//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - This is Chaos! // Story: The Lost Pegasus // by J8ck78 //------------------------------// “Alright, can you describe what he looked like?” asked Jack “He was about 5 foot 11. He had brown hair, Caucasian, wore a dark blue suit.” The burly worker tried to remember more about the thief as he reported it to the Police officer as he wrote everything down on a paper and pad. The problem with that description was, he basically just described Jack. Jack tapped his pen a few times looking bemused at the oblivious dock worker before writing it down. “So, he only stole was a multicolored scarf from the Doctor Who exhibit?” he noted on his paper before looking back to the load worker, “Anything else?” “Breaking and entering I guess. This guy was dressed like one of the characters from the show. I think he was a crazed fan.” Jack gave a heavy breath through his nose, “Alright. Do a inventory check. If anything else is missing, call it in and we'll add it to the charges.” “Thanks Officer. By the way, who are those girls in the back of your car?” “Huh?” Jack turned back to still see Twilight and Tara sitting in the back of his Cruiser and instantly formed a lie. “Twins. They're on a job shadow. Screw up, have them both sent with me. What can you do?” “Oh." The worker gave another look at the two before giving a slight nod to the officer, "Well, thanks again. I'll do a inventory check.” “Alright, Hopefully nothing else was stolen.” Jack walked back to his Cruiser. He got in and began to punch the information into his on board computer. “So, what happened?” asked Twilight, or Tara, it was hard to tell as it was difficult to distinguish them either by look or voice. “The good Doctor stole his scarf from the exhibit. They lost him in the Mall Parking lot. That's where we're headed next.” “Why?” asked one of them. “Because Derpy and Lou are there, and there's a slight chance he ran into them while they were there. Since Lou hasn't said where she's taking Derpy next, I can only assume she's still there." “Oh. Why are we still here?” asked the two in unison Jack gave a baffled look to them both and returned to his computer: “We'll go there, don't worry. Right after I report this in.” ---- “WHAT!?” Reine screamed out. “Yep. It's the truth.” laughed Lou. The stunned Reine looked at the Blonde and Brit standing before her. After the little reunion out front, she had brought them back to her back office as to not create the scene she was playing out right now. Right now, she was at a loss for words. Standing before her was the Doctor, and the Derpy Hooves. While she found it hard to believe, four things were working against her. One, she never knew Lou to lie to her on any occasion. Second, the blonde looked almost exactly like Derpy, right down to the walled eyes. Third, the Doctor had used his Sonic Screwdriver to unlock her safe with ease. The fourth was only the Doctor could make Pinstripe work. “This- This... This is... I don't know what to say!” She took off her glasses and began rubbing around her eyes with her left hand. “I know isn't it awesome!” squealed Lou “So, Equestria exists?" Reine reapplied the glasses and gave her own smile. "It's like a dream come true! What's it like over there?” “It's... fun.” said Derpy nervously The awkward situation was new to Derpy. While she had explained Equestria to others before who knew little about it; Reine seemed to know a lot about Equestria as she appeared to be a fan of the show. “Is Celestia a prankster?” Reine kept going. “No, well, I don't know.” Derpy answered, unsure of the answer. “She can be.” spoke Whooves The two fangirls broke off into laughter that befuddled the two Ponies-turned-humans as the Doctor spoke up. “Yes, I can see you're quite excited, but I must get to my TARDIS. Who knows what's come of it in Derpy's absence.” “Oh no worries. My boyfriend has it,” said Lou with no fear at all. “Boyfriend?!" Whooves knew too well that the TARDIS was not a trusting type of lifeform. "Who is this boyfriend of yours?” “His name is Jack. He's real friendly, Doctor.” spoke Derpy “You sure? What is he?” “He's a Police Officer. Trust me, he's a good man,” answered Reine. “He's how I met Lou and Reine.” added Derpy The Doctor tapped his arms that he had instinctivly crossed before lowering them. “Alright. If all three of you say so. Regardless, I need to get to it. Your planet is in grave danger. Danger I don't think it's capable of handling. Danger I don't even think I'm capable of handling.” His