A Touch of Chaos

by Written Out

The Result of Violence

~~~Minutes Earlier~~~

Applejack whinnied her challenge at the mighty hydra, her hooves pounding against the floor as she charged it. The hydra’s head lunged at her, its mouth open wide enough to swallow her in a single bite. Ducking under the gaping jaw, Applejack bucked the air above her, hearing a satisfying crack as hooves met bone. The head reeled back, stars spinning around its skull, allowing Applejack to slip past it and leap in between the hydra’s main body and Apple Bloom’s cage. The hydra stopped, the three undazed heads looking down at her in confusion. Food wasn’t supposed to act like this.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom yelled, weakly throwing her body against the bars of the cage. Trussed up as she was, she couldn’t put any force behind the blow and the bars held firm. “Be careful!” Worried more for her sister than herself, Apple Bloom could only watch as her older sister faced against the monstrous hydra.

“Don’t worry about me none,” Applejack responded without tearing her gaze away from the four swaying heads of the beast. Stamping her hoof, she roared at the monster. “Come on, then! Ah’ll whup ya so hard, all four of yer heads’ll be seein’ stars fer a month. Ah am Applejack, Ponyville's most dependable pony, and you! Shall not! HARM MY FAMILY!” The hydra looked unimpressed by the proclamation, only mildly curious that such tiny food would stand against it.

The two combatants stared at each other – one with the look a creature who would brave Tartarus itself to protect what was behind it, the other with the look of a predator sizing up its prey. The fragile peace of the stare down shattered when the four heads of the hydra lunged at her with an ear-splitting roar that shook the very air of the cave. Applejack cut to the side, wanting to lure the monster away from Apple Bloom. Two of the heads crashed into each other while she managed to jump out of the way of a third one, but the fourth managed to nick her leg while she was in the air.

Flung across the room from the force of the blow, Applejack bounced against the floor before crashing heavily into the cave wall. Sliding into a painful heap on the floor, she saw the hydra turn towards her, the head that had managed to hit her laughing at the others. Knowing that Apple Bloom was no longer the thing’s target was enough to bring a grim smile to Applejack’s face as she tried to climb to her hooves. A stab of pain through her rear legs stole that smile away as quickly as it appeared. Left leg strain, she thought, testing the injured limb. Not good. Musta pulled a muscle when Ah hit the wall.

The pain was sharp, but not crippling. It wouldn’t interfere with her movement so long as she was careful. Before she could think of a way to be careful while fighting a hydra, the time for thinking had passed. Able to move almost as fast as a mature pony at full gallop, the hydra was already upon her, one of its heads lunging at her. Shoving off the wall, Applejack leapt as high as she could, landing on the back of the hydra’s head as it collided face-first with the stone wall.

Running up the neck of the hydra, Applejack felt a twinge of pain shoot through her body every time she put any weight on her injured leg. Two of the heads watched her in confusion while the third swung itself at her, using its head like a club. Applejack bunched her legs underneath her, preparing to leap out of the way. Her leg spasmed and froze up in pain, causing her to collapse helplessly in the path of the descending head.

“APPLEJACK!” Apple Bloom screamed as her sister was knocked away and slammed into the cave wall hard enough to crack it. Fluttershy looked up at Apple Bloom’s scream, her eyes widening as Applejack collapsed into a heap with blood oozing from several cuts. Apple Bloom banged her head against the cage bars over and over again, tears rolling freely down her face.

This is all my fault, she thought. Ah’m sorry, Applejack. Ah am so, so sorry. Fluttershy left Rarity, running over to where Applejack lay. The hydra scoffed at them before turning to the weeping filly, seeking easier prey. Fluttershy shook the barely-conscious Applejack, who moaned weakly at the stimulus. “Please,” Apple Bloom quietly begged, “please stand up. Please, sister. Please be alright.” The hydra stared down at her, its merciless eyes seeing only a future meal. Bringing a head down, it tore away the wooden cage, exposing the shivering filly within.

“We’re… not finished yet, you and me.”

The hydra’s heads swirled around to look at the source of the voice coming from behind it. Apple Bloom shouted happily at seeing Applejack standing upright, a happiness that swiftly faded as she saw how injured the orange pony was. Blood flowed freely from her many cuts, pooling on the ground beneath her. Her eyes were gummed and bloodshot, unable to focus and one pupil was larger than the other. She may have gotten a concussion when she hit the wall. Her front right leg was held off the ground, a clear break causing it to hang limply in the air.

“Oh, you really shouldn’t,” Fluttershy fussed, trying to get the heavily injured mare to sit down. Applejack raised a hoof to push her away, but overbalanced and crashed heavily to the ground on her broken leg. Uncomplainingly, she struggled back to her hooves before taking a single stumbling step towards the hydra.

“Don’t try ta stop me, Fluttershy,” she slurred out, nearly passing out as her injured leg banged against the floor. The hydra sighed gustily and turned towards her, intending to end this annoying pony once and for all. Applejack took another stumbling step forward, mumbling all the while. “Everypony has something important to them, something more important than life itself. Mine is right there.” The hydra took a thunderous step towards her, shaking the ground and nearly causing the injured mare to collapse again. Fluttershy and Apple Bloom watched the scene play out in front of them, their throats paralyzed by fear by what they were witnessing.

“Ah am an Apple,” Applejack muttered, her indistinct voice somehow clearly reaching the ears of the other ponies in the room. “There ain’t nothin’ more important to an Apple than family’n’friends. As Ah stand here, Ah see my family needing me. Ah would challenge Celestia herself to save those close t’ me. Don’t worry, sis… Yer… sister’s… comin’…” Applejack’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed on the spot, like a puppet with its strings cut. The sound of her body crashing against the floor broke Apple Bloom and Fluttershy free of their paralysis.

“APPLEJACK!” They both screamed as the hydra stood over the unconscious mare. Free of the cage, Apple Bloom began crawling towards her sister, slowly inching along the ground. Nononononono. Her thoughts only for her injured sister, she gasped in horror as the hydra slowly brought one of its heads down towards Applejack. The head recoiled in surprise as a yellow blur sped in between it and the collapsed pony.

Fluttershy hovered between the hydra and Applejack, her unrelenting gaze focused squarely on the four headed beast in front of her. “How dare you?” she scolded, her voice quivering with barely suppressed rage. “HOW DARE YOU? You think you can just attack others just because you’re bigger than them? You think it’s okay to inflict pain on them simply for your own entertainment? You think it's fine for you to put me and my friends through such torment? Well, I have news for you, mister,” she nearly spat out the last word, “it’s not. And I have a good mind to make you pay for what you’ve done.”

Three of the heads withered under Fluttershy’s relentless scolding, but the fourth launched itself at her, its mouth opened wide enough to completely engulf her. Fluttershy turned the full force of her gaze upon the head, and it got to within a few inches of her before shrinking back from her in fear. The four heads hung limply, submitting themselves to her. Fluttershy glared at them for a few moments longer before speaking. “Now, you are going to help me get Rarity free. Do exactly what I say, and maybe I might consider forgiving you.”

