Spike grabbed Yona’s hoofchip and set the tracer.
“Just two more Spike,” Discord said eagerly.
“I don’t know, something tells me things will get harder before they get easier,” Spike reasoned.
“Ok,” Discord nodded Spike sent the tracer and got ready to go. "It's not like you've gotten even more powerful thanks to the chaos magic you absorbed from Smolder or anything."
“Good luck Spike!” Smolder called.
“Yeah, be careful,” Gallus said.
Spike flew out of the cave of harmony to go to Yakyakastan.
“...So can we eat the tree? It’s made of crystal and I’m a little hungry-”
“No…” Harmony said.
“Darn it,” Smolder said.
Spike and Discord flew through the air, thanks to the extra chaos power he has now, the long trip was shortened.
“Please don’t let Yakastan be populated with killer… flying hammers or something…” Spike said remembering his excursion with the turkeys.
“You can never tell with absolute chaos,” Discord said.
“Well I hope I can-” Spike said before he heard a noise, Spike looked around for the noise, it sounded like a whistling noise.
“What is it?” Spike asked.
“SPIKE, LOOK OUT!” Discord said.
Spike turned to see what he was warning him about and he saw what looked like a giant floating colorful bubble.
“AAAH!” Spike exclaimed as he flew around it “What was that?” Spike asked.
“It looked like a universe bubble… but those only appear in the presence of chaos and one with-” Discord said before noticing Spike was heading towards another.
“Spike! Pay attention!” Discord said.
“Huh?” Spike skidded to a stop before a large purple and blue bubble.
“Uh, what happens if they pop?” Spike asked.
“They don’t pop, not unless one is about to go supernova, you see when a being is trapped in a universe bubble they sort of become a god of sorts,” Discord explained.
“You mean to tell me every Yak is going to turn into a draconequus?!” Spike exclaimed.
“No no, god of the universe inside the bubbles. One can only imagine what Yak’s dream of,” Discord said.
“Hmm… And how do we tell which one is Yona’s?” Spike asked.
“I dunno, I never made these things back when I was in charge, too much hassle and nobody else got to have as much fun as me,” Discord said.
“Wow,” Spike said.
“So I guess we search until Yona’s is found,” Discord said.
“Ok… do I just walk in or-” Spike asked before Discord shoved him in the one in front of him.
“AAH!” Spike yelped as he tumbled onto the grassy ground.
“Discord!” Spike yelled.
“What? We’re on a time limit,” Discord said.
“Still,” Spike said as he got up and saw a land made of toys.
“Huh, not what I expect-” Suddenly the toys were smashed by a giant hoof and Spike looked up to see a giant Yak calf.
“Ybor loves crushing toys!” Ybor laughed as the toys ran from her.
“...Ok, this I expected a little more,” Spike said as he left the bubble.
“Alright, how many more,” Spike said before locating the other bubbles which numbered into the hundreds.
“....I wish this show allowed curse words…” Spike sighed before heading into another one.
Spike entered a pink one and saw a yak village and decided to explore a little.
“Alright, things look normal here,” Spike said before hearing something and turning to see Yaks running toward him.
“Of course, normality doesn’t stick around!” Spike ran as the stampede of Yaks followed him.
Spike took to the air and the Yaks angrily shouted after him.
“What’s got their goat?” Spike asked before spotting a statue of a dragon.
“Huh? Odd,” Discord said before the statue burst into flames and a flying Yak spotted him.
“You! Yak not like dragons! Dragon eat pet squirrel!” The Yak said before flying at Spike.
“Ok, safe to say this is the wrong one!” Spike said flying away.
The Yak a flash was clad in shining golden armor, with a hammer as big as he was, and leaped onto a chariot pulled by two goats that flew into the air after Spike, swinging lightning bolts at Spike. Spike suddenly found himself with a target on his back that he threw off only to have a new one appear.
"What is this?" Spike asked.
