I Care For All
By Kendell2
Commissioned by Grimwolf
The figure slowly moved over, looking up at the stained glass window devoted to Captain Goodguy.
“Some fear responsibility, some embrace it. But others ignore it entirely. And some of the latter realize the hard way that responsibility doesn't like to be ignored, and if you have great power and no responsibility, when bad things happen you could've stopped...eventually those bad things happens quite close to home. Closer than we could ever dream or want. And in those times, we learn with great power, must come great responsibility.”
“Thus is our next story. Care to gather round and listen?”
“Have no fear, Captain Goodguy is here!” called the masked draconequus, flying above the city, stopping in front of a burning building.
The civilians peaked out to find a rope attached to the top of the building going down, Captain Goodguy climbed up, standing on the side of the building. “Your rope is here, good citizens,” he proclaimed, floating up and he snapped his fingers. Climbing gloves formed in his hands...and he carefully checked inside them and knocked a few spiders out of them before slipping them on their hooves so everyone to slide down the rope safe and sound. The hero gave a look to the fire itself and flew around, collecting it on a cotton candy spool (being careful to only grab fire) before eating it like it was the surgery treat. He finally let out a burp of smoke into the air once his head was pointed at no one. “Spicy...”
“Thanks for coming, Goodguy, with how hot that fire was burning there's no telling if we would've saved everyone in time, or even made it out alive,” one of the fire fighters replied, giving a salute.
“All in a day's work, everyday hero, I saw danger and couldn't stay away,” the hero said with a smile...before looking up and seeing a light shining on the clouds with the two D symbol on his chest. “It's the Goodguy Signal! Someone needs my help! See you later!” he called, saluting the fire fighters and taking off.
“I see...” said Captain Goodguy, looking at Rough Diamond's profile at the local police department.
The picture depicted was a light green mare with a long reddish mane and tail, looking constantly perky with a wide smile. Her depicted Cutie Mark was a tree with a red heart as its leaves. “Hmm, she doesn't look too bad to me.”
“You're talking to an undercover detective, believe me looks can be deceiving,” replied the mare in front of him. “For starters, she's an associate of Zecora.”
“Oh yes, the Wicked Witch of Everfree, I can see why that would be worrying...” replied the superhero, narrowing his eyes slightly. Zecora had caused a lot of trouble, and it was the general opinion that she was up to something much bigger than general ecoterrorism.
“And she started giving out some...disturbing pamphlets...”
“Really? What kind?”
“Ones describing how sapient civilization is a blight on Equus that should be eradicated...All in an extremely cheery fashion...” Rough Diamond explained with a disturbed look.
Good Guy read over the pamphlet in question. “Yikes, enough to send a chill down my spine,” he said, a line of ice running down his back. He carefully held his tail up when the ice reached it.
“Indeed.”
“But while disturbing, it's nothing the more extreme members of PETA hasn't spouted before...”
“...What?”
“Whoops, sorry, wrong universe. Meant every environmental film ever made,” replied the superhero.
“Oh...true. We've only taken her in for disturbing the peace a few times. Then she convinced some protesters to shut down the area around a nearby river important to water distribution. Turned out that it was a distraction so she could use the potions Zecora gave her to make a vine dam in the river, blocking it up and cutting off a large part of the water supply.”
Captain Goodguy nodded. “We're in a drought, we need every water source we can possibly get...of course she's still well meaning, perhaps she can be reasoned with?”
“That's what the negotiators say too. Problem is getting past the vines, they're classic Zecora and getting through them is proving difficult. This is normally Duchess Chrysalis's forte but she's busy with another issue right now. Mind helping out?”
“You know me, good detective: always willing to help no matter what!” he said, posing dramatically with his cape blowing in a wind that came from nowhere while heroic music swelled in the background with fitting back lighting. He then blinked, looking back to notice the wind blowing paper work around and quickly gathering the papers to put them back. “Sorry...” he apologized with a sheepish look.
Detective Rough Diamonds merely stared with a no nonsense look for a few moments. “Good. Coordinates are in the file. Good luck.”
Goodguy gave a heroic salute and flew off through the window. Once in the air, he produced the pamphlet and leafed through it. “Someone who cares so much for something 'more important' that ponies lose any and all meaning...I suppose I know very well how that feels...”
Discord floated high above the land, the surrounding area a mismatch of chaotic, crazy things. Trees turned to fish and water into twisters of tomato juice while houses levitated and rotated high in the air.
“Hmm...interesting,” said the Draconequus, floating closer to the floating dwelling. “Turns out making the center of the house the focal point of gravity does...this...” he said, examining the rotating house.
“I...think I'm going to be...sick...” groaned the stallion in the house, face turning green. Discord merely continued observing everything but him.
“Discord!”
Discord gave an annoyed groan. The spirit of chaos turned and looked at King Sombra with crossed arms. “Well, look who it is. Let me guess, you wish for me to stop my experiments?”
