A Cultural Exchange

by Illiad_Easle

An Exchange of Havoc

"SPREAD NOW!"

Luther bellowed as chunks of rock, moving as if thrown by a giant, came zooming through the air, smashing into pebbles as they struck where the others once stood.

"How RUDE!" "HEY!" "Nyah nyah, ya missed us!"

The family kept their eyes on Redd, but began to circle protectively around Illiad's position.

Meanwhile, the unicorn himself could SEE it; it was like a number of strings, glowing with a headache-inducing shade of yellow, all coming from that one little stone around Redd's neck. All the magic going on with the others seems to be connected to that one singl-

... please...

What was that?

... help me...

It sounded as though it was very distant, even WITH Illiad's boosted power levels - chances were, it was BECAUSE of those boosted levels that he heard it at all.

... please...

So much fear.

The combined emotions of all those gathered, still amplified by the stones, continued to boost his own power levels. Until something clicked inside himself.

The manic smile dissipated, in its place a hard horizontal line. Time seemed to slow, and with all the power at his disposal it may just have. He closed his eyes for a moment and felt around the quarry for something, anything that he could use to stop Redd.

He felt Taps' shed, and though he had the power to break her protective enchantments, he decided not to open those possibilities.

He felt the cloud diamond cave, though it lacked enough material to be of much use. Didn't Mr. Blackwater say they had already excavated some? Where did he put it?

In a moment of searching he found the vault, not as well protected magically as the cabinet, but still somewhat protected. He sighed as he drained the enchantment, he'd have to put that back up when this was all over.

The enchantment gone he could see the cloud diamond, the shear mass of it was staggering, but would it be enough? It had to be.

With a massive flash that actually put a dent in his total magical reserves, he warped the entire mass of diamond out of the vault and refined it, leaving the diamond collectorate behind in the vault. Leaving him with a chunk of cloud diamond the size of several ponies.

With a second flash the circlets he had placed with such success on the Blackwaters appeared on the heads of every member of the quarry, except Redd. It had protected the Blackwaters from his influence before, it should still be effective.

When he spoke it was like the world was muted so that all could hear him without fail. "If you kill, you'll have to kill them with your own hooves, your magic can't make them kill themselves now. If you kill, you will die. Not Redd of course, but the stone. I won't destroy you, no. That might not work, but a little anti-magic could go a long way towards eliminating any magical influence the stone has. Trapping whatever remains within it forever. Unless you want that I'd suggest you leave the others out of it and fight me by yourself. You can keep them as collateral to ensure I don't cheat, but what you want is me, and I'm here. Killing them won't help you, it will only ensure your own destruction."

Illiad had never wielded such power before, and he hoped he wouldn't have to do so again. It scared him what he was capable of, he could kill everyone if he wasn't careful, if he didn't keep a tight lid on his own emotions. It wouldn't do them any good if he drove them all insane in the process of saving them.

The quarry workers, one and all, each stopped whatever they were doing and LOOKED at Illiad Easle.

There wasn't any hate... or fear of him... or even skepticism. There was AWE - LOTS of it. None of the other workers here had ever seen such a sight, and they had no idea what would come of it. But whatever it was, the Blackwaters were standing behind him - and as bad as their reputation was, the workers here knew the score for what it truly was; they might not be friendly, but they wouldn't stand behind just anybody.

Redd also seemed affected; he HATED it. As he stared back, an aura of red energy surrounded the indisposed Mr. Handid... then he simply dropped like a rock out of mid-air, hitting the ground with a dull thud and lying there motionless. What was left behind was... different...

The Jinx Stone itself began to unfold... and twist... and shape itself accordingly into the form of a scintillating, gem-like version of a draconequus - though this was NOT Discord... not in the least.

The form stood as tall as the water tower next to the refinery; it had two massive onyx wings that flapped menacingly behind it, and its tail was long and wickedly barbed. The two arms it had were muscular, ending in two powerful-looking fists tipped with sharp claws, and these it flexed with a grinding sound. Its head was long and angular, its eyes twin rubies set into its' skull and its mouth peeled back to reveal a row of jagged diamond teeth. Steam curled from its nostrils, and it coiled itself around Redd's form, transferring some of its' red aura to the hapless and helpless pony. Redd lifted from the ground and hovered directly in front of the gemstone draconequus.

