//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven 
// Story: Agent of Chaos 
// by Li_Time 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Eleven

Harry Dresden

"So, who's the tall handsome guy?" Pink asked as I steered us out into the open waters again. I rolled my eyes. Damn half-brother vampire.

"I wouldn't call Harry handsome," Thomas said.

"Hey!" I called out to him. "I can hear you."

I heard the girls giggle. "I'm Molly," Molly told Pink. "That big guy is Harry Dresden. And this is Thomas Raith." There wasn't a response. I was sure they were just too busy staring at him. Heh, Thomas has a bunch of ponies wanting to bang them. That's wrong on so many levels. "Thomas," Molly said. "Turn down the libido."

"I'm sorry, it's just natural," he replied. I had to smirk to myself.

"You have to forgive Thomas," Molly said. "He's a White Count Vampire."

"A vampire?!" Fluttershy shouted.

"He's going to suck our blood!" I heard Pink shout. Wow, they freaked out easily. "Wait, what's a White Court Vampire?"

"It's a breed of vampire," he said. "I don't feed on blood. That was the Red Court before Harry killed them all. I feed off someone's life force through contact or their emotions. Mostly through lust."

"Oh, so that's why I feel all warm and wet when I'm around you," Pink said. I put a hand to my face. She just flat out said it. Most girls are really modest about that. This girl didn't give a fuck. I tried my hardest not to laugh.

"Pinkie, that's a little personal, don't you think?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, come on, you all were feeling it too," Pink shout back.

"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" I asked myself out loud. I just hope this will be over tomorrow. By now we had reached the mainland again. I pulled the ship up to the dock and killed the engine before tying it off. "Come on, we need to figure out what to do with you girls."

"Why don't they stay at my place?" Molly said. "I have room for them."

"Oh, we shouldn't impose," Fluttershy said.

"It's no problem,” Molly replied.

"It'll have to do," I said. "I have no place. Murphy would kill me if I brought you all there, not to mention she has no room, and I'm certainly not letting you girls stay with Thomas. Plus, Molly can keep an eye on you."

"Awesome," R.D. said. "We'll rest up and look for Rarity and A.J. in the morning. They can take care of themselves until then."

"That's true," Twilight said. "Even though I rather find them as soon as possible, we certainly can't search for them when we're tired."

With the other girls agreeing, Molly herd them into the minivan. I hung back with Thomas. "You have four ponies wanting to sex you up," I said to him.

He smirked, watching them. "Maybe it's my sign to introduce them to our world," he said.

"I swear, Thomas, you'll fuck anything with two legs and boobs."

"I'm hungry, Harry,” he said. “I haven't eaten in a few days."

That got me worried. Thomas's hunger couldn't be satisfied with a burger or steak. If he was hungry, that meant that he had less control of his vampire side. "Aren't you back in the family?" I asked him. "Don't they provide food for you?"

"Not really,” he said. “I still have to go find my own once in awhile. I'm an independent vampire after all. Where are you going tonight? You're not planning to stick close to them."

"Try and get some answers,” I said. “You heard about what happened at the college?"

"No. Why?" he asked. I gave him the low down on what happened. "Halloween prank, what's your point?"

"All at the same time, some while students were reading them." He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Exactly. And then there's this Sam Singer. He came to the pub last night before going to the church. He warned Father Forthill that someone might be after the coins."

"You think they're all connected?" he asked.

"In this line of work, there is no coincidence,” I said, which was mostly true. “I know that now. I just don't know how it's connected yet. And then there's two more ponies to find and this Discord. Plus, the whole reason they're here."

"Chaogent,” he said.

"Yep,” I said. “Some creature hiding out in the city. And we don't even know if he's here. They came here assuming."

"I'll ask Lara if she's heard anything,” he told me. “I'll call when I hear something. Where are you staying tonight? Murphy's?"

"Maybe,” I said. “But I'm going to drop Molly and these girls off at her place and then go have a talk with a spirit."

"That new one you gave birth to?" he asked.

"Her name is Sue and don't say it like that,” I said with a growl. “She was just a spirit in my head that needed to come out."

"One produced when that Denarian gave up her space in your head to protect you,” he said. “You told me the story, sounds like a birth to me."

"Fuck you,” I said. “I'm going to see Bob."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Yes, cause that pervert is better than me."

"He's not going to try and have sex with all of them." He frowned at that before he shrugged and looked at the car. "Go home, have a snack or something."

"You remember when you were against me doing that?" he asked.

"Ya, I remember,” I said. “It was before I became a monster too."

"At least you don't have to feed off of others. You just have to play by the rules of the fairies and not give in to your animal instincts." I growled softly but he did have a point.

"Go home," I said and he nodded. I looked at him as he lifted his fist and bumped it with mine. He got into his hummer and drove off as I got into the minivan. The moment I turned it on, the radio came on and static started to play. Molly hit the power button but it just got louder. I flicked it with a finger and it went quiet. "I don't think the car will survive after all this," I said as I stated to pull out.

