'Out of all the strange beings that I have met and all of the characters that I have encountered, I must say that you are, if you pardon my language, the luckiest son of a bitch that I have ever encountered,' the silver mare said with respect in her voice to the broken form of the human that rested in the bed in front of her, bandages covering the majority of his body. 'Getting stepped on by an Ursa is horrible, but for the ground to give way beneath you as it stepped on you and sent you crashing into the chasms below...are you certain that you have no special power?' A few muffled grunts was all the silver mare got as a response, giving her a reason to chuckle.
'I must admit, I do like you a bit more like this. Are you certain we cannot keep him like this?' she asked as she turned her head to Fluttershy, who had just entered the room with Twilight to check up on the patient.
"You shouldn't be so cruel to him, especially since it was my fault that he ended up like this," Fluttershy said with guilt crushing her soul as she looked over the bandaged human with tear stained eyes, while the silver mare heard Ryan mutter something that sounded along the lines of “damn right." "I'm so sorry Mr. Human, I truly am."
"Mck 'ff," Ryan replied.
"What did he say?"
'He said you're forgiven.' Ryan snarled at her but anything he tried to say was drowned out by the pain that flooded through him again. While the silver mare tried to calm the pain, Fluttershy and Twilight looked at the mare with interest and in Twilight's case, a bit of distrust.
"So, just who are?" Twilight asked the mare with slightly narrowed eyes, the silver mare sighing slightly as her response. "Alright then, how about a name if you don't feel like answering the other question."
"Y' cn cll hr ashol r btc" Ryan grunted through his bandaged face but he growled in pain again as the silver mare smacked his leg with a surgical tool.
'Who I am is of no importance, but if you wish for a name to call me, then the silver mare will suffice,' she replied. 'As for what I am, I am a desperate pony in dire need of help in order to prevent her world from falling into the forces of darkness and evil. And Faust help me I do not know if I can save it or not.' Twilight wasn't sure if she believed the answer or not but her attention was drawn back to Ryan when he tried to move.
"How soon do you think you can heal him?"
'A few more days. Why, missing his sparkling personality?' the mare asked with a chuckle as Ryan growled again.
"No, it's just that he's really the only chance we have to free my friends and save Equestria. The batons only work for him and they seem to hurt anypony that tries to grab them." Twilight shook her head after she said this and brought up the map that Luna had shown them earlier. "Rarity has taken the Crystal Empire, naturally, and without the human we cannot free her."
'Well I suppose I could speed up the healing process but it would cause considerable pain and I'm certain that he would hate me for it,' the mare muttered to herself as Ryan began to struggle to escape the psychotic ponies, but both the mare and Twilight were stop in their tracks by an angry Fluttershy.
"Considering what he has already done for us, I would have imagined that you would treat him better," she said in a quiet but forceful voice that turned Twilight and the mare's eyes to the floor. "We should be thanking him for what he has done instead of trying to get him into battle before he might be ready. He needs to rest." Ryan grunted in agreement, but he also felt for Twilight as through the bandages he could see the worry on her face. He knew he had to get back in the game as quickly as possible.
"Well, I guess if there's nothing left to do but wait for him to heal then I should catch up on some reading," Twilight wickedly said as she levitated a certain guide over to her before she had to stifle a laugh with her hoof at how the injured human began to rock back and forth while yelling at her a muffled string of insults. "Let's see...hey, here's the page about me. Hmm, I do like books and I am skilled at magic, so you got that much right. Hey, why I am lower on your threat level than Applejack? I could totally take her in a fight."
"He has taken a few blows to the head in his defense, so little he does now makes any sense." Zecora walked over to Twilight and peeked over her shoulder at the guide, smiling when she saw that Ryan still considered her the most dangerous creature in the land. She then swiped the book from Twilight and placed it on the bed besides Ryan, who looked at her from under the bandages while Twilight began to pout. "I believe you wanted this back? Then allow me to put it back in your pack."
"Aw, why'd you have to go and do that? I was curious to see what he thought of us," Twilight whined.
"Trust me, there is nothing for you to see. If anything it's only a light read."
'The sweet embrace of death is really starting to look good right about now,' Ryan thought to himself as the others continued to joke at his expense, but then Zecora tensed up and yanked a pipe off of the ship. She spun it around like her staff before her eyes narrowed while she looked around the room.
"Each of you needs to be at your best. We are about to have a guest." The moment those words left her mouth an explosion of confetti went off inside of the room, causing Twilight and the other ponies to scream in confusion while Zecora narrowed her eyes at the draconis that now rested on the ceiling. "Hello, Discord."
