//------------------------------// // Chapter Seventeen: Pop Goes The Bubble // Story: The Element of Willpower // by Redwolf15 //------------------------------// Chapter Seventeen Pop Goes The Bubble Well, it was a hell of a trip with me constantly getting my strength back, but we finally made it. Ponyville. "This place has seen better days." Flora's right. This place is chaos. No surprise there. Buildings are floating upside down, cotton candy clouds are pouring chocolate milk, the land is covered in giant checker board, dirt roads are soap roads, and worse of all, the sun and moon keep rising and setting less than two hours each. I absolutely hate that. But besides all the chaos, there was a new feature added to Ponyville. A giant green dome. "What is it?" Shantze asks regarding to the dome. We've been in the chaos part of Equestria for.... Well I don't know, seven days? Doesn't really matter, its been long enough for not a lot to surprise us any more. We left the Cave maybe ten days ago. I've spent a lot of time regaining my strength on the trip. But something's been bothering me since then. Discord said I had powers, but what are they? Was it I who brought back Corig and Krinox from the dead? Discord said because of me he was able to do it by using my powers for his benefits, but he also said I have some of his powers. I have chaos magic as well as whatever else it is that I have, and that worries me a little. "Not sure," I say. The sun instantly goes down and I groan. "Let's check it out." We head on down, we need the girls if we're to defeat Discord. We all stare at it, inches away from the border. After a while of us studying it on close inspection Shining Armor finally speaks up. "It's a barrier." "You sure?" Sharla asks him. "Yep, magic like this is my speciality, I'd recognize it, even if it is Discord's work. But there's something odd about it." "What do you mean?" I ask wondering what it is. "Look." He holds out his hoof and pokes it into the barrier, and it passes through without resistance. He pulls his hoof back. "Barriers are meant to keep things out. This obviously isn't working right so why is it here?" "Maybe it's a decoy so you only think it's a barrier." Shantze suggests. "No. If there's a wall in your way you try tearing it down. So if somepony tried to get past it they could." "That's it!" Everyone looks at me wondering what I figured out. "Captain what did you call it?" "A barrier." "No what did you just call it?" "A wall?" He says quizzically. "Exactly! A wall. Walls are meant to for one of two things. One: Keep things from getting in." "And keep things from getting out!" He's catching on now. "Okay, so it's to keep the ponies inside from getting out. Now what?" I bite down on my finger putting on a thinking face. Lets see, if it's to keep the ponies from getting out then we can get in, but we'll be trapped too. But then it's physical on the inside so that means we can break it. "Okay. Here's what we do. Me, Shining Armor, and the kids are going inside to find the ponies we need. Flora, Sharla, Flex, I need you three to fly around outside the dome. If you see something that may look like an opening or weak points in the dome, spot anything unusual, or the ponies we're looking for, you call to us. Shantze, being the only flier on the inside you'll have to relay messages to us on the ground. We find the girls, break the dome, wait for whatever reinforcements come, then storm the castle to save the princesses, Twilight, and defeat Discord. Any questions?" "Are you sure that we can destroy it form the inside? Because I'm not comfortable with the possibility of me and Shantze being separated." Sharla holds her little brother close. "Sis." Shantze gives that usual tone when your family is embarrassing you in public. "Sharla, I give you my word that he'll be okay. This thing is coming down." I look her in the eyes giving her the truth. And this thing IS coming down. It's made from Discord, made from chaos. I can feel that bit of chaos in me rising. I can do a lot when the chaos in me is active. "Okay." She trusts me. But that doesn't mean she likes it. She gives Shantze a farewell hug. Me, Shining Armor, Shantze, and Light stop in front of it, once we step inside we're not coming out. I stretch my hand out and push it into the green bubble, anticipating something to happen. It slides through untouched. All doubts placed aside I walk through the barrier until I'm on the other side of it and inside Ponyville. The other three fall suit, all completely fine. I touch the dome again. Yep, I was right, solid on the inside. "Okay, you thee remember what these mares look like by Shining Armor's description?" I ask the outside team. The nod their heads. "Good. Okay, spread out and search for anything that is out of order." I look at the chaotic town. "Er, anything that doesn't fit with whatever this is." They take off going in three separate directions. "Should we split up?" Light suggests. "No, better to stay in a group, we may be able to cover more ground in separate groups, but who knows what could happen here. This isn't a quiet town any more." Shining Armor says to her. And he's right, no idea what will happen if we split up any more. We walk through town, the sun rises back up to shed some light on this situation. It's worse than I thought. Everyone's been discorded. They lost all their color and they're exactly their opposite personality. I saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake cooking salads, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were nice, Snip and Snails were smart, Berry Punch was drinking water (wait, isn't that non-canon?), Derpy's eyes were normal, Vinyl Scratch was hitting some pots and