//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Seven // Story: Agent of Chaos // by Li_Time //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty-Seven Harry Dresden After we entered the place, I looked around and took note of my surroundings. I noticed where Chaogent and Cowl were and the cage behind them. My daughter was in that cage. I heard a cheer from beside me and looked over to see all of the girls turned into bright colored ponies. They almost looked like cartoons how bright their coats were. I also noticed an image on the flank of each of them. Pinkie Pie had an image of party balloons, Twilight with stars, Rarity with gems, Applejack with apples, Fluttershy with butterflies, and Rainbow Dash with a rainbow colored lightning bolt. All hell broke loose when we ran through the barrier and charged at Cowl. I heard the thumping noise before the scream and filled my staff with power. The first zombie that came up got a staff to the face. The staff was carved from a hardwood that I found on the island. Even without the use of magic, it was one hell of a weapon. I cracked the zombie’s skull. The drawback was that these zombies were controlled by Cowl. They were controlled by magic, and the thumping noise that filled the air was used to keep them under control. They couldn’t be stopped by a few broken bones. The last time I had to deal with zombies were on Halloween night several years ago. History sure loves to repeat itself. I tried to push forward, trying to get towards Cowl, but more and more zombies crawled out of the ground and blocked the way. Seriously, Cowl watched way too many zombie movies. Molly joined me as we tried to fight through. I heard an explosion and I felt chucks of meat hit my back. Then I heard shouting from across the field. I froze the zombie that was attacking and looked over. Discord was on the ground with the yellow furred pony with long pink mare. I saw him push himself up and call out to me. “Harry! Summon me!” “What?” I demanded, turning and burning another zombie to ash. What the hell did he mean? “Say my Name!” he called back. Why did he have to phrase it like that? “You make it sound so dirty!” I called back. His Name? I didn’t know his Name. Unless Discord was it. That was one hell of a stretch. Then again, I was able to summon Mab in the middle of a sealed barrier on my island with no ritual or anything. It was worth a shot. Discord, you better know what you’re doing. I’m breaking a Law of Magic to do this. I drew in my Will and called out his Name. “Discord! Discord! Discord! I summon thee!” I didn’t get to see what happened. I had to deal with more zombies. I burned another zombie and looked around to see Discord throwing A.J.’s hat at a zombie. It sliced through the zombie like a flying buzz saw. I also noticed that Fluttershy had been transformed again into a vampire hybrid. Was this Discord’s true power? Discord appeared near us as I took out another zombie. “I like that freezing fire spell you used,” he said as he grabbed a zombie. I smirked at him. “Something I came up with after I became the Winter Knight,” I said. “I like it,” he said as he...played baseball with the zombies. “It’s just my style.” I turned, pulling out my gun and firing a round into the head of a zombie. Boom. Headshot. “Harry, go stop Cowl,” he continued. “If he absorbs Chaogent, we’re good as dead.” He had a point, but there was a problem. “Cowl has surrounded himself with zombies,” I told him. “I’ll take care of that,” he said. I was dealing with another zombie when he grabbed hold of my wrist. “Time to go.” “What the hell?” I said, or at least I started to say. Before I could finish, he threw me at the wall of fire he made. “Fuck you, Discord!” I called out as I went through the flames. It was surprisingly cold. As I went through, I saw the zombies burning in these icy flames. Discord had taken my spell and revised it. I came out the other side and tucked into a rolled. I landed in a not so graceful roll and had to push myself up. Cowl was chanting again, drumming a hand on a little drum hanging off his right hip. I whipped my staff around and called out, “Forzare!” A force of power lashed out, grabbed the drum, and pulled it towards me. The minute the drum was away from Cowl, the zombies went wild. They ran everywhere, attacking everything they could reach. Some charged at Chaogent but ran into the magic circle, preventing them from getting through. Others ran at Cowl, which made him have to stop his ritual and deal with them. Since he can’t work on the ritual, he couldn’t absorb Chaogent. In the meantime, I had to deal with my own zombies. The best way to do that was to break the spell on them. Problem was, I had no real way to do that. At this point, they would just drop when they run out of magic that’s already in them. This meant that we’ll have to deal with them until then. On the plus side, Cowl had to deal with them also. A heard a boom and a blue blur flew by with a trailing rainbow behind it. It flew right through where Chaogent was and I felt a tension of power snap free. The magic circle around Chaogent was broken. That was unexpected. “Finally!” he said with a hiss. “Cowl, you traitor. You will pay.” I saw Cowl turn his hood toward the creature before he decided to Scooby-Doo it out of there. He opened a rift and stepped through it, closing it behind him. Cowl got away. This angered Chaogent and he turned toward me. “Oh, hell no,” I said as he charged at me. I planted my feet and raised my staff. The staff was made from a hardwood, yes. It was great as a blunt object on most enemies. When you add a few spells to it, it becomes one hell of a battering ram. Seventy-seven runes were carved in the base of the staff. They were the same runes I had on some rings I use to wear. The spells were made to store up kinetic energy. Swinging the staff around, walking, any movement what so ever, the runes store the energy. Seventy-seven of these. Once I release the spell, all of them go off at once. Battering ram in the