Applejack was double checking her suitcase, making sure she was properly packed for her stay in Manehattan, After making sure she had everything she poked her head out of her room and called out.
"Applebloom, you almost ready? We have to leave in the next few minutes, we don't wanna be late for Your Cousin's contest,"
"I was ready yesterday," Applebloom called from downstairs, Granny was at the stove, making Breakfast for Applebloom and Applejack, Big mac was staying behind due to already having plans with Sugar Belle the next day, and Granny wasn't all to fond of Manehattan so she to was staying behind. Granny put two plates of Flapjacks and apple slices on the table just as Applejack made it down the stairs with her luggage.
"Thank you Granny," The Two sisters said to their Gran before digging in, Once finish They said their goodbye and headed down to the train station to meet with Pinkie, who had insisted on coming to meet some more of her apple cousins. Upon arriving at the station they found Pinkie talking to Doctor Whooves, who was giving her a bottle of Hot Sause.
"...so just tell me when you run out and I'll refill it for you," He said before wishing her fun on her trip and heading back into town. Pinkie put the bottle into her bag, and upon noticing her friend and her sister, smiled to them.
"This is gonna be great," She said "I saw Shade and Storm earlier today and there going to be practicing their powers for the next few days, so Babs Mane Stylist thingy probably wont be disturbed,"
"Probably," Rot said, making Applejack sigh.
"Aren't you gonna, ya know Practice your powers?"
"Oh I am," She replied as she put her hoof to the ground and a small vine sprouted, waving around for a second before an apple grew from it, Rot took it and the vine disintegrated while Rot inspected her Fruit, it was bright Pink and, upon trying to take a bite, it exploded into Glitter. "Just not having much success at the moment," Applejack looked to Doppelganger Applebloom, who was chuckling at the event along with Pinkie.
"Can I have one of those?" Pinkie asked, Rot put her hoof to the ground, and this time a Flower Grew, She picked it and it turned into a yellow Apple.
"No idea what this one does," She said handing it over to Pinkie, who examined it and attempted to eat it, as soon as she bit into it the Apple melted into a glob of Honey and Pinkie was covered in it. Pinkie side stepped and ditched the sticky honey before patting her chest.
"Neat-o," She said as their train arrive, The Three got on and Applejack sighed as Rot got on board, the doors where about to close when a wisp of black and gray floated into the door and turned into Havok, he was holding a Brief case and Applejack frowned at the sight of him, he looked around for a second before seeing Rot wave to him.
"Rot old girl, Ready for Manehattan," he asked merrily.
"Oh come on," Applejack groaned "Why are you going to Manehattan?"
"For the Style-athon of course," Havok replied with a shrug, "I'm competing in it,"
"Of course you are," AJ said flatly.
Shade and Storm where both Practicing their powers near Ponyville stream, Storm was attempting to perfect the art of turning at high speeds, while Shade was beneath her with sheet music and an Organ, It had hundreds of keys all in a half circle, behind it where multiple sets of pipes that pointed in all direction, Shade was sitting in the area between the keys and the pipes and was just setting her music on it's stand when a voice called out to her.
"Um, Excuse me," Fluttershy said politely "Um, I saw you down here and, just wanted to tell you that Pinkie and Applejack are away on a trip to Manehattan for the next few days so..."
"Oh don't worry," Shade said, matching Fluttershy's polite tone "Havok and Rot are also away, scouting out a potential candidate for our team, and also participating in some contest just for the heck of it,"
"Oh," Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief "So, what are you doing if I might ask?"
"Well Storm's up there trying to master the art of turning at high speeds, and I'm about to practice the art of hypnotic music," She took a deep breath and her mane came to life, Fluttershy was reminded of the Maneiac as Shade's mane began playing the organ, her eyes started glowing and she smiled as a very electric sounding song sounded from her organ, Fluttershy flinched, expecting to be hypnotized, but felt just fine.
"Oh, I don't think it's working,"
"Oh I haven't added the Hypnotic element yet," Shade replied "I don't need to practice that part, I just need to practice playing the Catchy Beat part,"
"Oh," Fluttershy said as she backed away from the loud music, noticing Ponyville's resident Dj running to investigate the epic tunes she could hear from her home. "Well as luck would have it Vinyl's on her way, maybe you should ask her, this kind of music isn't something I'd know to much about, sorry," Fluttershy wished Shade luck and flew away as Vinyl slid to a halt and stood in awe as Shade played the song with her odd looking organ.
"Your one of those Chaos guys right?" Vinyl questioned "Is this your next disaster? Cause if so I love it,"
"It might be," Shade replied, still playing the music "At the moment I'm just practicing,"
"Can I record this?" Vinyl asked "This would be an epic song to add to my playlist, and if I remixed it, oh man," Shade grinned.
