//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Questions and a new threat // Story: Rise of the Titans (edited) // by darkmage1997 //------------------------------// After the defeat of the villains, our heroes went to help the hostages. But as Humdrum was helping untie some hostages, he couldn't shake an uneasy feeling when he saw that memory flash when Shadow Mane fell towards him, 'What could it mean?' he asked himself. This did not go unnoticed by Saddle Ranger or Filli-Second, who looked on at their sidekick and friend in worry. Out of instinct, the two mares walked over to the young colt. "Humdrum? Is something wrong?" Saddle Ranger asked. Looking up and seeing the worried looks on his friends faces, Humdrum let out a soft sigh, "Girls, do you know how I got my start as your sidekick?" he asked. This made the color from both mares faces drain away. With a soft sigh, Saddle Ranger sat down, and scooped Humdrum up in a hug, "We were wanting to tell you when you were older, but I think its time we told you, but can we wait till we're in private, then we can tell you?" she asked. "Ok, but don't forget, I want to know where I came from," Humdrum replied, as Saddle Ranger sat him down. "We won't. We'll tell the others," Filli-second said, as she, Saddle Ranger, and Humdrum went back to helping the hostages. Meanwhile, back at the Castle of Friendship, While they were waiting for the return of the heroes, Heaven decided she wanted to play with the other children. Crystal and Kelly decided to braid her hair, while she painted Clovers nails. Every time she finished painting one nail, she would look towards Stealth, to see if he was up and moving. Just as she finished Clovers left hand, she saw Stealth jerk his head up, with a concerned look in his eyes, "Stealth, what wrong?" Heaven asked. "I feel a disturbance," he simply replied. Standing up, Stealth walked over to a window, "Hmm, there's no sign of enemies outside, but something just doesn't feel right," he commented, "Stay here, while I go see where the others are," he said, which everyone nodded, before Charity kindly spoke up. "But Stealth, the others agreed that you would be our guard, in case something were to happen," she explained. "Oh, well, I should at least check the perimeter, and see if there are any bad guys," the ninja reassured. "Don't wowwy! Heiwu isn't the only one who's good at that wecon thingy that they do! Stealth is the sneakiest guy there is, and he doesn't take vewy long to come back!" Heaven reassured everyone. "Right, but if something does happen, scream as loud as you can," Stealth instructed, which everyone nodded. As he walked out of the castle, he then looked left and right, scouting for possible dangers. 'Hmm, nothing here. Maybe behind the castle?' he thought to himself as he checked around the corners of the castle. 'My instincts are hardly ever wrong, so why is there no danger?' he questioned. Just as he went around the entrance side of the castle, he heard an explosion, followed by a blood curdling scream that he recognized, "Oh no, HEAVEN!" on instinct, Stealth quickly ran through the castle, and to the dining area where he left his sister and their new friends. Upon opening the dining room door, Stealth gasped when he saw a large hole in the wall, "HEAVEN!" the ninja called. He then heard some whimpering coming from a cabinet. As he walked closer, he could faintly hear his sisters whimpering coming from in the cabinet. Stealth then proceeded to open the doors, only to be avalanched by his sister and their friends, "Oof, are you all ok?" Stealth asked. "We all are Stealth," Stealth turned to see Rarity and Fluttershy coming towards the children with sad looks on their faces, "But, as for that hole, a big robot came in and stole Vibrant Sky!" Rarity cried in distress. "Oh boy, Rainbow Dash isn't going to like this," Stealth commented. "Was anyone injured during the attack?" Stealth asked. "Not physically, but we were terrified when that thing took Vibrant," Toby replied, as he comforted a crying Serenity. "And don't wowwy Stealth, I'm ok too!" Heaven said, hugging her ninja brother by the legs. Smiling at his sisters sweet, reassuring tone, Stealth kindly ruffled her hair, "That's good, but I think we should let the others know what's happened," he suggested, as he lead everyone towards town. Back with our heroes, As they walked through town, looking for something to eat, Humdrum