"You words alone tell me EVERYTHING I need to know, unicorn - that you care so much for the other entities here says that even a single death will cause you SUFFERING... delicious, scrumptious suffering... and you may indeed destroy me, especially given your current power level... but my suffering will finally END with my death; yours will go on for the rest of your miserable existence!"

It grinned with a vile light in its eyes, and wrapped one of its taloned hands around Redd's skull, palming it deftly.

"Tell me... have you ever heard the sound of a pony's skull being crushed? It's simply delightful, I promise you..."

Its grip tightened, and a soft moan escaped Redd's muzzle.

"... continue derailing my fun, and I shall show you first-hoof what it sounds like. Your threats don't bother me - YOU OFFER ME RELEASE! A release that I would HAPPILY kill every living thing in Equestria for... but I sure won't simply lie down and die, either! Such is the nature of my ilk, that we simply MUST make our mark."

It regarded the pony in it's grip again, then looked back at Illiad once more.

"Perhaps I should make a mark on Redd Handid?"

Illiad simply shrugged, all the power, all the effort it took to not explode from the energy he contianed, it made it very hard to care. Though he held tight regardless, he had a purpose, a duty to the world.

"Why leave a mark on him... when you could leave a mark on me? A being as powerful as yourself must know how important I am to this world, how far your mark would change the course of the future of this world. I see many futures now, not all of them pleasant, though right now you have a say in how it all goes down."

He gave a smirk as his horn began to glow brightly, what remained of the mass of cloud diamond after all the circlets were made formed around himself, joining the sparse ring of the original diamond as majestic wings of diamond took shape. They seemed to channel the energy better, an array gathering the emotional energy and focusing it into a now gem-augmented horn.

"But if you're going to make a mark on me, you'll have to hit me first. If it's death you want, I can assure you it is something you'll NEVER receive if you harm any others. Instead I will take special measures to ensure that you are simply trapped by the anti-magic, forever trapped within your own mind, never to experience anything but your own thoughts, forever."

He took a battle pose, his left wing turned in front of his face like a shield while his right was extended back and to the right like a sword, all while standing on a cloud of the diamond to be at eye level with the Jinx Creature.

"Now let us do glorious battle for the fate of the world. Just you and me."

"Make your mark."

The thing tilted its head, then gave a low chuckle.

"And what would be so bad about that, eh? It would mean that I officially get away with everything I've done up until now; essentially sending me somewhere where I'll be forced to be alone with only my thoughts? Paradise!"

It cracked open its maw, and from within came a rollicking, raucous and raving laughter that felt like it was scratching gouges in his eardrums. The Jinx-Thing was insane; of that there could be little doubt.

"And I can mark your outer shell whenever I wish... but to mark your conscience with a death? THAT will leave scars that EVERY ONE will notice - scars of your WEAKNESS, your FAILURE... and the life, the single life, that causes this scar will be one you don't even like - the irony is more than I could ever have hoped to plan."

The Jinx-Thing wrapped the end of its tail around Redd Handid, holding him like a constrictor-type snake about to feed, as he sunk down towards the ground. As he did, Redd was brought to follow suit - he looked exhausted, yet each almost-yawn was stifled by a slap across the mug with that wickedly nasty tail. Redd was simply lolling in the grip of a mad creature.

However, Illiad was powerful enough to sense that Taps was in position on a high-wall, just opposite of the Jinx-Thing... and she had a number of magical items on her - including one buried inside her very heart, it seemed; the bright pulse from inside her was easy to see for the ultra-powered Empathic Trojan unicorn.

And she had a spell prepared that would turn that horrific thing back into a bauble... if Illiad could keep its' attention.

"You truly believe I have ANY other goal than causing as much damage as possible? Even my own freedom is forfeit, should it mean my work will cause utter chaos!"

The Jinx-Thing lowered its' voice until the bass rumble from it shook the ground and vibrated even within Illiad's chest.

"For I am HAVOC; and I now loosen the dogs of Tartarus!"

... and with that, he twisted his tail to the left quickly, and an audible > SNAP < filled the gap between the two combatants.

Havoc smiled at Illiad.

Illiad could still feel, thus it was only auditory. An illusion meant to distract him, to put him off kilter and attack haphazardly. It wouldn't work on him,

But it would on the others, those that couldn't still feel the little emotions he still gave, that would be quite the backlash that he has to prepare for lest it overwhelm him.