~~~Present Time~~~

Applejack’s hat fluttered limply to the ground below, the wind having torn it off of her head. Apple Bloom reached up and caught it as it slowly fell towards her, gently flipping it onto her own head. Gingerly stepping out of the hole the hydra had just burst out of, she glanced up at her older sister held within the hydra’s maw. Fluttershy followed out after Apple Bloom, Rarity’s limp body carefully slung over the pegasus’ back. Looking up at the hydra, she made a sharp gesture at the ground in front of her. The hydra whined at her and she pointed at the ground again.

“You made it!” Apple Bloom and Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was excitedly waving at them. A pair of dropped cupcakes lay at her hooves, forgotten in her excitement to see her friends. The hydra carefully placed Applejack on the ground in front of Fluttershy, and the pegasus glared up at him.

“Good work,” she said, her steely gaze locked on the giant eye in front of her. “Now get out of my sight, and don’t let me catch you doing this again.” The hydra whimpered before turning and running away as fast as its feet could carry it. Apple Bloom whistled at seeing the normally meek Fluttershy scare away such a massive beast.

“Ugh… my head…” Twilight moaned as she struggled awake, a throbbing headache shooting through her skull with every beat of her heart. Shaking her head, her eyes flickered around the area, trying to understand what was going on. She gasped at what she saw, something no one else saw. “Pinkie!” she screamed as loudly as she could. “Look out!”

John had taken advantage of the distraction of the hydra to rush Pinkie, his axe catching the light of the rising sun as it swung directly at her exposed throat. Time seemed to slow as the pink mare tried to scramble away from the merciless tool of murder. Her hooves slid on the grass, dropping her helplessly to her knees. Everypony could only watch in horror as the blade swept in, its cruel edge aiming to steal the young mare’s life away.

Now, I think that’s enough of that.

A white flash filled the area, focusing and concentrating on the axe in John’s hands. When it faded, the axe had been reversed so that John was holding onto the head while the handle collided harmlessly with Pinkie Pie’s throat. Without a moment of hesitation, John’s hands slid down the axe handle before he swung it again, the different angle forcing to aim for a different target. Pinkie screamed in pain as the sharp blade dug into her flank, slicing straight through her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash roared in rage and denial, struggling even harder in the net as she saw her best friend fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

John tore the axe out of Pinkie’s flank, splattering blood on the ground below him. Turning, he fled into the woods, the bloody axe clenched firmly in his grasp. Twilight and Fluttershy rushed over to Pinkie, while Dash struggled against the net that imprisoned her

“Get me out of this thing!” she screamed. “He’s getting away!” Apple Bloom was suddenly standing above her, the young pony’s eyes hardened and dull. Bending down, she bit through the vines restricting Rainbow Dash.

“Make him pay,” Apple Bloom simply said as she stepped back, her gaze flickering to the unconscious Applejack. Dash struggled out of the net, tearing through the last few vines that constrained her.