“Put that pony down this instant!”
The Spirit shrugged. “I fail to see why I should. He should have run when his house started floating in the first place,” he said, apathetically, remaining more curious at the state of the house itself.
Equestria's ruler gave an annoyed sigh. He quickly used a pillar of crystal to fly up and pull the stallion from the house, taking him to the ground...where the poor pony promptly ran to a bush and threw up. Sombra did, however, notice a strange purple pony nearby parkouring around the floating buildings and almost seeming to enjoy it. “Discord, what are you even trying to accomplish?!”
“Simple: I want to know what happens if I do something, I do it and see what happens. I believe you ponies call it science. Let's call it...chaos theory,” Discord replied. “For example, what if the clouds were made of concrete...” he said, snapping his fingers.
Sombra's eyes widened as he had to quickly put up a shield to keep himself and the ponies in the area from getting crushed. He blinked as the strange purple mare simply dodged the falling concrete without fear.
“That...hmm, interesting...”
“That makes no sense!” Equestria's King shouted back.
“Make sense? Chaos doesn't make sense, it's only interesting when it's senseless,” Discord replied. “Pulling one little thread and seeing what comes undone. A butterfly flapping its wings and making a hurricane on the other side of the world. A single crack in a statue traveling up it and making some random part fall,” the Spirit continued, shapeshifting first into a thread version of himself and pulling a thread to make himself unravel. He reformed into a butterfly and flapped his wings, blowing Sombra back with hurricane force winds it took all his might to resist. Lastly, he formed into a statue and cracked, his horn falling off.
“Don't you care about the ponies caught in the middle?!”
“No,” Discord replied coldly and bluntly as he reformed. “Let me make one thing clear, your highness. I don't give a flying feather about anything from this dimension. If they get caught in the crossfire? That's their problem, not mine. Now if you excuse me, I'm missing some fascinating chaos here.”
Sombra sighed, watching Discord teleport up and snap his fingers. A pair of houses suddenly ripped themselves out of the ground, one turning into frozen oil and the other burning ice, and went flying towards one another at high speed. The King gasped and launched himself between them,creating two crystal hands to hold them apart with great strain. He tried to think fast...and finally Discord's words echoed in his head.
“...Wait, if we could create a place where you can cause all the chaos you want with no ponies getting in the way, you'd just leave my ponies alone?” Sombra asked, straining under the effort of what he knew was a minor showing of Discord's power.
The Spirit blinked, snapping his fingers and causing the houses to float freely, freeing Sombra. “If that'd make you stop messing up my experiments, I might be willing to listen.”
Captain Goodguy touched down in the forested area, looking around the area. He'd found himself in the middle of a dried out river bed...then a red exclamation point appeared over his head as he noticed the giant dam of vines holding back the river. “Well, there's our problem. Let's carefully fix that so we don't end up with a flood down stream...” he said, reaching into his utility belt and pulling out a giant machete...which he then carefully used as a toothpick to produce a pair of tweezers from between his teeth. “Now, onto work.”
= Sing a Song of Flowers – The Kiboomers =
“Sing a song of flowers, flowers in the ground.
Flowers grow better with no pony around,” sang a peppy, energetic voice to a nursery rhyme tune.
The superhero turned to see the mare depicted in Rough Diamond's profile merrily skip down the side of the dam.
“Flowers of every color,
Better off without you.
Red and pink and orange and yellow
Blue and purple too!” she continued to sing as she put together a flower necklace.
“Sing a song of flowers, no ponies around,
Flowers will be growing, when we're in the ground.
Flowers of every color, better with us all through.
Red and pink and orange and yellow,
Blue and purple too! she finished singing with a spin, coming to a stop looking face to face with Goodguy. “Oh...hey there!” she said, putting the flower necklace around his neck with a cheerful, perky smile.
“Hello, Tree Hugger...nice song, if a bit morbid and creepy.”
“Thanks! Mom says I have a great singing voice!” Tree Hugger replied, practically skipping back up the dam she'd created.
Discord teleported in front of her. “Now that that's out of the way, this dam was not built to standard nor did you go through the proper channels, so I'm afraid I'm going to have you remove it,” he reasoned in a calm and relaxed voice.
The mare gave a laugh like it was a friendly joke. “Channels? Man, I don't need to go through channels. The only channels I follow are the one nature cuts through the land! This river was never supposed to be here! We redirected it from the path it was always supposed to follow! I'm just fixing it!” she continued, at no point raising her voice in anger or losing her good cheer.
“Be that as it may, it's still a drought, and can't you see ponies will suffer without this water?” asked Goodguy continued.
“Yeah, but we ponies take and take and take, world would probably be better off if we just took a hike off a cliff.”
Goodguy sighed. “Look, we can debate that all you like...but what about all the animals down this way who won't have water?”