"I'll give mom some cash to get it repaired once we're done," Molly said.

“I’ll pay her back,” I said. “I still have some diamonds.”

“You need to buy a house,” she said. I just gave her a smirk.





After a short drive, I pulled into the driveway of Molly's place. She had bought it shortly after becoming the Winter Lady. It was close to her family's so she could keep an eye on them. I told Molly to keep watch on them and to call her mother to let her know I was going to be using the car for a while. After she unloaded the girls and guided them inside, I headed to an old friend's place.

Waldo Butters was the best medical examiner in Cook County. He worked with dead people all day and loved his polka. After I died, he hooked up with a young werewolf and the two started to live together. He had also taken my old assistant to take care of. Then, a little over a year ago, Butters got a new job. A Knight of the Cross, complete with the nerdist sword. An honest to goodness lightsaber. Ok, it's not power by the Force or anything like that. It was powered by faith and the laws of the holy swords.

I tried not to go over to his place too much. He's busy a lot now that he has to go do knightly duties. Plus, the whole thing with his girlfriend, I didn't feel it was right to barge in when I pleased. However, I needed to talk with my old assistant.

I reached their apartment after a quick stop at Burger King...can't go on an empty stomach. I knocked on the door, hoping I wouldn't be interrupting anything, but the little guy opened the door after only a few moments.

"Oh, hello, Harry," he said, giving me a smile. He was dressed in his medical robes. "You have some timing, I just got home. What can I do for you?"

"Butters, I didn't realize you were still working at the morgue,” I said.

"Part time,” he said, “but I wasn't coming from there."

"Oh, Knight duty." I frowned a bit. “You wear your scrubs?”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Well, glad you’re holding up well,” I said.

"Ya, Angi is excited I'm back for a little while too,” he said with excitement. “Oh, I never told you the news." He grinned at me, bouncing a bit. "I popped the question."

My eyes widen. "Did she...?" He grinned. "Wow, Butters. Congratulations. About time too." I saw a redheaded girl walk up behind the little guy. His now fiancé, Angi.

"I see you told him the news," she said. "Hey, Harry. What's up?"

"Oh, right. I need to borrow Bob." Their smiles faded as they looked at me.

"Is it serious?" Angi asked.

"Not too serious,” I said. “But I need to get some info from him."

"I'll go get him," she said. She gave Butters a kiss on the top of his head and walked off.

"What's going on?" Butters asked me.

"We got some new friends in town,” I said. “Kind of a long story. Oh, sorry for interrupting your celebration." I saw him blush and look away. "By the way, have you heard of a Sam Singer?"

He shook his head. "No. Should I have?"

"I'm hoping someone would,” I said. “Came by the pub last night before going to the church asking about the coins. Then he gets attacked by a Fomor and has disappeared."

"The coins?” he questioned. “Harry, if this is Denarian business, I should come help."

"Father Forthill said the coins are fine,” I reassured him. “ At least what the ones the church does still have."

"Harry," he said with a more serious voice.

"I'll keep you informed if something is up,” I said. “For now, I need Bob to answer some things."

Angi returned with a skull in hand. It was a wooden skull with markings and runes covering it. In the eye sockets glowed a pair of orange flames. "Harry!" the skull said as he spotted me. "Long time no see. Is it time for another lesson with Sue?"

"No, Bob,” I said. “I need to ask you something."

"Butters," Angi said. "Invite Harry in so he can talk with Bob."

"Oh, right," Butters said. "Come in, Harry."

I sighed as I stepped inside. I didn't want to stay and interrupt them. I'm sure they wanted some alone time. "I'll be quick."

Butters closed the door behind me as Angi set the skull down on the coffee table. I went and sat down facing the skull. Butters and Angi stood back and watched. "So, what's up, Harry?" Bob asked. "What can I do for you?"

Bob the skull was a spirit of intellect. Up to a few months ago, he resided in a bleach white skull. A real one, but I gave him a new vessel as part of a deal we had made a few years ago after I first returned to Chicago as the Winter Knight. He had been around for years and belonged to my old mentor Justin DuMorne and before that, a necromancer named Kemmler.

"What's a draconequus?" I asked him, jumping straight to the point.

The flames of the skull flicker as he started to whip around randomly. "Oh, on, Harry! You don't want to mess with a draconequus! They are bad news!"

"Bob, calm down," I said.

"No, you don't understand, they are extremely dangerous,” he said. “They are Outsiders."

My eyes widen. "An Outsider?" I questioned. Hell's bells, this just keeps getting worst. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Why does it have to be an Outsider? I thought ponies were going to be the least of my worries."

"Excuse me," Butters said. "Ponies?"

I sighed. I started to explain everything starting with Twilight and her appearance at the Carpenter's house. Butters and Angi looked at each other when I finished and Bob was just staring.

"What you mean to tell me," Bob said, "is that you've been running around picking up these young girls and you didn't even invite me?"

"Bob," I said.

"Are they hot?" he asked.

"Bob," Butters said.

