//------------------------------// // Part 9 Dan Vs. The Order Keepers: Chapter 70: Dan Vs. TOK King // Story: The Wheel and the Butterfly A Dan X Pinkie Pie Saga // by Justice3442 //------------------------------// The Wheel and the Butterfly A Dan X Pinkie Pie saga Part 9 Dan Vs. The Order Keepers Chapter 70: Dan Vs. TOK King -ooooooo- Doing the music thing if you're interested. Google Docs version here. -ooooooo- Change. Change is the enemy of order, and order is all. Change disrupts, change leads to chaos. That is why change must be stomped out as quickly as possible. The Warper was change. Her abilities brought unpredictability to her world. Some would argue not much, but if left unchecked, she could have change far, far too much. Then she got away. Then she brought change to another world. When we reclaimed her, she brought change here. Change that would prove catastrophic. Change that would damage, destroy, and even kill. Beings that had existed for eons and eons…now silenced forever. All because change had come into this world. I had miscalculated twice already because of change. First, I allowed change to take hold for too long, unabated. We are beings waiting and observing, after all, and we are not always quick to action. However, change forced action, and action I took. The energy I released should have been just enough to end change, to kill him… But he somehow bent enough of the Nexus to his will enough to survive. And now I’m corporeal again channeling energy simply to keep myself upright. I am ruler of this place, complete and absolute. I won’t make the same mistake twice… “Hey! Talk, dark, and boring!” Dan called as he pointed his baseball bat at the tall, gaunt, crowned figure. “Are we gonna fight, or are you just gonna stand there and hope Pinkie and I die of old age?” The king of The Order Keepers narrowed his eyes at Dan. “Dan, don’t tick off the king of the cloudy thingies…” Pinkie whispered. “What?! He shot me with an energy bolt in the CHEST!” Dan yelled at the now straight-haired pony. “I can’t believe you’re not upset about that!” “Normally I’d be pretty dang ticked…or a complete, crying-wying mess like I was just a bit ago...Right now? I just want to go home…” “And we will!” Dan insisted. “But first I need to bludgeon the ugly alien’s skull in.” Pinkie glanced out, the portal was just a short sprint away. Well, it’s high up…but I’m an excellent jumper… …Oh, I hope Dan isn’t too mad about this… --♫ The grim king positioned his hands in front of his chest and curled his fingers into claws. Azure bolts of energy began to crackle between them. Dan grinned wickedly and raised his bat. “It’s about time you got serious…” “This time, you will die!” The crowned figure informed. “We’ll see aboutWHOA…Pinkie what are you..?” Pinkie quickly placed her head in between Dan’s legs and lifted the short man onto her back. “Sorry, Dan!” She began bounding at a rapid pace towards the exit. “I’ll make it up to you! --♫ Dan held fast to Pinkie’s straight mane. “You better, I expect plenty of human smoochees when we get home!” --♫ The grim king fired a wild shot of energy at Pinkie, missing as she continued to bound up and down towards her destination. “STOP THEM!” he commanded. --♫ His subject’s obeyed, drifting close enough to Dan and Pinkie to rematerialize. Though, this time with an aura of dark blue light that seemed to help them keep their balance. --♫ Dan swung wildly at the tall figures, swatting away limbs as they frantically dove at the pink pony and heated human. The grim king raised a palm, and as he did, the portal to Dan’s and Pinkie’s world began to float up. Pinkie leaped. “Oh, COME ON!” The Pink mare exclaimed as her target floating up and away. She hit the ground on all fours. Dan swung a leg over the side of Pinkie and stepped onto the ground. “Dan, what…” “We tried it your way…Now we try it my way…” Dan said as he grinned evilly once more and brandished his bat. He charged into the shambling horde of order keepers. --♫ Dan closed into swinging distance and swung his bat up… --♫ ‘CRACK!’ …and connected with the chin of an Order Keeper, causing its head to snap back and the air to pulsate again. --♫ Dan began to deliver blow after blow into his foes, smiling madly the entire time as Order Keepers fell around him. --♫ Being able to stand seemed to offer little help to The Order Keepers, who still easily lost their balance and seemed to have little in the way to attack or defend themselves with. --♫ ‘CRACK!’ Another of The Order Keeper’s fell, and the ether rippled once again. --♫ “MuaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Dan cackled madly as his foes fell under his bat, each swing brining another to the ground, or to its death. The grim king grimaced angrily at the scene in front of him. I can’t destroy him like this…but perhaps… He turned from Dan’s melee of violence and began walking away. --♫ “Dan! STOP! We just need to get out of here!” Pinkie pleaded. --♫ “Grrrrrrr!” Pinkie growled out in frustration. “I REALLY DON’T WANT TO BE STUCK HERE!” She shouted. --♫ “THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD HELP ME OUT!” Dan cried back. --♫ “WITH WHAT?!” Pinkie screamed back, raising her straight mane again. “MY MANES ALL SAD AGAIN!” --♫ Dan sighed and rushed back to Pinkie. “You are the neediest pony girlfriend ever!” --♫ “I’M SORRY I’M NOT USED TO BEING KIDNAPPED!” --♫ Dan quickly leaned down, threw his arms around Pinkie’s neck and planted another kiss on her furry lips. --♫ ‘fffeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEE!’ Pinkie’s hair immediately reflated to its normal, curly mass and the mare grinned wild and madly. --♫ Dan wiped the fur from his mouth. “Now help me kill these things!” Pinkie pulled her pink crowbar from her mane. “Okie-dokie-lokie!” --♫ Dan charged once more as Pinkie bounded next to him, her crowbar gripped tightly in her mouth as she wore a happy expression. --♫ Dan once again began randomly budging targets that fell under his might. --♫ Pinkie leapt high into the air and brought her weight and crowbar down on the head of an Order Keeper with a loud ‘THRAWK!’ The air pulsated again in response. --♫ The two continued to swat at limbs, bludgeon torsos, and strike at heads as their foes swarmed around them. --♫ The two backed into each other as their available room began to shrink. --♫ Pinkie giggled and quickly pulled her crowbar out of her mouth. “Heheh…You and me against the universe, huh?”         --♫ Dan took a hard swing into an Order Keeper. “Unf…Wouldn’t have it any other way!” He said with a mad grin. “Well, you may want to duck and cover…” Pinkie began. --♫ “…’Cause I brought some friends.” --♫ Dan knew better than to question Pinkie, and did as she suggested. --♫ Pinkie began to vigorously shake her mane, as she did, dozens of angry, hissing, and rattling snakes flew out in all directions. The snakes sank fangs into startled and fearful figures who attempted to back away under the slithering assault in a panic. Dan stared wide eyed at the den of snakes Pinkie had unleashed. “I THOUGHT YOU MADE UP THAT THING WITH THE SNAKES!” Dan shouted, raising his palms up in confusion. “I THOUGHT I DID TO, BUT THEN YOU HAD TO GET THAT MONGOOSE!” Pinkie shouted back, raising her hooves up in confusion. “I MADE THAT UP!” Dan explained. “WHY WOULD YOU LIE TO ME?!” Pinkie demanded. “I WAS TRYING TO GET INTO YOUR PANTS…” Dan paused and quickly added, “…ROMANTICALLY!” “Oh…” Pinkie replied tapping a forehoof to her chin. “Good job!” She exclaimed happily. --♫ “THIS ENDS NOW!” A booming voice called from high above the couple. The two stared up into the angry, glowing eyes of The Order Keeper King, once again floating in the air with a halo above his eyes. Suddenly, the ground around Pinkie and Dan jutted towards them in large, diagonal, stone beams that trapped them into place. --♫  “Dan! I’m stuck!” Pinkie cried, the rocks forcing her onto her hind legs, back against Dan’s. “Yeah, join the club.” Dan said snidely as he struggled against the rocks pressed against his body. “I thought I just did!” Pinkie replied in a confused tone as she wiggled in place. --♫ The Order Keepers put some distance between Pinkie and Dan as the air crackled violently up and in between the grim king and the couple. Pinkie gulped. “Well that doesn’t look good…” Dan leaned his head back, watching the fog of the Nexus begin to collect into a sinister looking black cloud that crackled with violent energy. “I’m on it…” Dan said. “Huh?” --♫ Dan closed his eyes and concentrated. We need a shield… Something heavy…something solid… In his mind’s eye, his focus began to cruise through the blue-black fog of the Nexus, exciting out of the void into his world. He envisioned Earth, North America, California, Van Nuys, his bank… “Got it!” --♫  ‘PCHSSSSHHHHFFFOOOOOOO!’ The air erupted in a violent blast of energy that closed in on Dan and Pinkie… ‘CLANGngngngngng…’ --Don't turn away, don't turn  …which slammed into a large bank vault door. The vault flew into the air from the blast, vibrating with the hit. --♫ ‘KEWTHUDngngngng…’ The vault hit the ground, landing on a number of the still corporeal Order Keepers below --♫ “No…” The grim king uttered. “It can’t be…” --♫ Pinkie shimmied her body out of her rocky prison… --♫ …giving Dan enough room to do the same. --♫ Pinkie stared up at the halo and confused eyes above them. “What now?” She asked, turning to Dan. --♫ Her eyes went wide as she noticed the two metal that were suddenly strapped to Dan’s back. Hoses jutted out and downward from the canisters and Dan held two control sticks in his hand. Dan grinned as wide as his mouth would possibly allow. “Grab hold.” Pinkie smiled and nodded. “Ummm-hmmm!” She hummed as she wrapped her legs around Dan. --♫ Dan and Pinkie suddenly ascended into the air, the jetpack shooting streams of compressed gas below them. --♫ The grim king’s eyes went wide, and he attempted to put some distance in between him and the rapidly approaching couple. --♫ He felt the nebulousness of his being coalesce into a dreaded corporeal body, and the pull of gravity pull him towards the ground. --♫ Pinkie grinned madly as the two zoomed up towards The Order Keeper King. She leapt off from Dan. “SHORYUKEN!” She shouted as she through her hoof into the air, placing a perfect hit on The Order Keepers chin that snapped his head back. The Order Keeper’s king fell limp in the sky, his crown falling from his head as both tumbled towards the ground. “PINKIE!” Dan shouted. He quickly positioned himself down and hit his jets, his jetpack propelling him downwards towards Pinkie. “DAN!” Pinkie cried as she reached out a forehoof. Dan grabbed it and quickly pulled Pinkie close to him. He looked down and spotted the portal, leading directly to the couple’s couch below. “HOLD ON, GOOFBALL!” “YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!” Dan shifted the two upright again and quickly hit his jets, desperate to slow their descent before… ‘CRASHUD!’ “ARRRGH!” “EEEEEAK!” Dan quickly pulled himself from the mess of wood and cushion that was now the couple’s ex-couch, and stared up into the portal that hovered several feet above him. He face contorted back into rage as he spied the unmistakable dim, blue stars of the Nexus above. “RRRAAGH!” Dan roared angrily and gripped onto the side of the portal. He pulled with all his might and the glowing, red circle around the gateway begin to tear as if Dan was shredding a circular piece of paper made out of glowing energy. “AAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!” Dan continued to rip and tear at the doorway between dimensions, it fell in pieces that seemed to fade from existence as they hit the apartment floor. “Huff…puff…” Bleary eyed and red faced, Dan tried to catch his breath. He unstrapped his jetpack and allowed it to fall unceremoniously to the floor. He walked over to his easy chair and collapsed into it. Hmmm…I feel like I’m forgetting something… Dan’s eyes went wide with realization. “PINKIE!?” He cried out in alarm. A pink blur threw cushions and pieces of wood away as it shot out of the ruined couch and slammed into Dan, joining him on the easy chair. “Mwah! MWHA! MWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Ohmygosh, OHMYGOSH! DAN, that was the most fantastically-stupendously-crazy-insanely-AWESOMEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN EVER, EVER, EVER!” Pinkie declared shrilly. “…Pinkie?” “First you were like…WACK! WHACK! WHACK, WHACK, WHACK! And I was like POW! And then…SNAKES EVERYWHERE! “Pinkie!” “But then the ground attacked us and I was like OH NO! And you were like BAM, GIANT METAL DOOR OUT OF NOWHERE!” “PINKIE!” “And then you were all like PCHOOOO! Whisking us up into the air, and then I was all like… SHORYUKEN! But then I was falling, and… “PIIIIIINKIEEEE PIEEEEEEE!” “WHAT?!” Dan slowly wiped the Pink fur from his lips. “This might be a problem…” Pinkie’s eyes went wide as she gulped and slowly raised pink forehooves into view. Pinkie’s eye twitched. “Son of a BIT-”