"Oh it isn't the worst," Discord held up a mirror. Spike yelped at the sight of himself, a big black spiky dragon with a face a mother couldn't love.
"YAHHH!" Spike flew faster.
Discord said, "Well, remember, you are an INTRUDER in their domain. If this is the worst you've come across so far. Consider yourself lucky."
“This is definitely the most dangerous one, we’re literally dealing with omniscient Yaks!” Spike exclaimed.
Spike reached the edge of the bubble and exited.
Discord said, "Consider yourself double lucky you weren't instantly assimilated into their fantasies. Any mortal that tried would be turned into part of the setting. You can hold onto yourself, and so can I, because you're not mortal anymore."
Two of the sphere gently bumped into each other. In an instant they morphed into towering Yaks the size of buildings, glowing ethereal colors.
"YOU NOT PERFECT!"
"NO! YOU NOT PERFECT!"
"DESTROY!" They bellowed and began punching each other, the spheres spinning away in shockwaves.
"What the heck?!" Spike yelled as the shockwaves sent him flying as well.
"They're clashing! I’ve heard of this! When two opposing universes collide the victims will feel their world is threatened and attack with their new power!” Discord said loudly over the thundering blows.
“What’s the likelihood of Yakyakastan surviving this?!” Spike asked.
“No problem, as long as no more than one crashes into each other, the world should survive,” Discord said.
“The world?!” Spike said not liking that wording.
“Relax, the chances are sixty-forty,” Discord waved him off.
“Those aren’t favorable odds!” Spike said.
One of the Yaks fell over limp, making houses bump upwards. The victor leaned over him, and touching him, the loser turned the same color as the winner and absorbed into him like two pieces of clay. The winning Yak quietly hugged himself and morphed back into a sphere, now twice as big.
"Hmm, it seems just as you absorbed Smolder's magic, these little pocket universes will absorb each other."
"And become big enough to absorb everything?"
"Now now Spike, wouldn't that have happened already? It's not like Yakyakastain didn't exist until it was needed for us to be here by the plot after... right?"
Spike shivered. "Will you stop that?!"
“Sorry, it’s funny to see you realize the plot is there,” Discord said with a chuckle.
"But what's so chaotic about this? I mean, every Yak in their own perfect little ball. That's even less Chaotic than Smolder's crazy happy-go-lucky kingdom!" Spike said as he flew around several more bubbles.
Discord rubbed his chin. "Could be Chaos is just making fun of the opposite side of the spectrum. Or he's just being, well, chaotic. Or the Yaks will eventually go crazy being the only mind in their little worlds, and Chaos is playing the long game."
“Then we gotta do something,” Spike said flying into another bubble and seeing a winter wonderland.
“Not Yona’s,” Spike said seeing an elderly Yak sledding around, he left that one and went into another one.
"Yes Prince Rutherford, Equestria is much more perfect being ruled by Yakyakastan, I was being stubborn and unreasonable for not seeing otherwise!" Princess Celestia wearing Yakyakastain clothing said bowing her head, to Prince Rutherford, now the size of a mountain with wings.
"We ponies have been snooty and have insulted your culture again and again, it's only the right thing to do!" Princess Luna said, similarly dressed with a smile.
"Yaks are much better allies for dragons than ponies, and I'm sure you can teach us all how to be more perfect," Dragon Lord Ember said, riding on the back of Garble.
"And I'm so happy for you for sparing me for being the one pony who actually gets your culture," Prince Blueblood said sitting on a throne.
"And everypony can listen to my traditional Yakyakistan music all day and nobody's gonna bully me about it!" Pinkie Pie cheered.
“...This is both interesting and scary,” Spike said.
“I find it amusing,” Discord said.
“Who would have thought Rutherford felt this way?” Spike said wondering if he and Twilight should have a talk after this.
Spike left the bubble and hovered up and looked at all the spare bubbles, and saw three about to intersect.
“Oh no!” Spike flew over to the bubbles and he formed a barrier to stop the bubbles.
