//------------------------------// // Chaos vs. Insanity, the ultimate battle // Story: Chaos: the Age of Spike // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// Chaos vs. Insanity, the ultimate battle In the chaos headquarters, formerly the CMC clubhouse, the whole team of chaos froze looking at what just happened. How could a single pony defeat that easily to the Bearers of Harmony, the Four alicorn Princesses and the deadliest warriors of Equestria without effort? NOT, THAT COULDN’T BE!! “No, NOT MA’ SISTER!” Cried Apple Bloom turning into Shadow and running to get the damn pony who dared to hurt her sister, but Spike stopped her with his magic. “Shadow wait! You have to think! Shadow kept trying to go but Spike’s powers were firm and too much for her; unfortunately Sweetie also got alert and turned into Black to assist Shadow and Spike was beginning to have problems. “Both of you STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” Ordered the dragon with a strength unknown until now. “Stop it already, we can’t just go and face him” “For you is easy to say it!” Protested Dark. “You have no older sister to take care of…” But she muttered when she remembered Twilight. It was when Black noticed Spike’s claw, firmly holding his throne at the point that he was bleeding. And now that they looked at him carefully, they gasped to see he was crying in fear. “I want to do something, I really want to” he said with a trembling voice. “But you already see how easily he defeated them, he is too powerful. Guys, I cannot risk to lose you! I already lost my big sister, I can’t lose my best friends as well” “Fine, but we have to do something” said Mist. “They are still alive; now that’s something. We haven’t lose them yet, but you’re right at one thing: we cannot act recklessly” “Even if we get them back how are we supposed to make them grow to normal size? Isn’t that guy the most powerful magician in Pony history?” Spike grinded his teeth thinking… there had to be a way. Thanks to Twilight he knew a lot of that guy… she practically spent half of the day talking about him. What he can use against him? Well, he knew he was dedicated to his studies; always inventing things and discovering stuff about pony magic; as Twilight a true academic. And speaking of Twilight, what was the most annoying thing for an academic? Think Spike, if he’s like Twilight what bothers her must bothers him… Then he grinned when he had his epiphany. “I have an idea but I need you to trust me” Black smiled softly to her drakefriend and kissed his claw. “Here, a healing kiss” she smiled. “And Spike, we’re your team, remember? of course we trust you as our leader. Isn’t that right guys?” “He messed with the wrong sists” assured Shadow. “Yeah, you tell us dude, we’ll follow you until the end” said Dark with a faint Smile. Mist nodded and Night cracked her neck. “Ready for everything, let’s teach a lesson to that mad pony” Then Spike charged his claws with the black and purple energy of chaos. “What do you suggest Spike?” Asked Black. “We’re agents of chaos” he said finally. “Our mission is to mess with the ponies, to drive them crazy. Any pony we want” “What do you mean?” “I wonder what could happen if we drive a pony who is crazy already even crazier. Let’s show him how annoying we can be” The five agents of chaos looked at him as he was crazy so he explained himself: “You see: we should thank him for what he did, he freed us from our only rivals: the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses. There’s no pony, and I mean no pony, who stop us to expand chaos all over Equestria and the world. Imagine: we have a free way to drive mad anypony we want and there’s nothing or no one to stop us. Anypony we want” Black chuckled when she understood. “Oh I get it now, but how do you drive crazy a pony who is already insane?” “I guess we’ll have to find it out” chuckled Mist. “And now that there’s no Bearers of Harmony we can try everything” They took a deep breath and ran to action. But at the entrance of the clubhouse they bumped into the Black Swordsman and the Lighting Flash, who ran all the way from Canterlot. “You’re here! Good, we have a very big problem” said Black panting. “I know you’re the team of chaos but your sisters are in danger” said Lighting Flash also panting. Spike winked an eye to them and then the team led to Canterlot. … At Canterlot Archives, especially the area of Star Swirl the Bearded, Star Swirl the Bearded himself had already all the books he needed for his demented researches with several ponies immobilized with his magic aura; surrounded with the entire scientific equipment. “Say Celly, there’s something neither Hatty nor me understand” said the crazied wizard to the tiny Princess on his crystal ball. “Why did you named this area as me if you don’t like me?” Celestia glared at him. “I honor the pony you once were Star Swirl, not the one that you turned into” Star Swirl giggled happily. “But I’m still me my faithful student! I Pinkie-Promise you that this research about the pony body resistance would change everything forever. Now, where were we? Oh, what affects you the worst; scorpion stings or snake