motherly at the later.
“Twilight, you do realize this was a wake up call of sorts, right? Disarray is a good drake, you’re lucky he isn’t the vengeful type of this could have gotten really ugly really fast. He’s calmed down now, but wounds like that don’t just heal overnight. You’re going to still need to not only earn his forgiveness, but re-earn his trust as well”
Twilight sighed, ashamed.
“I know, I know. Because of his power, his anger could drive him to do incredibly terrible things. He could become actually evil, and pose a real threat to Equis. I never thought in a million years he’d ever become as powerful as me...”
“Twilight, no!” protested Celestia “You don’t try to earn his forgiveness because he may be a threat. You don’t try to re-earn his trust because he’s as powerful as you. You do it because he’s your little brother and you hurt him. You hurt him for years. But he’s a special kind of soul, he’ll forgive you in time”
Twilight nodded as Celestia spoke up again.
“By the way, and it is vitally important you understand this. He is not as powerful as you. The Masters of Mayhem aren’t as powerful as you. Maelstrom himself isn’t as powerful as you.”
“Huh? But he said…”
“Think Twilight, think. Why do you think I had to team up with Luna every time we faced Discord? We had to fight him at full power on top of using the elements of harmony, and we barely managed to beat him every time. Maelstrom is much much older and much more powerful than Discord. Power that they then transferred and freely share with Disarray and the Masters of Mayhem.
The gears in Twilight’s head came to a dead stop when she finally realized what Celestia was saying. She pailed. “Y-you mean…”
“Oh yes. Team Chaos isn’t as strong as you...they’re way way stronger”