The bubbles were successfully repelled but one of them wound up bouncing off the barrier and hitting another one.
“Watch out!” Discord exclaimed as the two bubbles formed into giant Yaks and they began attacking each other.
Spike flew through the bubble swarm and got his distance from the scuffle, Spike watched until the green and red Yaks punched each other and locked horns, Spike saw the green one grab the red one and suplex it, defeating it, he then absorbed it and returned to bubble form.
“Whew, we were almost in the midst of that,” Discord said.
“We’re looking for a needle in the haystack here and any moment the bubbles could interact and cause mayhem!” Spike sighed loudly “How do we find Yona?” Spike asked.
"Do you want the quick and easy and fast way?"
“Yes? You had one this whole time?” Spike asked incredulously.
“More like recently,” Discord said before explaining his method. "But you're not going to like it. At all. In fact, perhaps I should... oh right, I can't do chaos magic, only you can, it belongs to you know. Oops. Let me whisper it."
A moment later Spike shouted. "That's not 'not like' that's 'you're still evil'!"
"You want to spend forever looking through all these bubbles?"
"...No. I don't… but still…” Spike said looking conflicted.
"Before I'd do this sort of thing FOR FUN, but now it's to actually HELP ponies... besides... you know he'd do it if we asked."
"Then why don't we ASK him?"
"Because it needs to be genuine. Otherwise it definitely won't work, instead of 'might not work.'"
"MIGHT?!" Spike said exasperatedly,
"Chaos!" Discord exclaimed.
"... I am never forgiving you for this." Spike said.
"Don't be so dramatic, you can just make up some boneheaded excuse and they'll buy it. You're a chaos god now, you have a legal right to lie." Discord said.
"... Sorry Sandbar." Spike whispered as he snapped his fingers.
Sandbar teleported into Yakyakastain... several hundred feet up. The colt looked around confused at the sudden location change... and finally noticed nothing was holding him up. He fell. Screaming.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Sandbar cried flailing his legs.
"I gotta stop this!" Spike said getting ready to fly over to him.
"Wait for it," Discord said.
"It's not happening!" Spike frantically said.
"Wait for it!"
"DIscord he could-"
"Then we'll be no worse off." Discord shrugged.
"Discord!" Spike cried seeing Sandbar getting closer to the ground.
"Waiting for it!"
When Sandbar was two seconds from hitting the ground. One of the spheres morphed into a giant Yona with wings. She leaped into the air and caught him, Sandbar vanished into the sphere, and the giant glowing golden Yona morphed back into the sphere.
"There's the one!" Discord shouted.
"Good thing she could hear him!" Spike said.
"Oh, she couldn't. I was gambling on that 'power of love' nonsense you ponies are always spewing that she'd magically know her soulmate was in mortal peril in a separate universe."
“Discord… I am seriously considering telling Celestia, and Fluttershy,” Spike threatened.
“Please don’t I'm in hot enough water,” Discord begged.
Spike flew over to the golden bubble and entered.
“Thin ice Discord,” Spike said before he landed, and what he saw honestly surprised him.
It was the school of Harmony?... and Yona was playing a hoofball game with her friends… As an earth pony mare!?
“Wait… Yona’s dream is to be a pony and play with her friends?” Spike asked.
“Yeah,” Discord said
"You can do it, my princess! After this, we shall be married!" Shouted a now stallion and now ALICORN Sandbar.
Discord said, "Remember what I said, mortals who enter bubbles are assimilated into the universe of the bubble's master."
“Is it reversible?” Spike asked.
"If Yona wants it to be. He's this way in THIS universe. Outside of it, he'll be a normal Earth pony colt instead of a powerful Alicorn stallion who could fight at your side."
“Why do I feel like you want him to stay like this?” Spike asked.
"Are you kidding? There are enough Alicorns in the world as is... honestly, if they weren't being brainwashed by Chaos I wouldn't mind a few more Draconequi around... it's lonely being the only one of your kind..."