alarm was met with curiosity rather than alarm. Even Derpy looked to him with some curiosity. “You're the Doctor! You can handle anything right!” “Yes Doctor, you can handle anything right?” came a voice from behind them. No, it wasn't behind them, it was all around them. Whooves took a dominant stand as the rest were a little scared at the disembodied voice that was now cackling around them. Whooves looked up to the air vents wondering if the spirit was in there when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Standing there in his hoodie and worn out jeans stood the laughing embodiment of chaos. “Discord!” cursed Whooves. “Discord!?” screamed Derpy. “Yes, yes, it is I, Discord. Hold your applause and cheers, do we really need to say it?” he asked uninterested in the whole situation. He was more interested in the various items of clothing that were hanging around him or on mannequins ready to be put out on display. As he searched through them, the doctor fumed in anger. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Oh, just shopping. What better place than Rarity's Carousel Boutique!” “My name is Reine!” she stated. “Not where I'm from.” he chuckled before stopping at a brown suit with yellow undershirt. Looking it over, feeling the texture, and admiring it, he nodded in approval. With a snap of his fingers, he was suddenly wearing it. Whooves almost growled at the sight while the rest gasped in horror. His features were sharp and and his eyes a crazed yellow and red. Though he was obviously human, his left hand was of a different size than his right, in fact, one could almost see the horns sticking out of his head. He looked pleased at his new attire for a moment, then changed his mind. Seeing their expressions of his new look, and looked it over again. Sticking his tongue out in disgust, he was no longer pleased with it.. “You're right. Could use a bit more work.” With a snap of his fingers the pants suddenly became a two colors, the left leg, yellow. Right leg, green. Reine almost fainted at the sight of her ruined suit, but was kept up by Lou. “Now then, the better question Doctor, is what are you doing here? You're not here to stop me, and you don't even know the rest of the 6 are even here!” “The rest? What are you talking about?” Discord just laughed as Derpy grabbed onto the Doctors arm. “Let's go! We're not strong enough!” “Oh, can it be?" Discord seemed to lean forward right into Derpy's face, "The fabled Derpy Hooves and her messed up eyes?” “My eyes are not messed up!” snapped Derpy. “Of course, they're not." He responded, reaching out to run his hand through Derpy's hair before she slapped it away. "Is that why the Doctor is here? Did you screw up something on the TARDIS?” “She did nothing of the sort, Discord!” yelled the Doctor as he stood in front of Derpy and stared down the newly suited spirit, “Why are you here and why are you a human!?” “If you don't even know, then why should I tell you? That's the boring option." He placed a foot on the wall and then started walking up it and around the room to the amazement and terror of the group. "What to do, what to do?” Stopping in place on the ceiling, he checked his nails and smelled his breath before perking up with a idea. “I know! Just the thing to get this show a rolling!” He snapped his finger and in a instant, he was gone. The four looked around nervously wondering where he went when a scream came from outside. They ran outside to see that the mannequins had suddenly come to life and were attacking. “What is going on?” shouted Lou. “Looks like Discord's power alright. Kind of cliche, but downright effective if you ask me.” chimed the Doctor “Weren't you angry a second ago?” inquired Reine. “Yeah, but Discords gone. Nothing to be angry about.” As he finished he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see a mannequin along with a army of the soulless creations advancing towards them. “Although there is plenty to be in fear about! Time to go girls!” The three looked back to see the army approaching them, screamed in horror, and ran after the Doctor. They almost made it to the entrance when four mannequins stood in there path. Its lifeless eyes seemed to stare into them. Stuck in a trance, Whooves struggled to grab into his pocket and pulled out his Sonic Screw driver. He didn't exactly want to do this, but he had no choice. Pointing it at the mannequin, he activated it and the little tool lit up. The sudden output of sonic energy cracked and shattered the mannequin and it fell down in a heap