"Before I say yes, are you aware of the price of asking a favor of a member of team Chaos?" Vinyl frowned and squinted at Shade, her squint however went unnoticed due to her shades.
"I'm guessing it's not money from the sounds of it,"
"Sometimes we like to let team Harmony have a break from us, so we make it someone else's problem to solve our mess, You can record and even remix my song, but by doing so you'll agree to be put on the list of ponies we can call when we feel like giving Harmony a break," Vinyl frowned and stood silently as she let Shade's music wash over her.
"Deal," Vinyl said, giving in to the music. Shade offered her a hoof, and upon shaking it a Record case Appeared on the ground with an image of Shade on it.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Shade said as Vinyl ran away with her prize.
"Nice beats," Storm called from above.
"I'm aware," Shade said as she watched Vinyl return from whence she came.
The Train pulled into the station and Applebloom waved to Babs from the window, Since she wanted to be herself she had traded places with the Doppelganger, who was now posing as Rot with Havok. Havok was to busy learning how to be a stylist on the train ride to do much of anything, and Doppelganger Rot was more than happy to help him with it. Waiting for them was Babs and Aunt Orange, who seemed very happy to see AJ.
"It's so good to see you again hun," Aunt Orange said as she hugged both Applebloom and Applejack, "And you must be Pinkie Pie, it's always great to meet Family, even if there's a small chance where not actually related I'm still more than happy to welcome you to the family," Pinkie hugged her probable Cousin and Aunt Orange's eyes went wide.
"What on earth?" She and Babs both looked at Havok and Rot in silence.
"That's Havok," Applebloom said "He's the new god of Chaos, and that's Rot, a member of his team,"
"Oh yeah!" Babs said with a grin "Your the guy who turned the world into a bouncy castle, and made it rain Confetti and Cupcakes"
"Oh, didn't realize that one went on all across Equestria," Havok said with a chuckle "To be fair I only did the Confetti part, the Cup Cakes where storm testing out her powers,"
"Well it's very nice to meet you," Aunt Orange said, fussing with her mane a little "If I'd known I was going to meet a God I'd have asked Babs to do something with my mane, what brings a God to Manehattan?"
"I'm here to compete in the Style-athon," He replied, the look on Babs face was almost priceless.
"Your a mane Stylist?" she asked nervously.
"I am as of yesterday," He replied, Babs let lose a sigh of relief and Havok grinned.
"You must be Babs, see you in the contest kid," Havok snapped and both he and Rot disappeared.
"He could have just snapped here at anytime," Applejack noted, "Wonder why he took the train?"
"Maybe it's fun?" Applebloom asked "For him I mean, he can go anywhere with a snap, taking his time must be a blast,"
"Maybe," Applejack said "So what time's this Contest?"
"About an hour, as a contestant though I should get there early to set up my station," Babs smiled and waved to her family "Aunt Orange will take ya to our place, Now that I know there's a god competing I gotta make sure I have everything ready," Applebloom watched her leave and then winked.
"Come on Applebloom," Pinkie cheered as they headed out.
"Coming," Doppelganger Applebloom replied.
Babs made her way to the park where the Style-athon was taking place, She smiled, knowing Applejack would be happy to see the state of it, She spotted the one organizing the event and waved to her.
"Oh Bab's your here," Coco Pommel said when she saw her "You'll be stationed at stall number 2, If you need any supplies please ask one of the assistants, When the event starts you'll either be assigned an assistant or you can pick a friend or family member to do it for you,"
"Got it," Babs said as she rushed past to her stall, on it was a bag with her name and Cutie Mark on it, Babs opened it and began emptying, an assortment of different sized combs, A pair of Red Scissors, a battery-powered Razor and Mane Dryer, a Can of Mane spray, she also had a medium-sized case with an assortment of Standard Magical Mane Dyes that looked like colored combs sorted by color. She set them up on her stand, already on it where several Pony head busts With bland-looking wigs, She took one of the busts and took the wig off, replacing it with one from her bag.
"A little practice before the event?" Havok asked, Babs looked to her right and found that Havok had been stationed at Stall number 1, with him was Rot, who had been given an assistant sticker. Babs looked at the two for a while in silence before something about Rot caught her eye.
"You don't have a Cutie Mark?" She asked looking at the mare's blank flank.
"Oh I have one," She said with assurance "I just hide it, secret identity and all that," Babs nodded at that.
"I imagine making constant chaos might make some ponies not all to fond of you," Babs said as she looked to Havok, he had all the same tools Babs did, but he only had one Standard Magical Mane Dye. "Uh, why do you only have one Mane Dyeing comb?" She questioned.