“What about all the animals we took water away from redirecting the river to make our lives easier?”
“I would presume they were equinely relocated.”
“Equinely, yeah right,” said Tree Hugger with a shrug before skipping off a little bit further.
“And I don't think this dam could hold anyway, eventually it will burst and likely flood the town downstream,” Goodguy pointed out.
“...Huh, hadn't thought of that...”
The Draconequus superhero gave a sigh of relief.
“Looks like it's close now...” Tree Hugger replied, then, without any sign of sadism or malice, threw a potion at the vines...which quickly destroyed the vines, unleashing a massive torrent of water downstream with a roar.
Goodguy's eyes popped completely out of his head. “Are you out of your mind?!”
“Eh, insanity is relative. Later big guy!” the mare called cheerfully before skipping away.
Goodguy prepared to snap his fingers and return everything to normal and pull Tree Hugger back to him...but hesitated just long enough for the flower necklace around his neck to glow and suddenly become a mass of black, thorn covered vines that wrapped him like a mummy. To his frustration, seeming to almost intentionally restrict his claws.
“It's a trap!” announced a fish leaping out of the water next to him briefly glowing with his chaotic magic against his will.
“I can see that, Mr. Finny...” the draconequus said, squirming against his bonds. “She was smarter than she looked...”
He saw the water heading for a nearby settlement and gave a determined look, biting into his bonds on his hand and using his sharp teeth to pull and rip off the vine, allowing him to snap his fingers.
The water suddenly stopped, then rolled back up like a rug being rolled back up before a large toy box dumped out giant NEIGHGO bricks that piled up into a huge wall to blocked up the current.
Goodguy gave a sigh of relief, slowly walking over and pulling out the bottom block in such a way to create a small stream. “At least nothing too bad happened...” he muttered, then noticed the wall of NEIGHGO bricks had formed as a statue of him in his underwear. “...Like I said, too bad...Well, that's dealt with...but she got away...I'll have to up my game next time.”
Goodguy took off his mask as he returned to the small house floating in the chaotic realm that he called home. The stars in the distance crackled chaotically and randomly, their bursts seeming almost like they were trying to make their way through chains. “Alright, need to think of a plan...” he said, tapping his chin. “She's clearly got future plans and has at least some ideas on how to counter my powers...so first step is thinking of a counter to her last plan. I mean obviously I can just not let her put it on, but restricting my hand...” He snapped his fingers and several other Discords appeared. “Any ideas?”
“What if we bring a goat to just eat any plants she tries to use?” asked a Discord dressed as the Jester.
“Hmm...interesting idea...” said the superhero, tapping his chin.
“What if we're on fire? She can't wrap us up if we're on fire,” said another Discord, who predictably was on fire.
“Good idea, though perhaps a little dangerous to the civilians...we know how my powers tend to have a bit of a mind of their own...”
“Here's an idea...how about we just stop playing nice and throw her into another dimension?”
Discord narrowed his eyes as a completely normal Discord, no outfits, no gimmicks, just himself spoke up. “I didn't invite you out of my subconscious.”
“You never do,” replied the other Discord with a detached apathy. “We don't need a complicated plan, or some defense, or anything like that. We can just snap her fingers, and find out what it'd look like if a black hole opened under her hooves.”
“We can't do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because everyone is the way they are for a reason, everyone wants something or another,” Goodguy replied. “That girl thinks she's doing the right thing...maybe she can be saved...”
“Maybe...or maybe you're just scared if you go all out, you'll not be able to help yourself...” said the other Discord. “You have trouble controlling our magic at the best of times. Even with you trying so hard to control it.”
Goodguy growled. “I just care about other people...unlike you...”
“Maybe I just miss the days where we got to experiment without a care in the world, instead of now when we've got a mountain of responsibility on our shoulders,” said the other Discord, a mountain manifesting above him he struggled to hold up with the word “Responsibility” engraved on it.
“Yes, and I had my reasons for ending them...” said Goodguy with a glare.
Discord sat on his throne in the chaotic dimension he'd been granted. Or rather helped discover. As he found with his abilities (being able to open dimensional rifts was but one of the many powers possessed by the Lord of Chaos), most of his alternate selves found or created this place all on their own (multiverse being what it was, whether or not this place came part and parcel with his status as the God of Chaos varied from reality to reality). By his own admission, it was due to his more 'scientific' perspective on chaos. He was so interested with the chaos he could experiment with in the normal realm he hadn't considered this idea until Sombra suggested it.
He snapped his fingers, creating a slab of landscape based off somewhere in Equestria (he didn't really care where). “Hmm...Let's try this...” he said, snapping his fingers and turning the entire area into fish flavored jello. He then snapped them again, summoning giant meteors made of burning ice and threw them at it, noting the smaller ones bounced off but the larger ones punched right through.