bites?” With his magic he brought closer the two unconscious captains: Blue Blood and Master Sword. “The Military! Their resistance is superior to any other pony; the perfect test subjects for this project” smiled Star Swirl in delight. “Please Mr. Swirl!” Cried Twilight from the crystal ball. “You don’t have to do this, you’re a great pony! Please, I’m sure you’re still there, just have to think. Please bring back the reason you lost long time ago!” Star Swirl raised an eyebrow. “I lost reason you said? Hummm, knowing me that’s nothing new. I’m a genius but also very disorganized, I left everything on the most unusual places. Ey! Probably I could find it with my collection of dust. I was contemplating at it when I decided to pass them the vacuum to keep it clean and it suddenly disappeared! I don’t know if I lost it or it was stolen from me; probably the second” Applejack and Rainbow Dash face-hooved. This was the most brilliant pony of all time? Seriously? “Whatever” the demented sorcerer said taking a silver plate with small amounts of some kind of black powder. “That experience showed me that dust is too valuable for the ponies so instead of dust I’ll collect pepper! No pony would think in stealing pepper right? I wonder why ponies don’t usually like it is so pretty and smells soooooo gooooooood” What happened next was completely obvious: a tremendous sneeze (from their new point of view it looked like a typhoon); seriously being shrunk was very uncomfortable. “OH NO! MY PEPPER! I thought this collection was untouchable! Who would like to steal my pepper?” He said looking at the empty silver plate. “Certainly it was the same pony who stole my dust. You didn’t see anything, don’t you?” Applejack sighed. “Unbelievable, simply unbelievable; of all enemies we had to be defeated by him?” “Not even the Crystal Heart can defeat him or something?” Asked Rarity to Candace and Shining. Both shook their heads. “No, like the Elements of Harmony it only works with those who are evil” explained Candace. “And I feel no evil coming from him, his aura is the same of a mental patient” Shining hugged her. “And if somepony can read a pony’s feelings that’s my Candace” They all let escape a defeated moan, so everything was lost for them? Then Trixie entered, gasping to see her fellow captains in those conditions. “Grandpa no! Please don’t! They’re my friends, if you hurt them…” “Your friends, my cute little granddaughter?” Asked Star Swirl scratching his beard. “Oh, that’s so great! You know how to choose them, don’t you? They’re the perfect test subject for my newest investigations. New knowledge is on experimentation, you know? let’s do this: if they’re your friends you choose who’ll get bit by the snakes and who’ll get the stings from the scorpions” Trixie froze in fear, was her grandpa serious? Knowing him, yes. She needed to do something and do something quickly. “But grandpa, you promised me you’ll teach me, remember? You said that you’ll tell me everything you know like when you visited my dreams. Why don’t we study together? I really want to be like you grandpa” The demented pony kissed her forehead. “Of course I’ll teach you my cute little granddaughter; you can be sure of that. But you also know I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m experimenting so let me do some tests on youf friends and they I’ll start your lessons. Right? O why not start now? Stay and I’ll show you how to do a methodological investigation. You’ll learn how to experiment with other ponies! So where were we! Oh right, shall we start with scorpions or snakes my cute little granddaughter?” Trixie sent an apologetic and very scared look to the crystal orb and gulped, now what? Luckily a parchment appeared in front of the crazy magician in the middle of green flames. “Dragon’s messenger breath?” Asked Star Swirl. “Okay, that’s interesting… I wonder who wrote me… Do you think it was the pony who stole my pepper and dust? Anyway let’s take a look” On the tiny crystal ball they all stared in silence, could it be Spike? When he opened it, an explosion of confetti, serpentines and loud dubstep music make him fall of the impression. Trixie muttered in surprise but then she grinned in satisfaction. “Okay is this a joke or what?” Asked Star Swirl shaking the confetti from his beard examining the parchment again. This time the message received him splatting a cake on his face. Trixie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Not funny my cute little granddaughter, not funny! And you Hatty! How many times I’ve told you to not to laugh of a pony who was just pranked?” The hat remained silent of course but he frowned. “What? A thousand times? Hatty, I’ve told you six billion times to not to exaggerate!” On the crystal ball the tiny ponies were between fear and exasperation; just like Applejack, the fact that they were defeated by HIM for all the ponies began to piss them off. Seriously, this idiot was the greatest magician of Pony History? In the meantime Trixie examined the parchment. “Oh, it’s an invitation to a party” explained Trixie scratching her head. Star Swirl then took the parchment confident that there were no more