Spike thought of the years he'd spent with Twilight, the only dragon he'd ever seen was in the mirror. Not having a clue of his own species. Let alone where his egg had even come from. Celestia only said it had been a 'gift' from very a dear friend.
Spike’s thoughts were interrupted when Yona noticed him and paused.
“Hmm? What is that?” Yona asked.
“Uhm, hey Yona! I’m Spike, I know I look weird but that’s because of Discord,” Spike said.
“Come on Yona!” Sandbar cheered her on.
“Hold on!” Yona told him and ran off to continue playing.
“Uhm, Yona? We need to go,” Spike tried to call after her but she ignored him and continued playing.
“What do we do Discord? She holds all the cards in this realm,” Spike said.
“Well, we could simply wait for her universe to run its natural course and die of heat death. You, me, Yona, and now Sandbar are the only real souls here. The rest are phantoms, puppets, like characters in a video game. Yona doesn't have the divine power to create souls from nothing... but we do have one factor... she's effectively made Sandbar her co-ruler of this reality, only others who'd just make them a submissive actor in their world."
“Discord, you don’t mean we wait for this universe to-” Spike said looking scared but Discord just rolled his eyes.
"I was being sarcastic!" Discord said before flying over to Yona and the others and gesturing for Spike to follow.
"So what are you even saying?"
"Try to keep up. Yona and Sandbar both being in this bubble normally just make it stronger, since Yona now has a real soul with her-"
"TOUCH DOWN! YONA IS THE BEST SPORTS PONY EVER! SHE IS PERFECT!" Trixie shouted from the stands.
"Yona likes the lazy kid way too much to treat him as an NPC... he's taken the place of 'Mr. Perfect Sandbar'... Which means there are two Obluette Overseers here."
"But... no game can survive with two game masters," Spike said trying to figure out Discord's plan.
Discord grinned. "Exactly."
Yona's hoofball uniform morphed into a wedding dress, and Sandbar's regalia morph into a tuxedo.
Spike said, "I don't like where this is going."
The two stood at an altar and Twilight was the priest saying their marriage vows.
Discord coughs and shouts. "Yona! Prince Sandbar! What's the best way to take care of nature?" Discord’s words made the two look to him.
"Just let nature do its own thing, who cares if Winter Wrap-Up and Falling of the Leaves are a thing? I'm sure the animals will be fine." Sandbar said.
"BEND IT TO PERFECTION!" Yona proclaimed.
The two blinked. And looked at each other.
"Discord, if they break up because of you-" Spike said warningly.
"I'll accept whatever punishment," Discord said with a dismissive wave. "Spike, haven't you learned anything yet? You're chaos. You can't afford to 'play by the rules.' anymore,” Discord casually said. "You have the power to twist the game however you want. It's what keeps the game from getting boring, it's the purpose of chaos!” Discord said before focusing back on the two newlyweds.
“Yona, I think you should go with the flow, that’s how things handle themselves,” Sandbar said.
'Bring chaos to order,' Spike thought. He sighed. And let go. He snapped his fingers. A nest appeared full of winged rabbits, one fell out of the nest.
"Yona help little bunny bird back in nest!" Yona went to grab the rabbit but Sandbar interrupted.
"No you shouldn't, you'd just make the mother reject it!" Sandbar said.
"But Yona can't do nothing!" Yona cried.
“It can find its own way back up, that’s how it will get stronger,” Sandbar argued.
“But it look hurt,” Yona said.
“Rabbit’s need to grow strong on their own to survive to adulthood, it’s what nature intended,” Sandbar said.
“Yona not like that,” Yona said looking miffed.
Spike snapped his finger again, this time a herd of deer/mouse hybrid ran along... only for a young sickly one not to keep up with the herd, and trip over its legs, squeakily sadly. And cat/wolf hybrids began to circle around it.