“Interesting...” Discord replied...then blinked as he noted a purple dot rushing across the jello, parkouring around the still falling meteors and dodging, landing on top of a tree as it ended. “Huh, I don't remember creating anything purple...”
The Spirit of Chaos descended, finding a purple pony with swirly purple and white hair standing before him. Her Cutie Mark was a ball and a screw and she wore a helicopter beanie on her head. “Who are you?”
The mare took a drink from a bottle of water. “Oh, hello, my name's Screwball,” she said, sounding surprisingly normal for someone who willingly did what she just had.
“And what are you doing here?” asked Discord with an irritated growl. “Sombra's rules were if I leave Equestria alone, I will be left alone. If he knows a pony is in here, it's going to be an unnecessary interruption in my experiments.”
“Oh, no need to worry, he knows I'm here and I signed the wavers,” the mare replied. “I want to be here.”
The Spirit of Chaos stood silently for a few moments. “You...want to be here?”
“Yeah.”
“...Huh...most ponies just try to run away...” Discord replied, his expression of a scientist who just found an interesting variable. “Why?”
“Well way I see it: with Lord Scorpan and stuff like that running around, I'm in danger wherever I live,” the mare explained, tone even and calm.
“Yes...”
“But out there, life is kinda either 'we're being attacked or afraid of being attacked' and attacks are predictable...to be honest, it's just dull...” replied Screwball. “At least where I lived...we're not living, we're just...not dying. And that doesn't seem rational. But here? It's exciting. There's new things all the time, and yeah, I'm in danger, but I was in that no matter where I live, so kinda just trading boring danger for exciting danger...So yeah, I like your experiments better than dull ordinary life with evil villains looming over head.”
Discord examined her closely, taking out a madness detector which didn't react. “Hmm...fascinating, you're completely sane...No sane rational pony has ever...liked my chaos before...” he said, curiosity peaked.
“Yeah, ponies called me insane for wanting to come here, but I want to live, not just not die...besides...I kinda had some ideas for experiments...”
Discord leaned closer. “Listening...”
“Hmm...how about seeing what happens when gravity works in reverse?” Screwball asked, now months later.
Discord gave a chuckle, actually smiling. “That sounds like a fun experiment...” he said, creating several planets with simulated gravity. He then snapped his claw, causing that gravity to suddenly reverse and fling things outwards from it.
Screwball jumped into the gravity wells, being propelled back out and into another one, launching herself around and parkouring off the floating objects.
The Lord of Chaos gave a smile, watching her bounce around the inverted gravity. A variable that he had no control over, that controlled herself and enjoyed being part of the chaos. “Quite interesting.”
Discord then saw her heading for one of the chaos singularities throughout his domain, not seeing it coming. He snapped his fingers, inverting gravity on it as well. The gravity reverse was much higher than the planets he'd made (it was a singularity after all), and thus sent her flying all the way back to him. “Have fun?”
Screwball nodded, looking like a bungee jumper who'd just had a fun ride. “Yeah.”
Discord created a seat for the two of them so she could take a rest.
“...You know, this place is kinda pretty...” said Screwball, looking out at the chaotic realm of nonsense that was Discord's realm.
The Lord of Chaos raised an eyebrow. “It is?”
The mare nodded, pointing to the numerous spheres of light to dot the sky. All placed at random and constantly shifting with no rhyme or reason. “The stars are like the clouds back home. They form patterns and you can make constellations, but they're never the same twice in a row...” she said, pointing to a collection of lights. “Like that one looks like a tree.”
Discord looked closely. “I think I can see it.”
The lights suddenly rearranged themselves at random.
“Now they're an octopus.”
The Spirit of Chaos gave an intrigued look. “Hmm, I hadn't thought of that.”
The stars once again rearranged themselves at random.
“Okay, your turn, what is it now?” Screwball asked.
Discord...looked somewhat stumped. “I...Hmm...what would it be?...Me?”
“Yeah, I can see that...” said the mare with a chuckle. The lights rearranged themselves once again. “Now what?”
“Um...me again?”
“You can't guess the same thing twice in a row.”
“And why not?”
“Because how's that chaotic?”
The Spirit of Chaos raised a claw to retort...only to blink and put it to his chin. “That's...actually a good point...a snake?”
“That's better!”
The two would spend several minutes sitting there, guessing what the randomly shifting shapes formed. Discord, at first, only chose things like horses, bats, lions, and dragons...
“Okay, what now?” Screwball asked.
“...Well...hmm...you?”
The mare blinked. “...Huh...yeah, I guess...”
“What's wrong?”
Screwball chuckled. “Oh, nothing...just the first time you guessed something that wasn't part of you.”