bad jokes to attack; a stream of fruit punch straight to the face made him realize he was wrong. Squeezing his beard, Star Swirl began to look everywhere knowing that the prankster had to be close. He finally the black filly hanging from the chandelier with her tail. “So you’re behind this pranks” said Star Swirl. “Who are you and why your parents haven’t taught you to respect your elders, especially when they’re in the middle of amazing discoveries that would change Equestria forever?” The filly, still hanging, shrugged. “It wasn’t me, I just came to the party” she said agilely jumping from where she was and landing on her back hooves to then stretch Star Swirl’s hoof. “I’m Night Seed, nice to meet you” Star Swirl smiled dangerously. “You have a very interesting aura, want to join my experiment Night Seed? I don’t know why but you feel like… full of chaos. Chaos in pure state, how’s that possible?” Night shivered slightly but kept with the plan. “Experiment? Nah, boring! I came here for the party!” “There’s no party in here, just science!” Giggled Star Swirl. “But science is a party itself. If you want to join me…” “Ye’re right, there’s not party, YET!” Cheered happily Shadow Bloom entering from a big window. “But we’re gonna change that in no-time! “Don’t you get an invitation?” Asked Sweetie Black teleporting in a corner. “You got it, your granddaughter still haves it” said Dark also entering by the window. Trixie passed him the stupid parchment that he read carefully. Dear Mr. Swirl: you’re cordially invited to a party in your honor. Place: Canterlot archives, Star Swir’s section. Hour: RIGHT NOW! “What?!” “A party in your honor” explained Mist appearing. “Come on, isn’t that hard to understand” Star Swirl looked at Hatty. “You knew about this Hatty?” Before the hat could ‘answer’ Spike teleported to Star Swirl with a friendly smile. “Knew? He was our spy and told us everything you like Mr. Swirl!” Cheered the young dragon. “Are you ready?! NIGHT, PARTY CANNON!” Night Seed took her especial cannon and filled the room with such scandal that included lasers show, last Vinyl’s album at full volume and black and purple confetti all over. It wasn’t easy to annoy a pony like Star Swirl, but they were interrupting his studies, the thing he hated the most. He looked at his precious parchments ready to collect new data but Spike simply extended them on the table and placed a punch bowl to then start dancing with Black. And Star Swirl though he was dying when during their dance they kicked the ink jar and all the content spread on his most recent annotations. “WHAT THE HAY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! NOOOOO!” Black quickly separated from Spike faking being embarrassed. “Oh, right! He’s the guest of honor and we’re practically ignoring him! And we haven’t even thank him right?” “So what are we waiting for?” Asked Mist excitedly. And suddenly the six irritating children took him on hooves and began to cheer while singing horribly out of tune: CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Finished Spike with a tone so high-pitched that the archives windows cracked instantly (except for the crystal ball where the tiny ponies were held). But the agents of chaos were wearing ear protectors so they were safe. Then they let go the crazy pony and kept going with the party; or pretending because really they were watching at every single move of the lunatic ready for a quick escape. “OKAY STOP IT!!” Roared Star Swirl surrounding with an aura of pure power. “WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON IN HERE?” The music stopped and Spike made appear his floating throne and smiled to Star Swirl showing all his fangs. “Is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Swirl! My name is Spike, lord of Disharmony and Chaos; and they’re my associates: Night Seed!” “Is good to meet you Mr. Swirl!” “She’s Shadow Bloom” “Houdy!” “ScootaDark” “The best of the team” “Mist” “How are you Mr. Swirl?” “And my marefriend Sweetie Black” Black jumped to Spike’s throne and kissed him on the cheek; much for Rarity’s irritation and Twilight’s surprise; but now they had all of Star Swirl’s attention. “The Lord of Disharmony and chaos? That explains your strange aura, but what happened with the other guy? You know, the thing that looks like something that born after an orgy between the gods and a bunch of other animals” They all moaned. “Dude! We’re children!” Complained Mist. “You just simply can’t put that disturbing images on our young minds” “Seriously grandpa, that was gross” joined Trixie. “I suppose you’re right, sorry” said Star Swirl. “What about Discord?” Spike relaxed on his throne. “He decided it was time to retire since he’s too old to spread chaos; so he nominated me as his replacement. But that doesn’t matter Mr. Swirl, we’re throwing you this party because…” Black approached the crystal ball where everypony were locked with her magic and passed it to Spike. The dragon laughed evilly and shook it with cruelty. Inside it was worse than a tsumani and earthquake together, what was Spike doing? “This group of tini-tiny ponies always stop us, they even managed to reform Discord. But