"I mean, yes, they're ponies, but here, they're human girls,” he kept on, not listening to us.

"Bob!" Angi said.

"What? I'm just curious." Even though Bob had no gender, as long as I've known him, he always had this fascination with the female body. It was annoying.

"Bob," I said. "Focus. What's a draconequus?"

The skull pouted. "Alright, alright. A draconequus is a creature of chaos. They usually appear as a mixture of animal parts and can change anything around them just by thinking about it."

"What do you mean?" Butters asked.

"He can change reality," Bob said. "An object could turn into something else. He could make it that rain flowed upwards. He can make it snow while it's a hundred degrees outside. Whatever he can think of, it can happen. That's what makes them dangerous."

"And we have two of them somewhere in the city," I said.

"If that's true, why isn't the city turn to jello or something?" Angi asked.

"Don't know," Bob said. "Maybe they're not here after all. Or their powers have been limited. I've never actually heard of one coming to this realm before. None have ever gotten past the Outer Gates."

I growled. "Well, as long as pigs still don't fly, we're good," I said. "What about these ponies? They don't know why they appear human here nor why they were separated."

"Well, the laws of this world might have made them humans when they crossed over. I bet you would turn into a pony if you went to their world." The skull started to laugh. "Imagine that, Harry as a pony!"

"Bob, I can smash that skull real easily," I said.

"Right, well, as for them separating, that could be the spell they used just faltered,” he said. “They did something wrong. Sorry, Harry, I don't have anything for that."

I sighed as I sat back. There wasn't much I could go by, but at least I knew I was dealing with Outsiders. I might as well label these girl's as Outsiders also. Even if they weren't, the White Counsel wouldn't see it that way. Thankfully, they don't know what's going on here yet and, hopefully, it'll remain that way. If they find out there were two Outsiders and some girls from another world looking for them, they would send every wizard on the counsel to come deal with them all. This still didn't solve the problem on how to find them or the other ponies.





I ended up leaving shortly after that, not getting much more than I did. Though Bob kept begging to go with me to see these girls, I turned him down. I ended up going back to Murphy's. My cat greeted me when I came in and I saw Murphy sitting on the couch, listening to the weather report on the radio.

"Anything on the Paranet?" I asked.

"Nope," she said. "No Sam Singer or anything. Rawlins called me again. The art museum reported that their pieces were stolen and replaced with mock art."

"Mock art?" I asked.

"It looks like the original work but changed to depict something different,” she explained. “They thought it was vandalized at first, but they say the changes were worked into the art. And there's something else. Whoever did it, they replaced the sculptures with jell-o replicas."

"Hell's bells," I swore.

"You know what this is?" she asked.

"Possibly." I started to explain everything that happened today, starting with the visit with Father Forthill, the meeting of the ponies, and what I learned from Bob. By the end of my explanations, she looked concerned.

"Those poor girls," she said. "But Harry, I think you're missing something."

"What's that?" I asked.

"What if Sam is this Discord character?" she suggested.

I frowned a bit. "What makes you think that?"

"Harry, you can be an idiot sometimes,” she said. “Those girls' friend Discord leaves and comes here yesterday. This Sam Singer shows up in Chicago yesterday and disappears during the night. Discord never returns to their land. It's possible that they are the same person. Since he has this chaotic power to change things, couldn't he change his appearance too?"

She had a point, though it was still an assumption. He could very well be Chaogent also. If we could find this Sam guy, he might clear some things up one way or another. One thing was clear, one of them was here causing trouble. I just don't understand why it was just minor things. If they were so powerful, why not cause more trouble at a faster rate? Unless their powers were limited here. I think I was going to have to do some digging tomorrow.

"There's one more thing, Harry," she said. "It seems.” She paused for a moment. “Kincaid is in town."

I frowned. This wasn't good. If Kincaid was here, he must be here for a job. It was even possible that the job was me. He owed me a job a while back and I cashed that in on an assassination of the new Winter Knight...me. Hey, it was a good idea at the time. So that’s how I was killed. However, I was brought back, and Kincaid might see that as a failure on his part and could be coming back to finish the job. The worst part was that Murphy was stuck in the middle of this. She and Kincaid had a thing for a while.

Not to mention that this was on top of finding not one but two creatures that could destroy the city if they wanted to, two more ponies, and I still had to take Maggie Trick-or-Treating. I’m getting too old for this shit.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

She took a deep breath. “The guy I had a thing with years ago is coming to kill my current boyfriend, how do you think I feel?” she asked.

Current boyfriend? Is that what we’re at now? Hell’s bells, I thought we just had benefits. Did I miss that conversation? “Boyfriend?”

I saw a light blush show on her cheeks. Murphy was a tough woman and to see her like this was kind of cute. She would kill me if I told her that though.

“Well,” she said. “I guess. Ever since you came back from the island and we...you know. We’ve been together for a while, Harry,” she said as she took my hand. I gave her a soft smile as I interlocked my fingers with hers. Whatever tomorrow had to offer, I’ll just have to deal with it then.