“I...hadn't noticed...You know, it's strange...” Discord replied. “The Realm of Chaos and the Lord of Chaos are in a way of speaking one and the same...This place is me, and I didn't even realize it existed until Sombra helped me discover it...Chaos coming with a handy pamphlet would be far too orderly you know...You're the first denizen of this realm other than me...well, other than the chaos abominations...”
The two ducked nonchalantly as a writhing mass of tentacles, wings, and eyes flew by.
“But they might or might not be my subconscious imaginings...”
“Huh...what's that one represent?”
“I have absolutely no idea...but more to the point...kind of fitting that you'd be the first thing other than myself I would see in part of it...hmm, quite an interesting experiment...”
Screwball nodded. “Yeah...So...uh...” she said, blushing as she realized something. “...So when I said this place was beautiful, does that mean I was calling you beautiful?”
Discord was stunned silent for a moment. “...I...I suppose that's right...Huh...chaos being beautiful, quite a novel concept...”
“Yes, but was it worth it in the end?” asked the other Discord.
Goodguy growled...but before he could respond, a flowerpot rung like a phone. He picked a flower from it and held it to his ear and the pot to his lower jaw. “Hello?”
Goodguy flew down over a forest, following the instructions sent his way towards the next reported sighting of Tree Hugger. She was now officially a terrorist after her last stunt had nearly destroyed a town, which at least meant arresting her outright would be easier...still, there was the hope maybe just maybe she could be reasoned with.
However, when Discord landed, he was rather surprised by what he found.
= A Smile and a Song – Snow White =
Namely, Tree Hugger prancing around a forest clearing while singing a happy, joyful song and attracting forest creatures to herself.
“Come and listen to my song,
And help me bring in a brand new day!” sang the mare as she let animals land on her, her song happy and pretty.
“Ponies fade away,
Earth again be young,” she continued, spinning and petting several animals on the head.
“Come and listen to my song,
Let all of nature be restored anew.
Given back to you,
As the song is sung...” continued Tree Hugger, skipping merrily among the animals as more and more filed in.
“Let the earth start rumbling,
Let cities start crumbling.
Let us all act as one,
And help nature regain her old shine!” the ecoterrorist sang, lowering her head as she sang going past several dens, luring their owners out.
“Come along as I sing,
And help me welcome a brand new spring.
So please come along,
Come and listen to my song,” she finished, jumping up onto a stump with a final, ever cheerful note, animals flocking in and filling the clearing completely.
“Well...this isn't what I was expecting...” Goodguy said as he landed in the appropriate 'superhero landing' (which he admitted without his particular power set was murder on the knees).
“Oh, hey Goodguy, so you got out of the vines?” asked the mare, as happy and chipper as ever.
“Yes, but I'm afraid that little trick means I must bring you in, please come quietly for your own good,” replied the hero in a more serious tone.
“Eh, I'm not going anywhere, me and these little guys have a little job of retaking some land to do,” replied Tree Hugger, smiling friendly to the little creatures.
Goodguy rose a claw, a yellow energy around his claw that quickly formed around her as well. He floated her up over to him. He noticed it begin to compress a little bit and steaded his claw with his lion paw to regain control. “You're going nowhere. And don't try that vine trick again.”
“Oh good, cause I wasn't...” said Tree Hugger with a smile before looking up. “Mind helping me out little guys!”
Goodguy blinked, looking up to find the entire forest canopy covered in squirrels. “...Squirrels?”
Suddenly, several thousand squirrels mobbed him in mass, seer numbers tackling him to the ground and forcing him to let Tree Hugger go.
“Ah! How many squirrels did you find?!” Goodguy asked as they gnawed him, intentionally trying to restrain his claws.
“All of them!” replied Tree Hugger with a wide happy smile.
The draconequus threw them off as quickly as he could, but they just kept piling on. “Confound these wretched rodents! For every one I fling away, a dozen more vex me!”
“Yeah, squirrels are good at that,” said the mare.
“You know, you could just turn them all to butter,” said the disembodied head of Discord's gimmickless clone.
“And throw the predator and prey ratios into complete chaos?!” asked Goodguy.
“That's what we do! We're the Spirit of Chaos!”
“We're also a superhero!”
The two literally butted heads...until they noticed the squirrels had departed. “Huh?”
Tree Hugger threw a potion in Goodguy's face the moment the animals were clear.
“A potion? What did you...” Goodguy asked...before suddenly his entire body turned green with dark green spots.
“Gift from Zecora! Tatzlwurm venom!” replied Tree Hugger while happily signing a thank you card to her fellow villainess.
Goodguy groaned, sniffling and falling to the ground ill. “Curses! How did you know my one weakness!” Or rather the only weakness he saw fit to let her know about.
“Zecora's smart!” Tree Hugger replied. “Now, if you excuse me, I gotta go deal with restoring Canterlot Mountain to its pretty old self.”
Goodguy groaned, trying to stand but finding himself weak and only managed to sneeze. “What?!”