"Oh, I was told I could only use magic on my tools, so I enchanted this so it Dye's what ever color I want,"
"That's just unfair," Babs said looking at her massive collection, Havok looked at the comb in his hand and smiled, he snapped his fingers and appeared next to Coco, who jumped.
"Oh, Mister Lord of Chaos, is something wrong?"
"No, I'd just like to even the playing field so I'd like you to hand these out to the contestants," He said, snapping his fingers and making several small containers appear at her feet "It's enchanted Dyeing combs, They Dye a mane, or in this case a wig, what ever color the user wants 'em to be, I saw that Babs girls huge case and figured since I'm using one I might as well offer them to all the contestants to keep, like a thank you for participating kind of thing,"
"Oh this is wonderful," Coco said happily as one of the assistance took it and began handing them out to the contestant who had arrived, Babs looked at the comb, and then to Havok, who was making all his tools orbit around him, save for the scissors, they where dancing on his stall.
"Uh, thanks for the Comb," She said as she put her larger collection of combs back into the bag and replaced them with the universal one.
"I might usually cheat," Havok said "But this ain't one of my games so I figured I should even the playing field, at the very least I bet all of the participants will be leaving happy," Havok and Babs both began practicing on their wigs, Babs however kept looking over at the God of Chaos every now and again. pretty soon she was copying Havok's movements as best she could and by the time her family had arrived they both had a perfect copy of Pinkie's mane, Havok's however was colored Yellow while Babs had done hers in Red.
"Oh I love it," Pinkie said when she spied the copies of her mane, she stole them both and put the yellow one on Applejack and the Red one on Applebloom, then quickly took a picture of the scene with Aunt Orange in the background before putting the wigs back, she did it at such impossible speeds that Havok had a feeling that he and Rot where the only one's who had even seen it happen.
"Good luck Cous," Applebloom said as she and Aunt Orange made their way to the concession stand to get some popcorn, Pinkie was about to join them when Coco approached them.
"Hi Applejack," She said.
"Coco, the park's looking great," AJ replied motioning around them, at the moment the park looked like a fair ground.
"I know," Coco cheered "The Park has been housing events all week, tomorrow we'll be having a eating contest to end our little neighbor hood fair on," Coco then turned to Babs "But more importantly Babs would you like to have a volunteer assistant or would you rather have a family member do it?"
"Oh," Pinkie cheered "I'll do it!"
"I'm down with that," Babs said with a smile. Applejack wished Babs luck as she went to join her Aunt and Applebloom, Pinkie however was given an assistant sticker and given a quick tour of where she could find anything Babs might need replaced.
Neither Babs nor Havok recognized any of the other Manehattan goers who where participating in the contest, they mostly looked to be barbers and mane stylists who lived in the city. Once all 10 contestants had arrived Coco made her way to the area between the 10 stalls and spoke into a Megaphone for the sake of the few ponies who where sitting around to watch the contest.
"Each round you will be given a theme and you'll have to do your best to make a wig that fits it, 2 of you will be eliminated each round for a total of 5 rounds, The First round will now begin, you have 40 minutes to style your wigs, your theme is...Windy Day, Begin," Coco took her seat with the other volunteer judges and watched the contestants go to work.
Babs got to work and began combing the wig, None of the contestants said a word as they worked, Babs was so focused on her work she ended up finishing before the 40 minute mark, she looked around and saw Havok was also done, His Wig looked like it was in the middle of being blown by a huge gust of wind from the front, with the mane being combed so that it was all facing backwards, He had also colored it white and light blue, Babs had styled hers so it looked like it was being blown to the left, some of the mane was also under the chin. Babs stared at Havok and he stared back, behind them Rot and Pinkie both ran to go get some more Mane Spray.
"Nice," Havok said looking at Babs handiwork.
"Same to you," Babs said looking at Havok's work "So you just started doing this yesterday?"
"Oh no, I decided to start doing it yesterday, I didn't actually start until I got on the train here," Babs looked at him with a bemused expression.
"Why?"
"Oh, my team is two short of 6, and I was looking for candidates when I found out about this here contest and decided it sounds fun,"
"That's it?" Babs asked "Your just looking for someone to work for ya?"
"Yeah," Havok said simply "You interested?" Babs jaw dropped as Rot and Pinkie returned with the spray just as Coco called the competition to an end, after the judges had a look Numbers 5 and 8 where disqualified and Coco called the next Theme.
After a few hours Havok and Babs stood in silence as Coco looked at them, they where the final competitors in the game and where waiting for their last theme.
"And the last theme for today is...Chaos," Babs turned to Havok with an accusation ready on her tongue but the look of shock on his face gave away this hadn't been his idea. "You have no time limit, good luck" The two got to work and Babs was trying to figure out how to out Chaos the God of Chaos when Rot pulled a Boom Box out of nowhere and began playing music, Havok began saying what he was doing in a musical voice.