He looked at Havoc, head slightly to the side. "That's how it's going to be then? All right."

In a flash he sprung into motion, gripping Havoc's head with magic he spun it around as he slammed it to the ground swinging through its neck with a diamond wing to sever the head from the body before leaping back to his start position with the head in tow. "How do you like it? Not so pleasant is it?"

The eyes in the severed head rolled to look at Illiad, and his grin widened.

"That depends on your definition of the word 'pleasant', doesn't it?"

The head suddenly swelled up and exploded, covering Illiad in a gout of purple flame. The burns he felt weren't doing any physical damage; the pain was all magical in nature, and it felt as if his very essence was scorched from the explosion.

But he was far too powerful for that to register... yet.

The draconequus' left hand reached into the hole where the head had been and simply pulled up a new one, as if he'd been a turtle hiding in his shell. Havoc licked his lips with a jagged tongue and sneered.

"MY turn..."

He flexed his claws outward, and gestured. From the very ground itself, a spined column of pure emerald shot up out of the ground beneath Illiad, slamming into him at high velocity and shattering like glass, shards slicing and cutting into the Trojan's skin until he looked as if he'd gone twelve rounds with a rosebush... and lost.

"... aaaaaaand..?"

At Havoc's enigmatic question, each of the cuts began to sizzle with a greenish mist. THOSE were physical burns; some sort of poison or acid was searing at every single one of the multiple, tiny cuts. Havoc chuckled haughtily.

"And even the SMALLEST opportunity to do harm would be completely worth-"

A chunk of rock whizzed through the air, and slammed into the Jinx-Thing's left cheek, sending shards of its substance spiraling into the air. Havoc gave a surprised yelp, and locked his eyes on his assailant.

Luther Blackwater had taken up a position near some of the rock-filled carts near the mine proper, and had turned and was bucking rocks at the foul creature. With the mine owner's strength, those hard clots of earth were now ballistic missiles that could potentially kill a normal creature. Of course, Havoc was far from normal.

"BEGONE!" Luther bellowed as he sent another rocky shard flying at the gem draconequus.

This time, however, Havoc simply snapped his fingers in an all-too-familiar gesture, and the rock became a pillow that harmlessly fell to the ground, landing with a fluff of dust and feathers.

"Blackwater, I'll get to you next - like I got to your worker here." He rolled a coil, and one of Redd's limp forelegs momentarily appeared, helping Havoc to make his point to the crowd gathered here.

The ripple of shock, sadness and hate at the idea of Redd having been killed began to settle in on the other workers... and their hate began to grow into a presence that almost felt like some sort of slimy, black presence in the Empathic's mind. Illiad could feel that ball of hatred, almost sentient in its' raw power, filling his mind with the idea of vicious, cruel murder upon the gemstone draconeq-

"NO!"

The voice of Dax Blackwater rung out from below and behind the Trojan, and the enthusiasm began to shine like a small sun.

"It's a TRICK! Redd's ALIVE! Don't let that thing fool you!"

Even the workers who had called Dax by the nickname Pink-Slip earlier (Illiad could pick them out easily) had no doubt in their mind about the young stallion's honesty; the hatred began to abate, and turned into a sense of chagrin... then, as one they began to resist actively. The cloud diamond that protected their minds was sending that sense of fight and victory directly to Illiad, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 bits - Illiad felt as if he could simply let Havoc wear himself out; Illiad could take anything the evil being could throw at him.

Havoc brooded, his ploy obviously foiled... but he brooded with a smile.

"And I STILL have him, don't I? And your precious diamond can't get to him, either - so maybe I'll just do THIS..."

A snap, a puff of smoke, and Havoc was alone. What's more, a sickly reddish-purple aura began to glow around the Jinx-Thing, and began to warp and twist reality around it; Illiad couldn't seem to trace where the draconequus had sent Redd Handid.

"... and then THIS!!!"

He suddenly sent a spiral of razor-sharp shards spinning at Illiad, looking to turn him into a pony pincushion!

Illiad's form shimmered, before disappearing just before the razor shards passed through the area, then he reappeared, along with six identical clones of himself as the remaining mass of cloud diamond disappeared.

None of the Illiads has wings, but they each had a small line of cloud diamond circling around them, just enough to make a small shield to deflect projectiles if necessary. They all also appeared unharmed.