form of a wooden staff. I swung the staff, calling out, “Arietius!” The end of the staff connected with Chaogent’s jew and all seventy-seven runes released a punch that sent him flying. He flew through a bunch of zombies and skid across the ground in the middle of the fray. “What in Equestria was that?” I heard Twilight call out. “Discord!” I called out. “Got a delivery for you!” “Free express shipping, yes!” I heard him called out. “Where’s Cowl?” “Ran with his tail between his legs,” I called out, turning to the cage. I went to it. “Maggie? Are you alright?” She was still asleep, probably a sleeping spell. I started to look at the cage, trying to figure out how to open it. There was a lock, but I was sure Cowl took the keys with him. There was a shriek from behind me and I turned to see Chaogent was on top of me. He was a lot bigger than when I sent him flying. Like, he had tripled in size and he was already pretty big to begin with, and he was about to step on me. I couldn’t use the staff again; I had used all of the kinetic energy that it had stored up. It was a great spell, but it was a one-time use only. I would have to store up more kinetic energy to use it again. I, instead, lifted my Smith and Wesson 500 and emptied it into the bottom of his foot. He cried out in a hellish shriek and I heard another gunshot. I saw it’s head explode as he stumbled back. I looked around to see Kincaid there with his rifle. “Dresden,” he said. “I suggest you get your daughter out of here before it gets up.” I nodded as I turned back to the cage. I lifted the whole thing and started to run with the cage. “Time to get out of here!” I called out. “What?” called Dash as she fly up next to me. “What about Chaogent?” “Kincaid just blew his head off,” I said. “That’s not going to stop him,” Discord said as he appeared on my left shoulder. “You think your guns would stop an Outsider?” “It should be enough to send him packing,” I said back. “Not while we’re here,” he replied. “We’re in his domain.” The ground shifted and started to raise up. I jumped back and almost fell with the cage. The ground rose up and formed into Chaogent. “Got it,” I said. “His domain, his rules.” The others rejoined us and I glanced around to see the zombies dropping. The magic in them must have worn off. At least we didn’t have to worry about them. Just this big chaotic creature in front of us. “So, what’s the plan?” Thomas asked as he stepped up beside me. “We have to send him back to the Outside,” I said. “Or turn him into stone,” Twilight said. “Cause that worked well last time,” I said. “No, our best bet is to kill him or send him to the Outside.” “A lot of magic would do it,” Discord said. “But it won’t mean a thing if we don’t get out of this realm.” “Force him to another realm then,” I said. I felt the power surround us and a sudden force sent me flying back. The cage with my daughter in it went tumbling away. My little girl tumbled around inside as it rolled across the ground. I hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of me. I gasped as I rolled over and looked at my little girl. I saw the others go flying and I heard a yell from Discord. I didn’t care. All I cared about was if my daughter was alright. I rolled over and crawled towards the cage. My daughter laid there, her eyes open and staring at me. “Daddy?’ she mumbled softly. I reached out to her and was kicked across the ground by a giant hoof. I heard my daughter scream as I grabbed my stomach in pain. I looked around, seeing the creature lifting up the cage. Anger filled me as I pushed myself up. It was time to let out the Winter Knight. Suddenly, all of the pain went away. Frost formed around my hands and everything made more sense. Why was I afraid to use my full power? Was I afraid to hurt my flesh and blood? I was a good shot. My daughter was in no harm. I looked at my hand as a ice claw formed around it. “Yes, that’s more like it,” I said. I looked at the damn beast that had a hold of my daughter. It was time to end it’s life. I rushed forward, slashing its paw and cutting it clean off. The cage went flying and I held out a hand towards it. Ice formed across the ground and reached up, grabbing the cage and keeping her out of harm’s reach. “Time to die,” I said as I slashed at the beast again. He melted like water. I responded with a growl and threw a hand out at him, freezing him in ice. Discord appeared next to me. “Need a hand?” he asked as he formed himself into a sword. I took hold of him and ice formed around him. “Hey, watch it. That’s cold.” “Can it, Discord,” I said. Chaogent reappeared behind me and I turned, slashing him. The minute I cut into him, his wound burst into flames. Great, fire. Haven’t seen that a million times. “Harry!” called Twilight. I looked and saw the ponies running forward. Fluttershy was turned back to her pony self at some point. I heard them gasp at the sight of me. “I much prefer the human forms,” I said. “Don’t think about it,” Discord said. “You’re no fun, Discord,” I said. “Girls,” he called. “Time to show your true power!” There was a glow and I looked at them to see that they had changed. Their manes and tails were longer and added some more colors. Their marks on their flanks had also replicated themselves around their hooves. Their magic was astonishing and rivaled my own. And they fired that power at Chaogent in a blinding rainbow. The beast shrieked in pain and I smirked. This creature was done. I raised the Discord blade and stabbed at the beast. He shrieked even louder as I started to push my Will into the sword. I felt Discord do the same. “Curse you, Discord!” Chaogent called out. “I’ll kill you all! I will have the ultimate power!” “You’re not hurting anypony anymore,” Discord said. “Even if I fall here, my power will go on to the others!” he claimed. I saw cracks form all over him as light shined out of them. “We’ll infect all of your minds! We’ll take over your cities! The Blackhand Blades will rule you all!” There was a blinding light. Then darkness fell over me.