“Yeah, me and these little guys are going to go blow Canterlot off the face of the mountain,” replied Tree Hugger like she was talking about throwing a huge party. She gave a pleasant wave. “See ya!”
“Wait, stop!” yelled the Draconequus, trying to crawl after her, but a bear picked her up and dashed off. He tried snapping his fingers to stop her but it failed. “No...not again...I can't just do nothing...not again...”
“Fascinating...” Discord said, watching Screwball dash around a rapidly swirling sphere of honey with gram-crackers floating in it. The mare leapt from platform to platform, until finally she was thrown off, grabbing Discord's claw as she passed. Discord spun her around and let her land on his shoulder with a smile. “Marvelous.”
“You think so? You make the best parkour courses,” Screwball replied with a chuckle.
“And you make for a wonderful random variable,” he said with a genuine smile. The two appendage bumped. “So, how about some cucumber sandwiches?”
“I was thinking pizza with bananas on it,” replied the mare.
“Oh, that sounds very interesting...” the spirit replied, the two opening the door to Discord's house...
Only to find King Sombra standing in his living room.
Discord's mood and face quickly fell. “...Screwball...go play with the chaos puppy I got you for awhile. Me and the King evidently have something to talk about...”
“Please, you've got to help! You could stop them easily enough...” Sombra pleaded.
Discord gave an apathetic sigh. “True true, but it's not my problem.” The spirit replied. “I've got my own dimension and the only pony that really matters to me is here with me. If I recall, you helped me find this place specifically so I wouldn't NEED to involve myself with your country. So kindly leave me out of it.”
Sombra gave a growl. “My mother is everyone's problem, Discord.”
“Not mine. Please help yourself out. Arrivederci.”
“What isn't your problem now has a habit of becoming it later...far worse than you could've ever expected...” Sombra warned as he departed.
”Seriously, you want me out of your hair, now I'm out of it and you want me back? I appreciate nonsense, but make up your mind,” Discord grumbled as he left his house...and felt something off. “Hmm...I sense a disturbance in the me...”
“So, you are Discord...You are less impressive than I thought...” said a level voice full of cold fury.
Discord turned and found a small, fairy-like being made of shadow floating before him. Her expression one constant of icy rage. Despite being far, far smaller than him, her expression carried with it an aura of weight and presence. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”
“You are made out to be a much more powerful and intimidating presence by the ponies...but all I see looking at you now is creature who has more power than he knows what to do with it and can only do pointless experiments to entertain himself,” said the creature, her tone never changing and hateful gaze never waning. “You are pathetic.”
Discord growled. “Oh, sorry, I think you think I care what you think...” he said, looming over her. She didn't budge and inch. “Who are you supposed to be if you're so much greater than me?”
Suddenly, another similar creature, though noticeably smaller than her, blindsided Discord while his focus was completely on her with a vial, causing his body to turn green with spots.
“What...what did you do?!” Discord asked, sneezing and falling onto a rocky island floating in the abyss, feeling weak.
“One question at a time,” the mare replied, still in the same tranquil fury as always, lowering before him. She put her hooves to his head, dark tendrils digging their way from her hooves into his body. She gave a small, subdued, but clearly sadistic grin as Discord began to flail and scream. “This is who I am.”
Goodguy groaned, the mighty hero being left crawling into a train to Canterlot. “Quick! I need to borrow somepony's cell phone! Please!”
The hero quickly called to access the situation...but it didn't look good. The other heroes were all in different parts of the world at the moment, dealing with other threats and villains that were just as potentially catastrophic...it was times like this he realized how thin the evil Princesses had them spread. Ever since Luna's fall, things just got more and more desperate.
Still, at least he called ahead in time to warn everypony and begin a evacuation from the city...but Canterlot was too large of a city to evacuate quickly. It was very possible Tree Hugger's evil plan would take effect before everypony could escape.
“I've got to do something...I have to...” muttered Goodguy, looking down.
Things seemed to slow to a crawl as Discord tisked, visible only visible to him.
“If you'd just listened to me, you wouldn't be in this mess,” replied Discord, giving a glare. “But no, you never listen to me. You always ignore me! Ignore US! Ignore who WE are!”
“...Yes, because when I listened to you, it ended so well didn't it?” asked Goodguy, bitterness in his tone.
The Muse Sisters sang as Sombra and King Tirek held a dark, twisted, and corrupted looking Discord in place as he writhed...but finally a dark prescience was forced out of him, writhing as it vanished into the air.
Discord fell to his hands and knees, panting with eyes wide and in a cold sweat. The heroes did the same in exshaustion.
“Discord, are you okay?!” Sombra asked, rushing over.
The Draconequus kept his head down, looking straight at the floor. “...What did I do?” he asked, his tone not seeming directed outward.