They spoke in unison, each with the same slightly smug expression. "Now what will you do Hmm? Can you find the real one?"

The Illiads all disappeared, the reappeared evenly spaced around Havoc, just far enough away that they would have time to dodge attacks thrown at them. They each in turn leaped from their positions to strike at Havoc with their hooves, diamond edges cutting away from his mass in a series of brutal blows to the head, limbs, torso, and tail respectively.

Meanwhile the true Illiad watched from a safe distance, controlling each of the seven clones through a small plane of cloud diamond through which he could see the battle. The stones were orbiting his head, each representing one of the clones on the field. "This should certainly be interesting."

As the Illiad-clones tore and slashed at the Jinx-Thing in their midst, a voice spoke from behind the Trojan's left shoulder.

"Hmmmm, yes... very nice. An expert attack, no doubt... too bad I'm not there to receive it."

Standing behind him was Havoc, though this was not the Jinx-Thing the others were fighting; it was somewhat ethereal, like looking at a ghost or such. The ghost was far more like a draconequus than the gemstone creature: he looked oily and dark, black scales shining like smooth sludge, claws that looked both cruel and precise, and his long body looked as if it were slightly crooked as he stood there.

Illiad hardly reacted when Havoc's ethereal form appeared behind him, he was too concentrated, too focused on containing himself to care. He wasn't about to fail them.

Unlike Discord, Havoc's limbs all were matching pairs - though still from different creatures, it seemed. To go with his dragon-like body, he had a large and leathery pair of batwings, his forearms were both paws of some large bird, like an ostrich, and both his legs were short and stumpy with no definable toes, like elephant's legs. The tail still ended in a tuft of fur, but Havoc's was a bright red - just like the goateee and bushy eyebrows he had on his sinister-looking face. His eyes, yellow orbs, had bright green pupils that seemed to track every twitch on Illiad's face.

"They may actually succeed in destroying that body, you know? 'Twould be a shame... because then my spirit would be FREE."

He leaned in close, whispering to Illiad from behind a claw.

"... and I'll bet I could cause SO much more damage if I found a host who was REALLY good with machinery... like a certain somepony who's currently locked away in her shed, hmmmm?"

With that, the ghost of Havoc snapped... and nothing seemed to happen. The draconequus looked quite confused.

"Well that's... different..."

Illiad could feel the change; Taps had started her spell.

Havoc turned back to the Trojan again. "No matter - I'll simply do this the old-fashioned way!"

He then vanished, and a roar issued from the center of the bladed whirlwind that was made of Illiad-clones. The roar hit certain decebels, and the cloud diamond that was closest to the wicked creature shattered from the vibration - a few clones managed to pull back far enough to remain standing, but Illiad saw at least two of them shatter like so much glass.

Havoc stood there, his nasty aura now blazing around him. He looked quite a sight; the Illiad-clones had done quite a number on his physical form. He was dripping some kind of greenish ichor from numerous places, one of his arms had been reduced to a stump, chunks were missing from his midsection, and he looked as if he'd lost an eye as well.

Yet he was still smiling.

"Oh, that's GOOD! Yes, bring unto me your worst - because I don't have time for your second-best antics!"

He slammed his tail into the ground, and pillars of rock formed beneath and flung the other Illiad-clones back at their master, moving at quite a high velocity.

Illiad dispersed the clones to make them easier to stop and reverse, flinging the now cloud of diamond back at Havoc, causing all the shards to embed themselves into his body, lashing themselves together into a straight-jacket of sorts as well as chains to bind him to the ground.

The diamond suit was designed to prevent him from escaping his body again, and to prevent him from leaving that spot while Taps completed her spell. Hopefully it would work.

Havoc looked at his newly formed strait jacket and chains... and turned his smile on Illiad once more.

"Oh! Whatever shall I do? It seems as if I have been ensnared by BAUBLES!"

He let loose a ragged, bellowing laughter as the end of his eyebrow became a small hand and >SNAP!<...

Havoc stood there, the diamond restraints and chains transformed into necklaces, rings and piercings that almost seemed to make Havoc look like a wealthy punk rocker. He chortled gleefully, and then pointed a single claw at Illiad.

"ENOUGH OF THIS."