was getting anxious about his origins, 'I hope Saddle Ranger and Filli Second will keep their promise,' he thought to himself. Just as Twilight was about to suggest something, the group heard a ruckus coming from the market. "More thieves?" Brian asked, as they ran to investigate. When they got their, they saw some sort of creature, completely made out of water, with eerie green eyes and a visible brain, "What in the world is that thing?!" Brian asked, as the creature began destroying stuff left and right. "You know, I think I saw that creature in a video game and TV show," Silver commented. "Yeah, wasn't its name Chaos?" Heiru asked. "Yeah, but why is Chaos here? There aren't any Chaos Emeralds in Equestria," Icezer asked. "Maybe it feeds off of some other powerful form of energy?" Raiden suggested, as he saw the creature coming towards them, "We can see you have a brain, so why don't ya start using it?" Raiden taunted. "Oh, it does know how to use its brain," a voice called. Looking up, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all scowled at the sight of Toby's former father, James Mason, sitting comfortably in a hovercraft. "And just who are you?" Brian demanded. "My name is James, James Mason, and you are looking at the Equestrian Chaos," James explained. "James? As in James Mason, the father of Toby, who also killed his sons mother out of jealously?!" Heiru demanded. "That's right," James said smugly. "YOU JERK! How dare you show your face in Equestria again?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she bolted towards James. "Chaos, take care of this fly," James ordered, which the Chaos creature complied, by smacking away the rainbow maned mare. Acting fast, Silver caught Rainbow Dash in his telekinesis. "You ok Rainbow?" Silver asked. "Yeah, but that thing's strong!" Rainbow replied, looking at the Chaos creature. "Ah yes, this is the manifestation of Chaos itself!" James explained. "But I thought Discord was the manifestation of chaos," Twilight said. "Eh, that amateur won't know what chaos is until he were to meet this little guy," James said, looking at Chaos. "Au contraire, Jimmy," they all jumped as Discord suddenly appeared out of thin air, "I know Chaos very well," he said with a scowl. "So, who or what is Chaos?" Silver asked. Discord was about to answer, but then, they heard an angry lady's voice call, "HEY JERK!" they turned to see a female draconequss running towards them, "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE MASTER ELEMENT?!" she demanded. "Eris, did something happen to the master element?" Discord asked. "Yeah daddy, you could say that," the new draconequss said, before taking notice of the humans standing with her father, "Oh, these new friends of yours?" Eris asked. "Yes, but for now, we need to focus on that man, and Chaos," Discord said. "Oh yes, but first, I thought I could give Chaos a little snack," James said, pulling out a tranquilized Vibrant Sky. "VIBRANT!" Rainbow Dash cried in distress, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BABY!?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "Oh don't worry, she's still alive. In fact, she is one of the few necessities I need to completely flatten out Equestria," James explained, throwing Vibrant towards Chaos. As soon as Vibrant made contact with Chaos' watery skin, she emitted a bright light that prompted our heroes to cover their eyes. When they looked up again, they were shocked to see that Chaos had grown. It now had a stone hand on the inside of its skin, where the element of Loyalty now sat. "What did you do?!" Raiden demanded. "Ah yes, its just as the stone tablets depicted, 'When the Chaos creature devours an element of harmony, it shall grow to new shapes and sizes. Total destruction will befall the land if it is fed all six elements'," James explained. "Guys!" the group jumped again when they heard the voice of Stealth. Turning towards where the sound originated from, they could see Stealth, along with everyone else, "Drat, we're too late!" Stealth cursed. "Too late for what?" Twilight asked. "A big robot stole Vibrant from the castle," Stealth explained, before hearing frightened whimpers. Turning towards his group, he could see Trinity, Lucky, Serenity, Charity, and Season all cowering at the sight of Chaos. "Girls, what's wrong?" Toby asked. "T-that thing!" Charity cried. "W-we know it very well," Trinity said, cowering