of plastic and clothing. He clapped his hands in joy and quickly pointed it at the second one. It took longer to break, which piqued the Doctors curiosity. Waiting a few seconds, he aimed it at the third one, and it shattered instantly. He then moved it rapidly to the final one and after a few seconds, it too shattered. The others quickly recovered from the attack as Whooves flipped the little device in his hands. “Yep! I say Discord is certainly here alright.” “What just happened?” asked Derpy. “Meeting point. When two opposing objects meet, they are instantly attracted to the other. Like magnets. Those things don't have a life, we do.” “How were you not affected?” asked Lou rubbing her head. “I wasn't. But I have two hearts so I'm resistant.” he smiled. The rest looked at him bemused as another scream was followed by a smashing of a window. Whooves looked to see that more mannequins were coming to life and were starting to wreak havoc on the customers. “Time to go!” The Doctor moved fast followed by his assistant and her friends. They tried to make it to the exit, only to be stopped by a line of the lifeless creations standing there preventing their exit. “Okay, we can't go out that way.” “Why!? Your Screwdriver works on them!” commented Derpy “Yes, but it needs a moment to recharge or else it's useless. Come on! There has got to be another exit somewhere!” They ran back into the mall trying to find another exit. Despite their best attempts, every exit seemed to be blocked by the army of lifeless models. As they kept on moving, a loud crack came from nearby that echoed all across the mall. It sounded like a gunshot, but was more muffled. Either someone was trying to fight back, or the mannequins were now striking out at the shoppers. Point was; they needed to get out fast. Passing by a railing to down below, they could see that the mannequins were corralling the humans into small spaces, entrancing them with their stares. Seeing this, they doubled their efforts to get out. Reine, having worked here for awhile, led them to a fire escape that was undergoing under maintenance. At the very least, the Doctor's Screwdriver could unlock it so they could get out. Running into it, the Doctor aimed his Screwdriver at it, and unlocked the door. Shoving all their combined weight on the door, it didn't budge. “What!?” NO!” screamed Lou. “It must be blocked from the outside!” commented Reine, realizing they were trapped. Behind them, the click of plastic feet and heels approached them slowly. They turned and looked in fear as four mannequins approached them silently. Whooves aimed his Screwdriver at them and shattered one. He waited a few seconds to destroy the next when one of them had picked up a hammer and threw at him. The Doctor tried to dodge it, but it wasn't aimed at him. Instead, it struck his Sonic Screwdriver, knocking it from his hand. Disarmed and helpless, they looked on to their fate. With a boom, a mannequin exploded. They jumped and shielded themselves from the explosion as a second burst into pieces. As the mannequin fell to the floor, the third turned around to see its attacker before it to erupted into a thousand pieces. Their attackers gone, the Whooves looked to see a man in a dark uniform standing there holding a shotgun. “Doctor! I'm here to place you under arrest!” he spoke. “What!? How do you know who I am?” “UNIT.” said the man. “WHAT!? They don't exist here do they!?” “No, but I'm never going to be able to use that again in my life!” he chuckled. The rest uncovered their eyes at their savior, and Lou flew into a rage. “Jack! Are you insane!? You could have hit us!” Jack started walking up as he lowered his shotgun and pointed a finger at Lou, “Hey! I just saved your life! A thank you would be nice!” Lou walked up to him a scowl on her face and eyes narrowed in anger. She stared at him, before embracing him. Jack just smiled, unable to hug back since he was still holding his Police Shotgun. “Who is this man?” spoke the Doctor Derpy gave her own relieved smile, “That's Jack, the Police Officer we told you about. The man who has your TARDIS.” “Oh. How did he know we were here?” Jack was about to answer when a mannequin grabbed Lou. Jack went to fire, but his shotgun was dry. Reaching to his belt, he grabbed his extendable baton, whipped it out, and struck the lifeless model, shattering it. He started to reload and turned to the rest of them: “Better question here, what is going on here!?” “Jack, it was Discord!” replied Lou. “Discord? What!? Discord?!" Jack felt like