“Oh, brainwash memory loss...well, you kind of...” Aria started, the normally more cheerful Siren seeming down before Sonata put a hoof on her shoulder.
“...He wasn't asking us...” the intelligent Muse said somberly.
Discord looked up, eyes wide and terrified. “...Screwball...” he said, spinning and slashing a portal open and and rushing through.
The heroes rushed through, finding Discord standing staring through his front door, frozen in place.
Sombra and the Muses joined him...before covering their mouths and gasping in shock. Discord fell to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes.
Discord...for once looked down. “...I miss her too...But doing things your way isn't working either, is it?” he said.
“...”
“You try to pretend we're not chaos. You're AFRAID of me...”
“Captain Goodguy?”
Goodguy was broken from his thoughts by a small voice.
He looked to see the crowd through the train staring at him worriedly, a little filly staring up at him with a Captain Goodguy doll in her hooves.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” the filly asked, the others nodding in agreement.
The crippled hero looked up at the gathered crowd, all united in a desire to help...and yet all with their own conflicting flavor of a sapient being. Together but still chaotic in their own way. A power he could use...
Sombra walked up to Discord in the Realm of Chaos. The Draconequus who was normally devoting his time to his chaotic experiments now standing still, gazing out at the 'stars' floating throughout his realm. They'd all turned blue and seemed to be dripping light rather radiating it.
“...Here to gloat?” Discord asked simply, voice slow and solemn. “...You were right...It wasn't my problem...and now it is. I could've stopped your relatives and if I had Screwball would be...”
Sombra walked up next to him as the Spirit's voice broke. “...A pony suffered a terrible fate...there's nothing for me to gloat about...We're trying to fix it...”
“...Thank you...”
The two stood silently for several moments, neither saying anything.
“...Discord...a word of advice?” Sombra said, looking at him sadly. “With great power must come great responsibility...or we might pay the price for not using it as such...These are lessons we sometimes have to learn the hard way...but to not learn from them is to be doomed to repeat them.”
“...All of you, focus on the things that make you different, on the chaotic little things between you. That you love, that you hate, that you just noticed on the train. Focus on it, now,” Goodguy said, looking to Discord. The two nodded, his double fading back into him.
“Alright, my little animal friends! Let's reclaim this mountain for Mother Nature and the Natural World!” chimed Treehugger cheerfully as she and her animal army placed bombs around the supports to the city. A large portion of her minions devoted themselves to holding off the royal guard and keeping them stuck in the caves above, who were unfortunately already spread thin by the various crises happening throughout the world.
“Not so fast!” announced a voice.
Tree Hugger turned and looked up, finding Captain Goodguy looking down at her from a ledge, cape billowing dramatically. “Wow! You made it! Thought you were down for the count dude!” she replied, never losing her cheerful nature.
“So did I...” Goodguy replied, snapping his fingers...and nothing happened. He did it several times to no effect. “...Of course I'm not back up to full power yet, barely had enough to get in here...Okay...can't just brute force it...only have enough power for small changes, not huge ones...”
“Which means you'll have to trust your power for once...” said Discord, appearing in his mind's eye.
“...I don't have a choice...right now, the only way to save everyone is to trust my power...and by extension you...” Goodguy said, holding out a hand.
“...It's about time...” Discord said with a smile, taking it and vanishing into him.
“Alright, powers, don't let me down this time,” said the superhero, taking out a coin and flicking it.
Tree Hugger blinked, watching it fly past her head. “Uh, think you missed.”
“No, I didn't!” Goodguy replied with a smirk. “I hope...”
The coin ricocheted around the room at random before finally slamming into a weakened part of the ceiling of the cave. It crumbled away, revealing Royal Guards looking down in confusion while trying to fight their way past her animal army.
“Look! There she is!” one of them called. “Let's get down there!”
Goodguy gave a smirk as the guard poured in and began trying to disable the bombs.
“Clever, but not done big guy,” Tree Hugger said, taking out a potion. She drank it, causing her eyes to glow before producing another potion.
“Not so fast!” the hero yelled, flicking another coin as he leapt down from his perch. The coin once more ricocheted randomly, finally hitting pipe running through the cave roof and causing a rusty part of it to break off. The water that came pouring out of the pipe washed down just in time to hit the potion in midair and shatter it on the ground. Tree Hugger was forced to backflip out of the way as tendrils erupted from the ground and nearly ensnared her.
The hero landed and lunged forwards with his lion paw to try and quickly knock her out but she evaded. “Still got a body composed of animals...wish I had more practice with it though...” he muttered as he swung his snake tail around and tried to wrap her up like a boa constrictor.
Tree Hugger leapt up, landing on his tail and then leapt away, producing several potions and throwing them at the Draconequus to cause a huge explosion.