you did something none of us could: to defeat them!” “And even the Princesses” chuckled Mist giving the mad pony a friendly slap on the back. “Now we have a clear path to spread chaos all over Equestria!” “There’s no pony who can stop us now, just look at them: so little and hopless” smiled Night. “Now, hit it guys!” CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Star Swirl and Trixie covered their ears, this was totally insufferable, in all his years of research nopony dared to interrupt him in such annoying and irritating way. It was too much, and to make thing worst, Shadow began to dance with Hatty once she put a party hat herself. “Hatty you traitor!” Shadow looked at him and after think about it a second and a half, she put Trixie to dance with Hatty and she took Star Swirl as partner. “You wanted to dance with me Mr. Swirl? Oh, it’s such an honor, of course A’ll dance with the pony who defeated our enemies!” And the poor wizard was pulled into a very fast and rude country-style dancing; and he was reaching his patience limit. Trixie smiled and after she exchanged couples with Night to dance with Mist. Star Swirl couldn’t believe this! First Hattya and now his granddaughter! Everypony betrayed him! It was too much for him, he screamed in anger and teleported looking for a quitter place concentrate on his studies. Everything stopped and Spike put the crystal ball on a safe place. “Are you alright? sorry for earlier girls, now we’ll get you out of there as soon as we could. In the meantime: Trixie, take care of them!” The blue unicorn made a small nod. “You can trust Great and Powerful Trixie, I knew you could find the way to defeat my grandpa. I love him and all but he’s crazy” Celestia looked at Spike. “Be careful, you won this round but only because you caught him out of guard, but you have to be more careful with him. I know is asking you too much but please stop him! We cannot let him experiment in ponies. Please, stop him from doing that” “We took care of that first” explained Mist. “That’s why we took our time to get here: officially there’s no place in Equestria where he can relax and study, everything is too messed up to” Luna looked at them very serious. “Do you realize you’re in dangerous terrain? Every lunatic has a fixation, and Star Swirl’s are studies. Without his fixation he cannot regulate himself and if he doesn’t regulates…” “I know, we’ll craze somepony who is already crazy. But we’re out of options” explained Shadow. “Your mistake was that you can’t fight a crazy guy seriously, you have to lower to his level” said Black. “Let’s hope that this works” Rarity was about to say something but they suddenly heard a crash and a shout of crescent anger. “Oh, he found that we turned all the hallways in soap” grinned Spike. “Now let’s get the hay out of here before he kills us for real!” The teams of chaos teleported away. Trixie looked at the crystal ball. “Shall we worry about them or for my grandpa?” Celestia shook her head. “Honestly Beatrix Lulamoon, I have no idea” In the meantime, from the remains a very fancy glass cabinet, Star Swirl got up as he could from the slippery floor holding from a shelve but thanks to the agents of chaos it wasn’t made of wood but of cracker and he fell again. “Isn’t there a damn room in this place where I can rest peacefully?” He shouted. “HATTY, WE’RE LEAVING! WE CANNOT CONTINUE WITH YOUR INVESTIGATIONS IN THIS CONDITIONS!!” And tottering around in the soapy hallways he made it to the entrance where Trixie was waiting for him with Hatty and the shrunken prisoners. Star Swirl stared at her hat. “Something wrong grandpa?” “Well… yeah! Hatty seems to get along just well with your Witch-Hat! At this rate they’ll be dating in no time!” Trixie didn’t even bother to answer. Then Star Swirl put a hoof on the stairs… but unfortunately somepony (who knows who!) turned it into a water-slide and the poor elder found himself dragged by the current at 60kmph. Trixie had a sweat drop on her temple and better teleported down. The soaked Star Swirl had a tic under his left eye, he clearly got annoyed when ponies didn’t let him study. “Little M &$%/THER F$/&K%ERS. Is there any other place you know we can continue with our investigations, my cute little granddaughter?” Trixie shook her head and showed him the surroundings: Everything was a complete and total disaster, of course. The Princesses’ Palace were floating several meters from the ground with several liters of soap running out of all windows and doors; but the liquid never touched the ground; some kind of unusual force made it make all the way back. Several tortoises were flying to the north in reverse, a very muscular bunny was arm-wrestling with the Minotaur Iron Will; an arm wrestling fight that was taking place on a raft in a raft floating in a river of… “Oh, what’s this?” He asked tasting the caramel-colored liquid. “Whoa! This is delicious! The most delicious candy I ever tried; a candy that leaves in shame every other candy I know” On the crystal ball everypony made a synchronized face-hoof. Star Swirl stopped tasting the delicious candy of all candies and began his look for a calm place to