"Wait a minute, we're you expecting me?" he asked the zebra as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I suppose I should feel flattered then, nopony seems to expect me anymore. Not with the whole world having fallen to delicious chaos and all of your precious Elements being unable to stop me...wait a minute," he growled as he shot over to Fluttershy and Twilight. "Why are you two here? I made extra sure that I turned the two of you! Oh wait a moment, I already knew that you two had been broken free by that sack of broken bones over there."
"Hold on, you knew where we were all this time and you knew that we'd been freed, yet you're not doing anything about it?" Twilight asked chaos incarnate with hesitation, not sure if he would continue doing nothing or he would change on a whim. Much to the ponies surprise all Discord did was chuckle before pinching Twilight's cheeks.
"No silly. I will admit that it was fun at first ruling all of Equestria with their defenders as my personal guards," Discord said with a heavy sigh as he sat down in his throne and looked down at them. "But now it's just simply boring without you and your little friends trying to stop me. That's why I was so excited when I found out about this human, who is causing chaos amongst the ranks of chaos. Oh, it is so much fun saying that!"
"Wait, you want the human to free the other Elements? Why?" Fluttershy asked.
"Because I'm bored and I must admit, I'm curious to see if he can," Discord said with a smirk as he tapped the tips of his fingers together. "Because he's only gone after the easy ones with you two and that's just no fun to watch. I want to see a battle...no, I want a show! I want to see how he'll adapt to not being able to walk on clouds when battling Dashie or when he has to go head to hoof with the raw power of Applejack. Or how can he retain his sanity when Pinkie truly lets loose against him. This will be a spectacle. But it can't be a show with him like this. So..." Discord snapped his fingers as he said this and the bandages fell off of Ryan, who sprung to his feet the moment he could move and threw himself at Discord.
"Hoo hoo, you have some fight!" Discord said as he vanished, causing Ryan to introduce his face to the wall of the room. "But you'll have to save that ferocity for another time. But if you do manage to free the Element's and their foolish princess of the sun, then I promise you can fight me mano a dracono. I'm looking forward to it." His laugh was all that was left of him as Discord vanished completely, leaving a room full of confused ponies and one angry human.
"We are almost at the...what happened in here?" Luna asked as she entered the room, looking around at all the confetti with confusion.
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'Things could definitely be going better right about now,' the mare thought to herself as she deflected gemstones with a barrier of magic while also having to contemplate how to save the other members of the group. Luna, Twilight and Fluttershy were trapped with giant gemstones while Lyra and Zecora had been turned into felt versions of themselves that looked adorable. And the poor human was strung up from the ceiling by a thin strand of thread that was wrapped around his neck and was barely managing to keep himself from dying. Chaotic Rarity wasn't giving her a chance to think as her stylish magic constantly distracted the silver mare as the rolls of fabric and sewing machines tried to give her the fanciest death possible.
"What's the matter darling? Afraid to accessorize a little?" Rarity screeched as she allowed the silver mare to see her newest accessories, all of which tried to either crush or impale the mare stylishly. "I have a never ending supply of crystal here and with my ideas I'm sure I'll think of a glorious way to entomb you!"
The silver mare, however, was not impressed with the assault. 'It is unfortunate for you that you are more concerned with trying to kill me in style than you are actually figuring out how to fight me. Your abominations against fashion won't even be able to scratch my form, let alone finish me off.' The mare's words had the desired effect on Rarity and the silver mare smiled as she saw the unicorn prepare more of her ideas given form, relying on them rather than her magical attacks which could actually affect the mare.
Trying her best to keep her foe off balance, the silver mare continued the insults while flinging whatever she could wrap her magic around at the pre-Madonna gone crazy. 'The throne room has taken more damage than I have. All I've seen from your "inspiration" so far can be compared to a foal throwing a temper tantrum.'
"Oh it is on," seethed Rarity as she let the chaotic magic glow from her horn, the silver mare cursing under her breath as all of the items that would be flying at her were imbued with magic. Cursing her own stupidity the silver mare threw herself out of the way of the magic imbued attacks while Rarity chuckled to herself at the mare. "I'm sorry my dear, what happened to all that sass and bravado you were giving me just a moment ago?"
'Me and my big mouth,' the mare thought to herself as she dove and weaved as best she could. While Rarity did have the power edge over her thanks to the chaos magic that flowed through her, the silver mare had fought and trained with some of the strangest beings in the multiverse. Not to mention she had the magic of one of the strongest beings running through her. It was time she put that power to use.
With a yell she aimed her arms at the sewing machine that Rarity had thrown at her, sending twin bolts of lightning flying from her hooves. The bolts of lightning decimated the machine and caused an electrical surge that knocked the pompous pony on her ass. The electricity also had the added bonus of shattering the gemstone that trapped Luna and the other two Elements, giving them the chance to re-enter the battle.