he needed to ram his head into a wall, "How many Equestrians came over in those stupid TARDIS's!?” “How do you know all this?” demanded the Doctor Jack tried to answer, but was halted and was forced to blast several of the mannequins into dust and plastic. “I'll explain everything later! We need to get you out of here now! I got both Twilight's in my Cruiser let's go!” “Both Twilight's?” asked the Doctor “I said later! Now, come on!” The Doctor grabbed his Screwdriver as Reine grabbed the hammer that was used to knock it from his hands. Making a break for it, the Doctor destroyed one Mannequin, while Jack reloaded and shot another to pieces. He destroyed another with his baton before taking five out with his shotgun who were a distance away. He was reloading when the Doctor shattered one with his Screwdriver before unleashing the power of his tool on another one a few seconds later. Jack looked around to see several more advancing on them, and fired into that mob while grabbing his mic. “This is Officer Parker! We got a crisis at the Shopping Mall on 45th Street! Send the God Damn SWAT Team now!” “What? Can you elaborate?” responded Dispatch. “We got-," Jack paused for a moment to try and find the right words to say before going back to the attached radio. "Hell I don't know! The whole damn city just entered the Twilight Zone, we got mannequins attacking the shoppers!” “Mannequins?” came Dispatch “Yeah! Hold on!” He fired at one as another grabbed him. Reine acted fast and tore it's head off with her hammer. The rest fell over and smashed as Reine gave a innocent smile. Jack gave a small laugh and grabbed his mic again. “I'm not lying here. Check other 911 calls, they're collecting a bunch of them in the center of the mall! I'm escorting a small group out now as I speak. Send backup now!” “ETA 6 minutes!” responded dispatch. “Get it down to 3 and you'll save some lives, damn it!” he screamed before letting go of his mic “They believed you?” came Reine “No, but they know something is going on at the mall.” spoke Jack They made it to a exit, where several lay destroyed from where Jack had entered, his shotgun shells still laying on the floor. To their horror, more had arrived, doubling their numbers to prevent their escape. The Doctor, Reine, and Jack brandished their weapons ready to fight through all of them of they had to. As the forward line started to advance, the rear was engulfed in a field of magenta and lifted off the ground. The rear was thrown into the forward line and smashed into them, ending both in a instant. Behind them stood Twilight, her horns glow slowly fading away. “Is that Tara?” spoke a shocked Reine. “No! That's Twilight come on!” answered the Doctor. They started to run until Lou was grabbed by three and pulled back. She screamed for help as she was dragged away. “Oh no you don't!” Jack yelled as he turned to save Lou. He was about to run in after her, when a mannequin grabbed his leg. Looking down, he saw half of one holding on. Like a zombie film, the half-broken models started to crawl toward him in a attempt to stop him. Whooves, Reine, and Twilight tried to help, but were stopped by them as well. As Jack ran out of ammo, he looked pleading toward his girlfriend when he noticed something. There seemed to be a blue energy forming around her, when suddenly, she burst out; eyes white with the power flowing out of her. A wave of blue and lavender expanding in every direction sweeping through the halls of the mall. Every mannequin ceased to animate and fell over, returned to normal. Lou collapsed, exhausted, Jack catching her as she fell over. “What in the blue hell was that!?” he asked her. “I, I... I don't know.” she said, breathlessly. Whooves and Reine were on them in a instant and helped her up. “Get her to my cruiser! I got to check on the rest of the people,” ordered Jack. “Right!” responded Whooves. Jack ran back inside as the rest ran outside. He appeared over the edge to the bottom floor holding his shotgun. Down below, people were just coming out of their trances, or were still worried about what had just happened. Seeing there was nothing else he could do, he spoke out to them. “Everyone, please remain calm! I'm a Police Officer, back up is arriving soon!” “Sir!” called out a man from below, “What just happened?” Jack looked to him with the most confidant look he could give: “I have no idea.” Amongst the group, a tall man in a odd colored suit looked up with angered red eyes. Ducking out of sight, there was a snap of fingers, and the man was gone