Goodguy did a wing assisted jump to evade the explosion (wishing he could properly fly without his magic), throwing a clawful of coins at her that flew past her and ricocheted around the cavern before hitting several pillars of stone collapsed in a domino effect and formed a wall around her. The hero did a flip and landed on top of the wall. “Surrender!”
The hero was forced to jump back to avoid a pillar of vines erupting up with Tree Hugger standing atop them.
“Not yet, big guy, but nice try!” said the perky pony, leaping up and throwing several potions at her enemy.
Discord kicked a rock and had faith in his powers. This was rewarded when the ricocheting rock bounced around and slammed off the potions to knock them aside where they shattered harmlessly on the floor.
The two continued exchanging potions and random bits of chaos with one another, each trying to get the upperhand on the other.
“How are you so good at dodging?!” asked Goodguy.
“Yeah, kinda got this higher level of special awareness thing going on, Zecora says it makes me special,” said Tree Hugger in her usual peppy fashion as she ran along a wall and dodged several chaos induced domino effects. “She gave me some potions to make it better!”
The Draconequus looked around, noticing the bombs still ticking down and almost to zero, the Guard still only able to keep the animals busy rather than push through. “If we don't stop, you'll be blown up too!”
“Eh, so what? I needed to go eventually anyway,” the demented environmentalist without losing her cheery tone.
The hero looked back and forth, knowing there wasn't much time. He looked at a coin he pulled from his pocket. He took a deep breath. “...Please...do what I need you to do...I don't care how...chaos don't fail me now...” he said, putting as much of his power as he could manage into it.
The hero threw it as hard as he could, causing it to bounce off one wall, hit the floor in one of Tree Hugger's missed potions before bouncing back up and through the flames of another igniting it on fire. It bounced several times around before finally flying past the bombs, burning through their wires. Their timers hit zero...and nothing happened.
Goodguy gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness...”
“Wow, nice job dude. Guess I'll use my trump card too,” said the villainess, producing a black sphere with some green fluid inside of it. “Zecora only had one of these babies and thought if I was going to be taking you on, best I'd have it.”
She pulled her hoof back to throw it...right as the ricocheting coin slammed into the stalagmites above, sending one falling right as it left her hoof. Goodguy could tell from her face that she'd noticed it, likely thanks to that spacial awareness, but it was too late. The sphere smashed on the falling piece of rock and sent the green miasma within over her.
“Huh...didn't see that coming...” Tree Hugger said with a shrug, never losing her smile even if she was turned into black crystals a top the vines.
The coin finally flew back around towards her...and flew right past her ear without harming her. But his concern of it making Goodguy notice she was on the edge and about to fall off.
“...Thank you...” the hero said, charging and jumping up off the still falling stalagmite and launching up just in time to catch the petrified villainess as she fell, flapping his tiny wings just enough to cushion his fall. “...Everybody lives...”
“...You're welcome...huh, guess maybe we can do things both our ways sometimes...” Discord said, manifesting out of the corner of his eye with a smile now on his face.
“...Yeah, I guess so...” Goodguy replied, giving a smile as he caught the flaming coin and blew it out. He looked down to Tree Hugger. “...Well, I couldn't help save you from yourself...but I saved you, so I'll get another chance at it someday.”
“Thanks for bringing her to justice,” Rough Diamond said with a salute as Tree Hugger's petrified form was placed in the back of a squad car.
“All in a day's work for Captain Goodguy!” said the hero, posing dramatically as wind blew though his cape with dramatic music flaring. This time he just let it happen. He gave a salute and flew up, a Goodguy shaped hole forming in a building that closed behind him as he passed through and then through a portal too his domain. “...Maybe someday I'll be able to help you too Screwball...” he said, landing at a shrine with black crystal in its center, a vague pony shape able to be made out in the center. “Someday...”
The lights throughout the realm of chaos glowed a hopeful yellow...their glow now steady and free. Not too wild nor too constrained.
Goodguy looked on at the situation unfolding. A supervillain defeated and her friends helping see her saved. He gave a smile, slowly walking over to Fluttershy and putting a paw on her shoulder. “Good job...”
Fluttershy looked up at him. “...It was my fault in the first place...”
“Perhaps...but I do have some advice on that...” the hero said with a sage smile. “With great power must come great responsibility...or we might pay the price for not using it as such...These are lessons we sometimes have to learn the hard way...but to not learn from them is to be doomed to repeat them. And the first step to learning from our mistakes is admitting they were to begin with...”
Fluttershy slowly looked to Rainbow Crash as she and Starlight talked. “...I think I've learned from this one...I've got a friend to talk about a decision she made...And I think she needed to make it more than anything...”
Goodguy smiled as she went towards her friend...then frowned. “...Someday Screwball...maybe I'll be able to help you too...”
The figure once more closed the book.
“And thus our story of how Captain Goodguy became the hero we all admire. How apathy was ultimately banished for care for everyone...at the cost of something dear due to inaction...ready for another?”