'Get to the human and help him down,' the silver mare ordered as she looked up at Ryan, who was starting to turn a purple shade. 'I will hold off "princess" over there.' She wished that she had the same confidence in herself as the other ponies had in her, since the nodded and went to assist Ryan without questioning her. She knew that with this electric magic she could overpower Rarity, but this magic was more dangerous than a double edged sword to her. But it was her only offense and she would make it last.
"You really have been having the worst kind of luck, haven't you?" Luna asked Ryan as Twilight cut the thread that was stringing him up and allowed Ryan to fall onto Luna's back, where he promptly began to gasp for air. "Come now, let us free Zecora and Lyra while the mare deals with Rarity." Ryan gurgled in agreement, but as he looked down at the battle between the silver mare and Rarity it seemed that the silver mare's spells were doing more harm to her than they were her opponent.
"Go get Zecora, I'm gonna do something stupid." He rolled off the side of Luna before she could ask what he was going to do and dive bombed Rarity, fairly certain that he had injured himself more than he had Rarity. Rarity got to her hooves to take a knee that knocked her back, where she turned towards the human with an inpony snarl.
"You dare to touch me you filthy pig?!" Rarity said with venom as she ripped the crystal throne out of the floor and threw it at Ryan, who barely rolled out of the way.
'Thank you for interfering,' the silver mare said as Ryan came out of his roll and drew both of his batons. He looked back at her to see that her form was flickering violently and there seemed to be exhaustion in her voice. 'I was not certain how much longer I could keep that magic up.'
"So why bother using a magic that would kill you?" Ryan asked as he threw himself out of the way of the crystal empire's floor. "Come on Rarity, this kingdom has been here for...what, over a thousand years? Why do you have to ruin everything you touch with your "vision"?" He laughed to himself as Rarity shrieked and began to throw everything her magic could touch at him, cutting off his laughter as he was buried under a sea of very heavy and sharp crystal shards.
'You complain about my strategy when all you do is let your opponents beat on you until they get bored,' she replied as she lifted Ryan out of the sea of shards, wincing as she saw the bits embedded in his face. 'Seems to me you have the more destructive fighting style, if you can call it that, of the two of us.'
"I only let them hit me so the fight isn't over in an instant," he shot back with a laugh as he threw one of the batons at Rarity, who dodged it easily but didn't see the silver mare catch it with her magic. The mare swung it back around to strike Rarity in the back of the head, sending the pompous pony face first into the ground. "And I can take anything they send at me."
'So it would seem.' The silver mare had to admit that he had a point. Even though she had been the one to keep him from dying from his injuries often, he had survived far more than any other human should have been able to. 'He really is the most stubborn human that I've met. Not that that's a bad thing.' Rarity had recovered from the blow to her head, though she was still working on recovering from the blow to her pride. Vengeance flashed in her eyes as she glared at the two that had insulted her great art and she would never forgive those who made fun of her.
"I will destroy the both of you!" she shrieked as she prepared to attack, until a flash of black and white swept her off of her hooves and drove her into the ground. Rarity coughed hard as she struggled to look up at the zebra that held her down. "Zecora. Why bother to side with an abomination such as the human. There is nothing gorgeous about him."
"In beauty or tact he does have none," Zecora said with one of her eerie laughs. "But that's what makes being around him so much fun. Put an end to her at once and make it quick you dunce!"
"I swear Zecora when I'm done saving this world the first thing I'm going to do afterwards is make you eat every single thing you've said to me!" Ryan roared as the mare tossed him his second baton as he threw himself into the air, snarling at Rarity who struggled to escape Zecora grasp.
"Oh no my friend of chaotic might, this will be your final fight," Zecora said in a scary tone before she rolled to the side and allowed Ryan to bring both batons down upon the Element wrapped around Rarity's neck. She screamed as the chaotic magic was destroyed and once again Ryan was thrown across the room from the blast, though this time Luna caught him on her back before he could hit the ground.
"So, who are we going after next?" Ryan asked the princess of the night as Twilight and Fluttershy ran over to their friend, helping her back up before pulling her into a massive hug.
"Rainbow Dash," Luna said as she bit her lip a bit. "But this is a battle that I am afraid of. Not for my sake but for yours. You cannot fly and my magic tells me that Rainbow Dash has made Cloudsdale hers now. Your life will be in terrible peril if you fight her above the clouds."
"I've been set on fire, stepped on by a creature that shouldn't be able to exist and curb stomped by a zebra in what she calls training," Ryan said with one of his cocky smiles as he looked down at the princess of the night. "Why should I be afraid of something like skydiving without a parachute?"