continue with his studies. Trixie followed him doubtful of what they’ll find next but at least a little relieved that Spike won’t let him experiment with the other ponies. Effectively Star Swirl looked everywhere but there was no place where he could investigate in peace. Everything, absolutely everything, was touched by madness… or shall I say chaos? But okay, he was able to stand chaos; what was driving him mad was the irritating and out of tone music that were coming from everywhere, giving him the mother of all headaches and driving him to a nervous collapse. Seriously, what was that horrible sound? It was when he found a little orchestra of children armed with pans and pots creating that horrible racket; leaded by Black who greeted him as an old friend. “Oh, hi Mr. Swirl! What do you think of our master piece? Is a march in your honor, for get rid of the Princesses and the Bearers of Harmony! From now on this would be the Kingdom of kids! Would you like to hear our other works? All of them are for you! A nervous tic reappeared on the magician’s eye. “Girl please. I beg you…” “He’s begging us guys; you know what to do!” “No, that was not what I meant!” Protested the magician but it was too late. CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” This was enough. “STOP IT PLEASE!!” Black prepared herself for an escape maneuver but without losing her calm, she trusted in her drakefriend’s plan. Rarity looked from the crystal ball to her little sister; she was scared for her but she also felt proud of her. Anypony could see the confidence on the filly’s eyes, it helped them to calm down a little. The one who was feeling worst for moments was Star Swirl, because as Luna assured: without access to his fixation he was getting out of control even more… and with the scandal keep going on the background his thoughts were barely more than a blur. However he felt Trixie’s hoof on his shoulder, so he relaxed a bit. “Girl, please, I have an important investigation to do and I can’t do it if you keep interrupting me with this craziness. Please, tell if there’s any place I can reorder my thoughts and keep my investigations in peace?” Sweetie pointed to a big building only a few blocks away. “You can use the library of the Gifted Unicorns Academy, get there… if you can” Not noticing the sarcasm, Star Swirl nodded. “Thank you kid, let’s go Hatty, my cute little granddaughter and Witch-Hat!” “He named your hat?” Asked Black. “I know, I know” sighed Trixie following the crazy magician. They walked for a while until they found a small sign: CRASH ZONE, WATCH YOUR STEP Trixie chuckled when she remembered Black’s comment, if you can. Star Swirl already was familiar with the signature of chaos, it was going to be easy to break the spell but when he was about to do it, he was something that completely horrified him: It was Spike, with a bunch of books that he was ripping off the pages and throwing it to a bonfire. “Hi Mr. Swirl! I was checking on your investigations about the laws of physics…” “WHAT?” Roared the unicorn looking his academic proud being destroyed by the Lord of Chaos. “Mmh, very interesting, but since there’s no more Guardians of Harmony we’ll do some changes here, I decided to mess with the laws of physic forever! That’s why I’ll get rid of this obsolete investigations; every single copy of them and you can investigate the laws of physics again” The tic under his eye got stronger, this manifesting as a tremble all over his body. “Okay, I finished!” Smiled the dragon. “Now I’ll take care of your theses of Equestrian Biology!” Said that he went inside the library. Enough, Star Swirl charged to the dragon but he forgot about the detail of Spike’s spell on that block and before he could react, instead of go directly to him he began to move backwards. “What?” He tried to run to the left but he crashed right instead. His sense of direction was messed up. But of course being the skilled magician he was he just could brake Spike’s spell but he couldn’t concentrate since he was attacking his weakness: the job of his life. However, he managed to calm a little and effectively he broke the spell with ease; so he marched to the main door and opened it. Spike calmly went out of the window and closed the door behind him. “That won’t delay him that much” mumbled Twilight from the Crystal Ball. “It will, it’s a crazy door” The crazy pony appeared on the middle of the dessert in the middle of nowhere. Star Swirl was looking everything, as confused as ever. This time he screamed in anger, shooting a powerful beam directly to the sky. “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!” A beam so powerful that was visible all over Equestria. In Canterlot everypony shivered, included Spike and his team. “Okay, it’s official! He’s sick of us! If the next part of the plan doesn’t go as we planned, we get the hay out of here” said Spike. “I wonder if we can escape” mumbled Shadow. “You know dude? This idea seemed awesome at first, but now I’m a little scared” said Mist. “Sorry for get you involved in this Rumble, you have nothing to do with Fluttershy. Same to you Babs, but I had to try something to save our sister” “Oh