With a single gesture, Havoc reached into the Empathic's mind and metaphorically tried to pinch the connections between Illiad and his abilities - and three things happened simultaneously:

Illiad felt something in his head twitch, and his Empathic abilities buckled; they didn't stop, but it was a NASTY knock.

A balloon filled with liquid struck the draconequus directly in the face, coating his entire upper torso and head with thick, dark blue ink.

A BRIGHT flash of light appeared around Havoc, and his eyes flew open WIDE.

"NO NO NO NO NOOOOO! I REFUSE TO BE DEFEATED AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN! NO NO NOOOOO! STUPID, WORTHLESS, TALENTLESS HORSES! CRY HAVOC! CRY HAAAAAAVOOOOOOOOOC!!!!!"

>poof<

There was a very unceremoniously small puff of smoke, and the Jinx Stone pendant fell to the ground, clinking against the rock as it landed.

Almost immediately, a gloved blue hoof swooped down and grabbed it up. Taps, with her satchel open, jammed it into a small, rune-covered bag in the front pocket, and shut the flap on it. She then looked up at Illiad, grinned, and tipped the bowler hat to him.

"ILLIAD! YOU DID IT!"

Dax came running towards his friend, his heart singing with happiness and relief. The rest of the Blackwaters were right behind him, all coming his way...

Taps moved up next to the Trojan, and out of the corner of her mouth, she whispered, "Keep your eyes on the ground, Easle... trust me on this one."

All this happening around him, yet whatever Havoc had done to him, he felt... wounded.

The attack on his abilities, had it succeeded, would have killed him instantly. As it was there was still a good chance of VERY bad things happening if he didn't fix it fast. Especially with all the others coming at him with their charged emotions.

He had to bug out of there fast.

His breathing grew ragged as his horn sputtered from the pinch on his abilities. Already the restricted magical pathway was being overloaded, He looked around, trying to find a place far enough away to keep the quarry safe if and when he blew, he spotted the vault, where he had removed the magical protections, if he put them back up with him inside... It just might contain what he was about to do.

With a bright flash he teleported away, his pained and fearful expression the last those nearby saw before he vanished. The remaining cloud diamond fell unceremoniously to the ground, already beginning to reform itself into larger chunks around where Illiad had just been.

---

Within the darkness of the vault Illiad quickly resealed the magic he had earlier removed earlier. He felt sick, the emotions he had built up before now trapped within himself. He took a stance, ready to force all of it out of himself. It would hurt, a lot, but it just might save his life. With a scream a beam of light shot out from his horn, impacting the ceiling and dispersing in an array of many different colors flowing like a hose of high pressure water. The beam was small at first, then grew larger as the pathway was stretched back to the way it was before. It kept going until all the energy he had stored up was depleted, the beam sputtering as it ended, before he collapsed to the ground, now painfully aware of the other wounds Havoc had inflicted.

As his vision started to fade the stones fell lightly to the ground around him, as well as his original diamond, which began to roll towards him slowly.

Sometimes victory comes at a cost, but if it saves those I care about, no cost is too great for me to pay.

He drifted into a dreamless sleep, surrounded by the darkness of the vault with nothing but his gem to protect him.

Author's Note:

In which Illiad fights a draconequus to a standstill.

Anyway, that concludes the battle, told you I'd have this one out faster than the last one.

Now Illiad is left, battered and alone in the dark, and no one knows where he went.
This chapter is the divergence point for two what ifs that I may get to write some time in the future, namely what if Illiad was a changeling the whole time, and what if Illiad had fallen to Havoc's influence. Both have quite a bit of potential, the first one more though in my own opinion.

Comments

[Randimaxis]

When I originally came up with the concept of Havoc, I wanted to make a draconequus who could match Discord in power levels, yet was just downright damn SCARY.

Enter Havoc.

I wanted to give a mere taste of what a draconequus could be like to handle in battle, and Illiad at his most powerful (yet) was the perfect foil for him. It gave me a chance to cut loose a bit, showing what a creature with such power might be capable of. Now, if Taps hadn't been there, or if Mr. Easle hadn't had the Blackwaters backing him up... well, this fight would have potentially gone FAR worse for him... and the quarry... not to mention all of Equestria.

I'd say the evidence was quite clear as to WHY he'd been stuck in the Jinx Stone. It's origins, however, will remain a mystery that only Taps truly knows the truth about.

For now.

Stay tuned.