under the sight of the creature. "I-its powered by us!" Lucky said. "Ah well, we can take one little drip," Brian said, launching a fireball at Chaos, who deflected it with an electric barrier, "What the...?!" Brian said, bamboozled by the creatures power. "Ya can't attack Chaos directly like that!" Season explained. "Oh, so that country horse is smart, eh? Well, Chaos does deserve another little snack," James said, as a claw shot out from his hover craft, and heading for Season. It was about to latch onto the earth filly, Serenity jumped out in Seasons stead, protecting her friend from certain doom. "SERENITY!" Toby, Season, and Fluttershy all cried, as they grabbed onto the claw. "Land sakes girl, what were ya thinking?!" Season asked, as she and Serenity's family tried breaking the Pegasus filly out. "I d-didn't want you being gobbled up by Chaos," Serenity replied. "But you'll become a part of Chaos yourself," Fluttershy explained. "I would r-rather that than one of my friends being a part of it," Serenity explained. "DADDY! Let my sister go!" Toby pleaded. "Sister? Toby, that's a horse, you're a human," James explained. "They're ponies! There's a structural difference!" Toby deadpanned, which resulted in an eye roll from James. "I have no time for you little bugs," James explained, as the claw whacked Toby, and his mother and little cousin, "And as for you," James said, eyeing Serenity, "You aren't what I was originally going for, but you'll work either way," he said, throwing Serenity at the Chaos creature, who immediately absorbed Serenity in a bright light. Now, Chaos had a symmetrical set of arms, with both the elements of loyalty and kindness in the hands of each, "Ah, he has such a healthy appetite. Now then Chaos, destroy these whelps," James ordered. And Chaos did just that, it went on a rampage, destroying everything in sight. It even tried attacking our heroes, "We can't just sit here!" Brian yelled. "Right, so Saddle Ranger, you know what to do," Matterhorn said, which Saddle Ranger nodded, and started getting mad, and turned into a super strong monster, and tried to attack Chaos, only to be sent flying. "Are you alright?" Francisco asked. "Yeah, but that thing is tough!" Saddle Ranger replied. Raiden, upon hearing this, then tried to think of a way to get around Chaos' power field. After a few seconds of thinking, he got a brilliant idea. "Filli Second, Rainbow Dash, I need you both to run all around Ponyville, and build up some static electricity," Raiden explained. "Ok, but why?" Filli Second asked. "I have an idea that requires your speed," Raiden explained. The two mares nodded, and began doing as the electric powered teenager had asked. In a few short minutes, electricity was building, "Ok Saddle Ranger, I'm going to focus the electricity at Chaos, that should give you a wide enough opening to attack," Raiden called, as he held up his hands and began emitting his own electricity, and fired it at Chaos, "Ok, you have your opening! Take it NOW!" he called, which Saddle Ranger complied. With just one buck, she was able to defeat Chaos. "NOOO! CHAOS!" James cried, as he used a tractor beam to beam up the puddle that remained of Chaos, "Grr, be lucky that Chaos can only absorb the power of TWO elements at a time, but mark my words, I will be back!" James vowed, as he fled. Rainbow was about to go after him, but she was stopped by Mistress Mare-villous and her lasso. "LET ME GO! I HAVE TO GO AND RESUE MY DAUGHTER!" Rainbow Dash snapped, trying to break free. "And what would you do then? We need to be cautious about our approaches, now that we now we have more to worry about than those villains," Twilight explained. "She makes a good point. I mean, If you tried anything brash, James might try to hurt your daughter and Serenity," Eris explained. "And you are...?" Rainbow asked. "Oh, right, I am Eris, goddess of chaos, and daughter of Discord," Eris said, introducing herself. "Its nice to meet you Eris," Raiden said, but then, he looked at the draconequss curiously, "When you came into battle, you mentioned something about a 'Master Element'. What's that about?" he asked. "Perhaps, we could exchange information over some lunch, I'm quite hungry," Eris suggested. This drew growls from everyone's stomachs, "He-he, ok, I'll make us something to eat. Can we head back to the castle?" Eris asked, which everyone nodded, and Twilight lead the group to her castle.