"Snip, Snip," he said looking to Babs expectantly, who mimicked his actions
"Snip, Snip," She repeated.
"Trim, Trim" Havok said, doing as he said to.
"Trim, Trim," Babs echoed back as she did as he did, The audience watched as they went back and forth, with Havok slowly adding more and more to what he said and did.
"Spray, Cut, Cut, Dye, Trim, Shave ," Havok said, going a little fast, Babs however was right behind him.
"Spray, Cut, Cut, Dye, Trim, Shave," Havok suddenly spun his Wig and Babs copied him
"Cut your hair flat, back, and up front," Havok said, Babs still in the zone copied him word for word.
"Cut your hair flat, back, and up front," Babs Repeated
"Give it a Spray and Where Done," Havok said.
"Give it a Spray and Where Done," Babs Finished and the two looked at what they had made, a confusing Amalgam of the mane styles of all 6 Elements of Harmony, there was a bit of Rainbow and Applejack in the back, with the top being Pinkie's, turning into Rarity's Curl near the front, Fluttershy was the front half of the sides, with Twilight taking the back.
"What a mess," Havok said with a chuckle. The Judges whispered and Babs prepared herself for another round for a Tie breaker.
"Babs Seed Wins," Coco announced.
"But we made the same thing?" Babs complained.
"Exactly, you matched even with the God of Chaos, but seeing as he's a God and your not, the fact that your even means your half of the tie is more exceptional.
"But I don't wanna win on a Technicality!" Babs called back.
"Eh," Havok said as he took his Monstrosity of a Wig and made it disappear "This Wig is enough of a Disaster for me today, It was fun," Havok gave a bow and exploded into strands of mane, With Rot mimicking his actions. Babs stood in silence, having somehow been defeated with victory. She took her Prize, a Blue Ribbon, 50 Bits, and the Comb Havok had made for all the contestants, she opened the Comb case silently before putting it in her bag, and Found a Card inside.
"If you ever wanna join Team Chaos, just eat this card," Babs looked at the odd instructions and closed the Comb Case, putting it in her bag and carrying it to her family, who all congratulated her.
"Don't feel to bad," Applejack said with a smile "Havok always looses, think he enjoys it oddly enough,"
Spike and Applebloom joined Sweetie and Scootaloo in their castle, where Spike showed off his monstrosity.
"Oh that hurts to look at," Sweetie said "Lets save it for a rainy day," Spike smiled and snapped, one of the living armors walked into the room and Spike set the wig on him and the Armor walked over to the wall with the Tapestries and stood in attention, guarding the mess of a wig with all it's power. Spike Smiled but then all four of them stopped moving, their eyes all turning white.
"She ate it," Spike cried out "Put on your chaos face people!"
Babs was coughing as she swallowed the card, magic sparking along her body.
"Oh man, why does it taste so Spicy," She cried out "I was so unprepared for that,"
"Ah," Havok said with a shrug getting her attention, with him where Rot, Shade, and Storm "I like Spicy, sorry I would have warned you but..." he shrugged, "So how does Chaos feel?" Babs looked at her hooves and ran to her Window, opening it and pointing at the sky, it instantly began raining Sour Candy, "Like a Foal in a Candy Store," Babs said with shining eyes.
"So allow me to introduce your team mates, you already know Rot," Rot walked to Babs and they shook hooves, Rot instantly turned into shadow and turned into Applebloom.
"But you can just call me Cous," Applebloom said with a smile. Babs grabbed her face with a slack jawed look.
"Holly Shit," She said looking at Applebloom, when did this happen?
"A little before Scootaloo made it rain Cupcakes," Applebloom replied.
"I'm Storm, and I did indeed make it rain Cupcakes," Storm turned to Scootaloo and Babs just freaked out harder before pointing to Shade.
"Sweetie, I swear don't you tease me," Shade smiled.
"I'm Shade," she said turning into Sweetie bell. Babs just freaked out for a second before turning to Havok, who turned into Spike.
"You probably don't know me,"
"Not even vaguely," She replied as she shook his hand.
"I'm Spike, I'm Twilight's assistant,"
"Your real?" Babs asked, earning a laugh from Spike.
"ouch," he laughed "That bad hu? Well Babs allow me to introduce you to...Fake Applebloom," Doppelganger Applebloom walked in and waved.
"Whoa," Babs said.
"And Fake Babs," he added, Babs' closet opened and a copy of her walked out. Babs just stared at it and Spike snapped, taking them all to the Castle. "Now," He said as he and the others sat on their thrones and looked at Babs "Let's get to work on your Alter ego,"