Spike, you know we’re a team!” Smiled the filly. “Besides everypony will be in danger as long as that lunatic walks free” “That’s true” said Celestia. “Let’s pray that your plan works Spike” Shining smiled confidently. “In fact there’s a possibility. Think about it: they’re not fighting them in a way he understands, they’re practically doing what they always do” “Chaos” said Candacce. “That’s right, this randomness is even worse than his craziness; he doesn’t know how to deal with this, every move you’ve done is something new that astonishes him” continue Shining Armor. “But you better hurry or you’ll lose your advantage” They all nodded a little worried but right now they had another problem to worry about. “We get it, but why don’t we try to figure out how to return you back to normal while we wait for him?” Asked Spike. In the meantime Star Swirl guided by the aura of the team of chaos was leading to Canterlot, ready to put them on their place but he was too far; but at least being far away from the city meant that he was also far away of the scandal and once he calmed down, he could teleport to the place. And suddenly a pack of parrots appeared behind him and began: CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” He cried in frustration, why? Why? WHY? And the worst part wasn’t the a long way; a long an trying way and at this rate he began to get hungry. It also wasn’t the fact that he was still unable to investigate; the worst part was that the children weren’t even fighting him, they were playing with him as he was their playmate or ally. “I’m hungry” he complained after a while. Luckily for him he found a tree on the middle of the way. A tree completely made of candies that gave more candies instead of fruits. Well, he wasn’t a sweet-tooth but something was something. But when he tried one of it, he felt disappointed and spitted it immediatelly. It was a simple candy, as sweet as it should be… but after tasting that delicious river of candy of all candies it just seemed so inferior. “I can’t believe this! After that delicious river I can’t taste this sweets anymore!” He looked to the front, all the way to Canterlot was full of those threes. This was worst to face the Sirens, Lord Tirek and everything he ever faced. What happened to him? A simple bunch of children that were not even fighting him were able to take the best of him and left him in so regrettable state. “But they’re not even fighting me! They think I’m their pal, a playmate. But why does it anger me this much, why?” After a minute of silence he finally got it. “Oh, I know! I can’t stand children!! That’s it, I CAN’T STAND CHILDREN! They’re so loud and annoying and haves tons of energy… they’re… they’re just kids but this is getting the best of me, I wasn’t born to be a parent apparently” The parrots kept following him. CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” “SHUT UP ALREADY!!!” The day was getting longer and longer, it supposedly to be night time already but because Celestia and Luna were trapped in a crystal ball at the size of a bug; the sun was still up like it was noon and damn, it was hot! But after hours and hours of walking followed by all kind of annoying animals singing that he was a jolly good fellow he finally made it. Tired, and sick of all, starving and thirsty, Star Swirl made it into Canterlot. He was sick of all but at least relieved that he got into the city. “Finally, I’m here! I’ll ask my cute little granddaughter for something to eat and…” He froze at the sign hanging on the entrance of the city: —WELCOME MR. SWIRL!!— “Ey guys, he’s here!” “Finally! You know what to do!” Star Swirl gulped. “No, no, no, please no…” Too late: CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Star Swirl took a deep breath hoping to relax, but he reached his breaking point. He wanted to study and keep with his investigations… but mostly he wanted for those kids to leave him alone! He wasn’t interested in experiment on them anymore, he just wanted them as far as possible. Night happily jumped and shook his hoof. “You’re finally here Mr. Swirl! I hope you haven’t had too many candies in the way we prepared for you because we have punch and cake only waiting for you” “Yeah, you arrived just in time for the party!” Assured Black. Star Swirl made a forced smile. “I already had a party, remember?” “That was your ‘thank you for defeating our enemies party’ now this is a different kind of party” explained Dark. Shadow appeared before him and bowed. “Ya’ see Mr. Swirl: we kinda’ heard you screaming and at the beginning we didn’t get was angered you that much. But now we get it! Ya’ did us a great service and all we did for ya’ was to throw a party. That’s why we discussed it and agreed ya’ deserve a lot of more recognition” “Yeah, sorry for not understand what you wanted at first dear Mr. Swirl” said Mist hugging him as he was a relative. “But now that we know we hope you can smile again” said Dark. Then Black putted him a CMC scarf. “What’s this?” He asked afraid to ask. “This is the official scarf of the team of chaos!” Celebrated Black. “Now we’ll have fun together every day, what do you think?” Dark winked