“Yona save deer mouse thing!” Yona said but Sandbar stopped her again.
“They’ll attack you too,” Sandbar said.
“Then Yona get hurt!” Yona said trying to run up to the poor animal but Sandbar held her back even as she dragged him along.
Spike snapped his finger and summoned a wild pig with bat-like wings and a fake but realistic dragon/hydra getting ready to roast the pig on a spit.
“NO!” Yona cried.
“Please Yona! That’s a feral dragon! It will kill you!” Sandbar cried.
“Yona not liking your lack of care for animals!” Yona said whirling on him.
"Yona is right... Sandbar is right... Yona is right... Sandbar is right..." Silverstream began to chant.
"We should fight together... we should leave it alone," Smolder said.
“RUN!.... FIGHT!.... RUN…. FIGHT!” Gallus spoke like he was malfunctioning.
"You should always help... you should just leave things be..." Ocellus said.
“Discord? There’s not going to be an explosion is there?” Spike asked as the building began to rumble.
“There could best get your hardhat on,” Discord said casually.
Spike snapped his fingers, giving himself a stylish mustache, and teleported to the pair... the alter and wedding trapping vanishing as they were forgotten.
“I want you to be safe!” Sandbar said.
“Yona want you to be brave!” Yona said.
"Hey guys! Can ya tell me! Where would you two like to live? Equestria or Yakyakastan? What's the best season? Summer or winter?"
“Summer and Equestria,” Sandbar said.
“Winter and Yakyakastan,” Yona said.
The world flickered between summer and winter, Yakyakastan and Ponyville.
“What’s better, chilling with your friends or playing sports?” Spike asked.
“Sports!” Yona said.
“Chilling,” Sandbar said.
It began to rain chairs and basketballs and Spike put up a barrier to protect them.
"Is it more comfortable for two ponies to be together than a yak and a pony?" Spike said.
"Yes," Yona said.
"No," Sandbar said.
The world actually began to flicker like a malfunctioning tv and their friends vanished. A green and purple checkerboard pattern began to spread from where Spike was standing.
“Almost there!” Discord said.
“If you could change the other's personality in any way, would you?” Spike asked hesitantly.
“No!” Yona said.
“Yes,” Sandbar said before the two looked at each other with sad looks, the sky turned yellow, Buffalo danced in tutus, the sun and moon flew past each other in opposite directions, Screwball flew by with a wave, and-
POP!
The bubble finally gave out and popped, the inside of the little universe dissolving into raw chaos... that Spike absorbed before he even realized what he was doing!
“Whoa!” Spike cried as he tingled all over from the power entering him.
As the world around them vanished and Yona and Sandbar hit the ground nearby.
“Huh? Guys!” Spike ran over to them.
“Ow…” Sandbar groaned.
“Yona’s head hurt,” Yona said.
As the two got up they began to remember what happened in the bubble and looked to each other with sad looks before looking away.
"Yona! Sandbar!" Spike shouted. The two looked at him. Spike said before he realized what he was doing, "You two don't need to remember ANY of that!" Spike's eyes became colored swirls, and so did Sandbar and Yona's.
"We don't need to remember any of that." They said together in a monotone.
“Wow, surprised you went that route to make them forget, you're shaping up to be a great lord of chaos in the future,” Discord chuckled.
“Be quiet…” Spike sighed. He couldn't deny... how... exciting it had been... seeing such a stagnant, empty puppet show fall into pure chaos, all because of him, and all because he just tugged on the right threads to unravel the whole things... mortal hearts could be fragile as glass... And Yona and Sandbar... he'd just looked at them, and it was like nothing he'd done happened. Mortal minds could be as easy to shape as clay. He knew Harmony knew, no way she didn't... but he also knew she wouldn't complain... she'd gotten her next Element of Harmony, and neither was traumatized from the whole thing.
"Yona, you have nothing to be ashamed of by being a Yak. Sandbar, sometimes it's fine to help nature along, we're part of nature after all. Both of you, it's fine to want and feel different things."