pans trying to lay down a beat, and Cherilee was, oh god what was she doing? "What's wrong with them?" Asks Light Flicker getting closer to Shining Armor for protection. "They're discorded." Shining Armor answers. "All their color's been sucked away and they've been turned into their exact opposite personality. Take her for example." He points to Mayor Mare. She sneaks up behind a sleeping mare, a devious grin on her. She screams louder than a banshee in the sleeping pony's ear walking her in the rudest fashion. "She's supposed to be the mayor of this town, keeping the peace and order. But now she's causing trouble left and right." We hear a whistle over head to see Shrala waving to us. Shantze flies up to see what she has to say. After a time he flies back down to us. "She says that Flora may have found them. Their over by a farm near the edge of town, she said we should head south-west while she goes to get Flex." "Good job sport." I say enthusiastically. He smiles proudly when I give him a thumbs up. "Come on! We got some mares to save." We run through town dodging obstacles, taking detours, and generally everything else that gets in our way. What am I feeling? Excited? Nervous? Zealous? All of the above? As we see Sweet Apple Acres coming into view we hear sounds of grunting. "Ooh! Gah! Hrr! Duu!" What was that? "Dag nabit Rainbow Dash stop that raght now! It ain't working!" I hear a familiar voice with a southern accent. I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect her here. "We've been stuck in here for weeks! Twilight and the princesses needs our help! Discord needs to be stopped, so don't tell to stop! At least I'm trying!" I hear Dash retort back to her friend. Weeks? Jeez, how long has this wall been here? "There they are." Shining Armor rounds the barn ahead of us and points a hoof. Just a few more steps is all it'll take for me to meet them. Just a few more easy steps. "Captain Shining Armor? Is that you dear?" Rarity. her voice is just as elegant as you'd expect. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out helping to find help?" The kids go on ahead of me to reach Shining Armor. I stop dead in my tracks, this is something I actually don't think I can do on my own. "Hey who are these two? Shiny did you adopt children while you were gone?" Oh Pinkie Pie, you're so random. "What? No, they're friends who tagged along to help defeat Discord." He says clearing things up with the hyperactive pink bundle of sugar. "Help defeat Discord? Cap'n, with all do respect, A'h don't think children can do much against the spirit o' chaos." Applejack criticizes. "And it seems very dangerous for ones so young." A sweet little voice is heard. Only one pony that could be, Fluttershy. "Hey! We can too beat him! Right Light?" Shantze retorts. "Um, we couldn't take a raspberry from Flex, remember?" She says a little ashamed. Shantze grumbles remembering the time they tried and failed trying to get the last raspberry from him.Flex loves his raspberries. "And I take offence to that! I may be a baby but I'm still a dragon you know." Hey, is that little spike too? "And we all know how THAT turned out." Applejack reminds him of the time he went on the migration. "Don't worry, help will be on it's way. Right now though, we have to get you out of here." He turns their attention back to the matter at hand. "And then we'll take back Equestria." "Good luck, I've been trying to break out for weeks now and barely even a dent was made." Rainbow Dash makes that usual 'if I couldn't do it then no one can' attitude. "That's because you're not using the right method of attack." I finally make my appearance beside the captain, resting my arm on Silver Fang. It really is them, in the flesh! If it weren't for the fact that Equestria is in -pardon the pun- discord, this would be much happier. "What the hay!" Rainbow Dash yells as she and the others see me. They're all taken aback by my appearance. Rainbow Dash lets her arms hang loose as she continues to fly, Applejack, Spike, and Rarity share a similar wide-eye expression, Fluttershy shrinks to the ground and hides her face behind her mane for protection, and Pinkie Pie... Pinkie Pie gives an impressive 'oooooh' and hops up and down. Am I supposed to be surprised at her reaction? Because I honestly don't know. "Um, Cap'n, what is that?" Applejack shifts her hat. "Oh, this is a new friend I met on the road. His names Jesse Ruesgen. He's been a big help and saved my life a few times. It's even thanks to him that the Diamond Dogs AND dragons are willing to help." He puts a hoof over my shoulder to show that there's no need for alarm. At the mention of the word 'dragon,' Fluttershy ducks behind here friends and covers her head. "Okay, but what IS he?" Dash asks the question again with more emphasis as to what I am specifically. "I think he's a human." Spike says walking up for a better look at me. "Now Spike, you know that humans are only fairy tales. You must stop talking to Lyra so much." Rarity scolds him, but I could tell that in her voice he may be right. "No, I'm a human. And back where I come from talking ponies, especially ones with horns and wings, dragons, griffins, and magic are all but myth and made up. So we're even. And Don't worry Fluttershy, the only dragon around right now is Spike." I reassure them all, and so that Fluttershy will come out of hiding. "Hey, how do you know her name? Have you been spying on us? Maybe you're really a spy for Discord!" Rainbow Dash gets up in my face giving me the same 'you're a spy' thing she gave Twilight when Nightmare Moon was released. "Rainbow. Dash." Shining Armor puts a hoof in between us. "He is not a spy! He knows your names because I told him who you all are and what you look like when we needed to find you." He looks at her hard. "Okay, okay. So tell us 'mister human'. How do we get out?" She crosses her arms doubting that anyone else can get out. "Easy," I walk up to the green bubble at hit it three times, solid as ever. "This is made of chaos magic." "So?" She raises an eyebrow. I pull out Silver Fang and he lights on fire. "So, Captain I'm going to need a lift." "Where to?" He asks. I point to the centre of the dome where it is highest "Up." He braces himself and his horn starts glowing. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, searching for what will get us out of here. Where is it? Ah, there it is. The chaos. I let it flow through me, feeling the craziness wrap me in a warm blanket. "Hey, uh, Jesse? Are you okay?" Spike sounds a little worried. "Yeah kid," I open my eyes and stare at him. He shuffles back uncomfortably, "I feel great." I run at Shining Armor, he better be ready because I ain't waiting. I jump high at him, tucking my feet in. A pink platform appears under me and launches me high into the air. And I mean high. Perfect time for night to show up. The fire on my sword is a different color, actually, it doesn't have a color. Much like the ponies in ponyville, all it's color was sucked away and was now grey. Must be a side effect of using chaos magic. Don't focus on that right now. I bring my sword over my head as I keep rising. "Bigger." The fire extends twice as long as the sword. "Bigger." It gets four times bigger than it was before. "Bigger!" The fire gets so big that it was now went farther than half the town is long. Perfect! "RAHHHH!" I swing the huge flame blade using everything I have. It may been fire, but it was definitely tangible unlike normal steel. It hits the dome and stops, I keep pushing on it. I used the chaos magic to stop myself from being pushed back from the force. Ever since we made it into the Discord's chaotic area I've felt the chaos in me stir. When ever the others slept I would sneak away and practice how to use it. Nearly went mad the first few times. I've learnt to control it now, but there's still a side effect of madness in me. There's nudge, the flame blade is getting through. Almost there. Just a little further. I yell with every fibre, muscle, and nerve I have. Pushing my body to the limit. Then it goes slack. I've pushed through. With a final mighty swing I slice through the whole thing, the blade cutting into the green bubble, leaving a perfect cut going all along the top half of the dome. The fire dies out leaving Silver Fang to it's original state. Something else happens, the chaos begins to die out. Which means there's nothing keeping me from defying the laws of physics that is gravity. "Aaaauuugh!" I scream all the way to the bottom, the ground getting closer and closer with each passing second. "Oof!" Something catches me mid fall, dragging me along with it. "Okay, so you can get through it and I can't, and it was pretty cool on how you did it I suppose. But you only cut the top half off. What happens now?" Rainbow Dash. She saved my life. And surprisingly strong being able to carry me. "Well 'miss pony', that bubble was made of chaos magic." I say matter-o-factly. "So?" She asks again not knowing what that means. "So," We hear a cracking sound and look up. The bubble began to crack in areas like glass. "Something's going to happen." Pieces started falling, large, jagged pieces. "Didn't expect this part though." We yell at the top of our lungs as she dodges piece by piece, trying not to get impaled. She flies us to the others, all safely under a shield Shining Armor made. We join them waiting for the rain of falling shards to stop. It finally stops and a clear sky is overhead that's not tinted by a green color. Shining Armor lowers his shield. "Well, that was dangerous." Rarity looks around to see glass like substances embedded everywhere in the ground and houses. "I do hope nopony was hurt." The sun pops back up. "Shantze!" We see Sharla, Flora, and Flex fly over to us. "What happened? We saw something cut through the shield and then suddenly it just broke into thousands of pieces?" "Yeah, that was me." I raise a hand in acknowledgement. Flex perches on his usual place, my shoulder. "Oh, Philomena, is that you? You shouldn't be here." Fluttershy addresses Flex thinking it the wrong phoenix. Flex looks at here quizzically, wondering why she's talking to him. "Actually Fluttershy, this is Flex. A friend I made after saving him from a pack of timberwolves." I correct her. "Oh, I'm sorry." She hides behind her mane again embarrassed. "Hahahahahahaha!" We notice Pinkie Pie making funny faces in a broken piece of what was once the shield. "I look just like Gummy hahaha." We're al rather confused by her actions, so I decide to investigate. "Uhh, Pinkie? What are you doing?" I know perfectly well what she's doing. Being Pinkie Pie. But you'll never truly know until you investigate. "Oh-hahaha. Look at me. I look so funny." She points at piece referring to her reflection. I suppose she means how her image is distorted do to the bend in the piece. I look at it as she continues to make funny faces like one would at a carnival. But instead of seeing a distorted Pinkie Pie, I saw an actual alligator. A very angry, scary, alligator that was starring back. Then an even more unexpected thing happened. It didn't jump out of the shard, it actually was formed from the shard itself, but it seemed like it jumped out of it. It actually wasn't an alligator. It just had it's head. The rest of the body was that of a gorilla, right leg was a dog's, and had an ostrich tail. It roared menacingly at us, massive arms held high over head. We're bucked.