an eye. “Because…” “YOU’RE OUR NEW MEMBER MR. SWIRL, NOT IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE!!” Shouted all the foals at once. Spike appeared and gave Star Swirl a big welcome hug. “Thank you for defeating the only ponies who can stop us, I hope that from now on we’ll have tons of adventures together! Now girls, where were we?” CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” That was it, Star Swirl screamed in anger, why this was happening to him? What did he ever done to deserve this? He forcibly appeared Trixie at his side. “Stop it” he said with a trembling voice because of the contained fury. “I CAN’T STAND CHILDREN, I CAN’T STAND CHILDREN, I CAN’T STAND CHILDREN! AND I’LL SHOW YOU! My cute little granddaughter, the crystal ball” Trixie passed it to him and surprise-surprise, he freed his prisoners. The nine mares and the stallion looked at him confusedly but they secretly thanked the team of chaos. “WHATA RE YOU WAITING FOR? THEY TRANSFORMED YOUR BELOVED KINGDOM INTO A DISASTER! THEY CROSSED THE LINE, USE HARMONY AND LET’S BACK TO OUR EXPERIMENTS!” The team of chaos approached bravely to their sisters and hugged them. “We crossed the line?” Asked Spike. “You crossed it first Star Swirl, you messed with our older sisters now you’re paying the consequences” Star Swirl raised an eyebrow. “What?” The young agents of chaos just positioned in front of their sisters like protecting them, but with a playful expression like if they were ready to play. “What’s the meaning of this?!” Demanded to know Star Swirl. “We’re rivals on the battlefield, but at the end of the day we’re a family” explained Black. “This is the magic of friendship, something you’ll never understand!” Defied Twilight feeling proud of Spike. “Again with that?” Complained Star Swirl. “But Hatty and I…” Spike grinned while Dark showed him his own hat and shook it to make the bells sound. “Is that so? He is very angry with you Star Swirl, friendship is about giving and receiving, but he only gives never receives. On sunny days he is the one getting all the sun while you are fresh and happy under him, on rainy days he’s the one who gets soggy first only for keeping your head dry for a little more; okay, he’s a friend and he is happy to do it, but all he asks in exchange is a wash from time to time. When was the last time you ever took proper care of Hatty?” “Hatty!” Jumped Star Swirl. “Why you never told me?” Again Dark made the bells sound. “He says that you only speak, never listen. But he did told you” Celestia was about to interrupt this nonsense conversation but Luna kicked her on the flank to make her shut up. “It’s working don’t you see?” Luna whispered. Celestia sighed, as always it was impossible to talk Star Swirl reasonably. Spike charged the black and purple energy of chaos. “Sorry Star Swirl, but even if I’m the lord of Disharmony and Chaos, I never allow to anypony touch my sister or my friends” The Bearers of Harmony, the agents of chaos and the Princesses closed their eyes, releasing their own power as well. Star Swirl tried to look for support with his granddaughter but Trixie joined the others. “Sorry grandpa, but you’re wrong. You always were” Star Swirl recognized that power combined power. “But it haves no sense! How are you able to mix the power of Harmony and Chaos?” “The magic of Friendship outlooks the little details, our mutual care and support is all that matters at the end of the day!” Explained Twilight. “Enough from the speech!” Said Spike firmly. “This time you’ll feel our combined power Star Swirl, you better get ready!” Star Swirl grinded his teeth. “All I do is in the name of knowledge! You have no right to do this to me!” He protested charging his own power. It was a desperate situation; Harmony couldn’t harm him but there was also Chaos on that mixture of power. Looking at the incoming danger, Mist made a small gesture calling for more animals to sing out of tone: CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! CAUSE HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! “And no pony can denyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Star Swirl covered his ears, he was hating that stupid song; and lost the precious concentration that allowed him to… Finally the children and the adults shot the final attack, this time being Spike the one canalizing it instead of Twilight. Star Swirl got the attack directly, screaming in fear. What they would to him? Spike was thinking, what he could do? With the power of chaos he was able to do whatever he wanted… how to use it against somepony as Star Swirl. “Spike!” Called Priness Luna. “Remember how Discord won first round against Twilight and company? Read his mind! Find his weakness!” No need to say more, Spike began to read his mind… looking for something. “Unbelievable! His mind is saturated! So full of knowledge that he can’t think clearly… speaking of irony” “WE KNOW THAT ALREADY! JUST ERASE SOME!” Shouted Celestia when she felt Star Swirl was recovering. Still Spike took his time looking for something; he didn’t know what but he had to find it. Found it, it was huge, a knowledge so big and powerful that made the rest