His two puppets echoed back to him, this becoming a natural part of their psyches, and Spike snapped his fingers, and the two blinked and shook their heads, their minds their own again.
"Easy isn't it? Always easy. Why play by the rules when you can ignore them? Why play along when you can just make things how you want..." Discord didn't sound happy about this.
"I lied to Smolder."
"If it's any constellation, at least all you did was undo the trauma and remove some thorns... after all... you can't have them being disharmonious when you need to save the world from absolute chaos, right? And you did say we were on a timetable." Discord's voice was devoid of any of his usual smugness. "Fluttershy calls me out whenever I lie to get what I want too."
Spike hugged himself and shivered.
"It's so easy to just keep going, isn't it? Not stopping once you've gotten going," Spike said.
"Reigning myself in and learning to release my chaos in ways that didn't destroy the lives of Futtershy and those she and I care about was the hardest thing I had to learn."
"Hey Spike," Sandbar said trotting over. "You teleporting me like that was a dirty trick ... but.. it helped save Yona, so I can't complain. And you helped me stand up to Prince Charmless Me and accept me as I am."
"And help Yona to love Yona as Yona... Yona can't be staying in perfect fantasy when Yona's friends, Yona's teachers, Yona's EVERYTHING is in danger!" Said Yona proudly.
“Yeah, and I need to be there to help,” Sandbar said before turning to Spike “BTW were you the reason I was teleported from the restroom to here?” Sandbar said looking a little miffed.
“Restroom?” Spike asked.
“A hole in the back, answer my question,” Sandbar demanded.
“We talk about that later, Yona needs to find friends,” Yona said.
Suddenly a rumbling occurred and the group looked up to see several bubbles have collided and formed into giant Yaks.
“I thought you said it wasn’t likely to happen!” Spike told Discord.
“I also said sixty-forty! RUN!” Discord said and the group fled from the stomping hooves of the Yaks as they fought.
Spike used his magic to levitate his friends and fly away from Yakyakastan, but as he flew several more bubbles collided and became huge Yak constructs.
“AAAAHH!” Sandbar yelled as they swooped under a swinging hoof, a brown giant punched a grey one sending it flying and Spike had to speed up.
“HOLD ON!” Spike yelled as he sped up and the group narrowly avoided being crushed.
Spike and the group flew across the sky at blazing speeds.
“SLOOOOOW DOOOOWN!” Sandbar said looking green…er than usual.
“Yona not like this speed!” Yona said looking like she’s gonna hurl too.
“Ok!” Spike managed to slow down and he realized he covered the distance back to the cave of harmony in under a minute.
“Whoa! We’re here already?” Spike said before floating down and into the cave.
“It’s alright guys! I got them-” Spike was cut off as Sandbar and Yona ran past him and puked in the corner.
“...That will be hard to clean up… thanks for that,” Harmony sighed.
“Spike! You're here,” Ocellus said running to Spike and the others followed.
“What happened to Sandbar, one moment he was there and the next he vanished,” Gallus asked.
“It’s… uh… a long story…” Spike said “I’ll let Sandbar tell you, for now I got one more to track,” Spike said brandishing a feather.
“Silverstream,” Harmony said with a nod, as Spike turned to leave Harmony shoved her face up to Discord and spoke with anger.
“I know what you did… Sandbar could have died!” She said quietly.
“But he didn’t,” Discord said.
“Don’t ever do that again,” She said before trotting off.
“Whoo… I bet there’s going to be a fun conversation after all this,” Discord said before following Spike.
To Mount Aries!
Chaos overlooked the destruction occurring in Yakyakastan and gave a chuckle.
“Just as planned…” He said before flying off “Sooner or later they’ll catch on, but until then, let them hold onto feeble hope,” Chaos said “I’m sure even Discord will find this plot twist impressive.”
Chaos laughed as he vanished to his next destination.
Mount Aries…