of his pony brain to saturate. “WELCOME BACK TO REALITY!” Screamed Spike finally erasing that. Star Swirl fell on his knees trembling. He looked to everypony but his eyes stopped on Spike. “You… you… YOU TOOK FROM ME THE SECRET OF ETERNAL LIFE!” He charged to the dragon… to hug him? “Thank you kid! Thanks to you after all this years I’m finally able to think clearly…” He continued with the embrace while Spike returned it a little confused. Finally the rest approached carefully, but he reacted only to a voice. “Grandpa? Are you feeling alright?” He looked at Trixie and hugged her as well. “Oh my cute little granddaughter! I never meant to scare you is just thaa…” Celestia stared at him sternly. “Your limited mind of a mortal couldn’t with the secret of immortal life Star Swirl. I tried to warn you but you just didn’t listened. And because of your stupidity you became a dangerous lunatic, losing all contact with reality. But I still appreciated you my old friend, so much that I decided to ignore your early symptoms. A mistake I already paid” Luna nodded, she was also guilty in that sense. The unicorn sighed, he knew Celestia was right. But suddenly his eyes widened in realization and horror. “Grandpa” He looked at Trixie trembling in commotion. “Oh Trixie… what have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE? All the lives I took away… all the ponies I hurt… everything I did because of this madness! What have I done? What have I done?” He stayed there, crying while Trixie was comforting her grandfather. “Fix what Spike did, I take care of him” They nodded, at least the worst part has already passed. … Once everything was back to normal in Canterlot and all the damages made by the team of chaos, they all gathered at the Throne Room to decide the future of Star Swirl. He appeared, guided by Trixie seemed very affected. Celestia spoke sternly. “After all this years you got your sanity back, a relief, but you have to answer for your mistakes. Old friend and former teacher… even if you weren’t yourself when you practice all those horrible experiments on the ponies, I cannot ignore you endangered Equestria and the lives you took. How do you declare yourself?” Star Swirl sighed. “Guilty, obviously. But before you let me know my destiny I have something to say” “Go ahead” said Celestia. Star Swirl face Trixie and concentrated his power, they all prepared to a new battle but he didn’t attacked. Instead of that he created an orb of energy that he offered to Trixie. “Here you go, accept it please” “Grandpa… what is it?” The old pony smiled warmly and kissed her on the cheek. Trixie trusted her grandpa of course, so she accepted the gift. Trixie opened her eyes releasing a great amount of power. “That, my cute little granddaughter, was part of my knowledge. I wanted to teach you myself but that won’t be possible anymore so accept your new knowledges and always look for the wisdom. But never go too far, okay? I’m not immortal any more so I’ll use my last years to explore the new world” “You still have to answer for your crimes” said Celestia angrily. “Oh, and what can you do to stop me?” Mocked the sorcerer. Celestia frowned and bowed to say good bye, but before he left he created several orbs similar to Trixie’s and offered them to the team of chaos. “Use it chaotically kids, I owe you a big one so the least I can do is offer you part of my great knowledge to you as well” And he left just like that, simply walking through the main door knowing no pony were able to stop him but he knew he had to live forever with the guilt of what he did. “I suppose that’s my punishment to learn more than a mortal should” Back to the Throne Room. The kids were admiring the new powers they got because of Star Swirl. “Whoa! This is what I call knowledge!” Smiled Spike. “Great, right?” Said Sweetie Bell. “Spike, do you realize we’re even stronger than before?” “Cool, I want to try this!” Cheered Dark. “Rainbow bet ready” The cyan mare made a frown same as the others, this seemed bad. But to lower the tension Luna began to walk and made a gesture to the kids to follow her. “Knowing Star Swirl, I can’t say I didn’t saw that one coming. However, follow me kids, there’s something I need to show you” Celestia smiled, letting aside Star Swirl left unpunished, at least everything was fine now. Luna guided the team of chaos to the stained glass hallway; as always it was divided in two: at left the menaces and at right the heroes of several times. They finally stopped to the newest and biggest of them: Placed on the middle of the two sides there was one with the six lords of chaos. “Half a threat half our hope” smiled Luna. “Children, I believe you deserve a reward after you saved us from Star Swirl’s delusions. And if I’m not wrong, I think that the jealously of your sisters having their own stained glass in here was one of the reasons that made you become the agents of chaos” The kids smiled excitedly while their sisters were hugging them, also Fluttershy and Pinkie even if they weren’t related to Babs or Rumble. Twilight nuzzled to Spike. “At the beginning I wasn’t sure but now I see it Spike: Discord mad a great job choosing you”