“I intend to.” Flapping her wings, the pegasus took off in pursuit. Twilight saw Dash fly away, and called after her.

“No, Dash! It’s over!” the purple mare yelled out.

“Don’t try to stop me, Twilight,” Dash growled out. “He’s going to pay for what he’s done to us.” Dash vanished into the woods, a rainbow-coloured contrail marking her path. Twilight focused on her horn, intending to teleport after Dash. She felt the familiar feeling of her magic wrapping around her before it suddenly flickered and died. The purple glow around her horn seemed to fracture before shattering into tiny pieces and dissipating into the surrounding air.

Twilight gasped, bringing up one hoof to touch a hairline crack running through her unresponsive horn. “I can’t… cast magic?”

---

John broke through the trees, smashing through the branches that seemed to grasp at him, tearing holes through his clothes and scratching up his body. He ignored the tiny wounds, only thinking about escape. River. Have to make it to river. Raising the bloody axe above his head, he tore through a particularly tough clump of twigs. Safety. River. His thoughts a tattered mess, he scrambled towards the roaring river. Before confronting the ponies, he had already planned an escape route if things went belly-up.

Can’t hear voice anymore. Quiet. The voice in his head had been getting louder and louder over the course of the night, but it was now silent. The silence may have been related to when his axe seemed to twist in his hands, nearly turning against him. He glanced down at his trustworthy axe, wondering if it was going to betray him once again.

BOOOOM!!!

A devastatingly loud noise reverberated through the forest from behind him, rattling the surrounding twigs and leaves. John turned towards the source of the noise just as a rainbow-coloured blur smashed into his side. A strange rainbow shockwave washed over him as the force of the impact launched him through several trees. The axe flew from his hand, tumbling end over end before vanishing in the roaring rapids as John crashed on the river’s bank. Several ribs broken and his body heavily injured from his impromptu flight through the foliage, John slipped into the river and allowed the force of the current to wash him downstream.

Rainbow Dash shook herself off as she jumped out of the bush she had crashed into. Flying into the creature with the full force of a Sonic Rainboom had hurt her – badly. Her front was pretty much one big bruise and she was having trouble closing her wings. Her own pain was forgotten as she saw the creature make it to the river, making its escape away from her. This creature was not going to escape, not after all the pain he had caused her friends. Running up to the river bank, she launched herself at the creature, managing to land directly on him.

John gasped as he was forced underwater, water froth filling his mouth and nose. Pushing himself to the surface, he saw the blue creature only a few feet away from him. Her hoof smashed into his face, snapping his head back. His tongue played at a tooth she had managed to knock loose as he grabbed both her forelegs. Pulling her towards him, he pounded his forehead directly in between her eyes.

Dash blinked stars out of her eyes as the creature’s skull impacted her own. Her front legs pinned by the creature’s grip, she whipped one of her wings around, hammering it into the creature’s face. The world seemed to tilt, filling Dash with an unusual feeling of vertigo. Taking stock of her surroundings, Dash realized the roaring water was pushing her and the creature off the waterfall she had seen only a few days ago.

John felt the loose tooth come free as the wing smacked into his face. As the struggling pair fell off the waterfall, he turned his head and spat the tooth into the creature’s oversized eye. She recoiled in surprise and pain, allowing him to take advantage of her moment of distraction to grab her extended wing as the pair tumbled through the air. Pulling it out as far as he could, he manoeuvred his body so that he was on top of her. Aiming her wing at a large rock that stuck up out of the water below, he felt a satisfying crunch as the fragile wingbones completely shattered under his weight.

Dash opened her mouth to scream at the incredible pain that tore through her body. It felt like her wing had been torn clean off! She accidently inhaled the water in her panicked frenzy, her lungs instantly filling with the pounding liquid. The creature’s hands wrapped around her throat, and he held her under the water beneath the roaring waterfall as her struggles slowly weakened. Darkness started to eat away at the sides of her thoughts and her vision.

All your fault! he mentally screamed at her. You attacked me! All your fault! In that clearing, you attacked me without warning! All your fault! You and others like you! All your fault! Couldn’t leave me in peace! All your fault! I just wanted to be left alone! All your fault!

Rainbow Dash’s weakly flailing hooves managed to land a solid hit on his cracked ribs. His fingers spasmed at the pain, and the rushing water tore her out of his weakened grip. Dash succumbed to the blissful embrace of unconsciousness as her body was swept downstream, away from the creature she had wanted to stop.

John turned away from the helpless mare, forcing his badly injured body through the waterfall. Hidden behind the cascade of water, he found the tiny cave he now called “home.” Collapsing on the pile of twigs in the corner, he passed out before his head hit the ground.

Comments

[shadowless_night]

huh well shit has hit the fan, lets see what comes from it

[Dr_D]

that was some shit storm

[dashdlkashd]

I'm guessing this is the said event that fucks all kinda of shit? And more specifically the one Discord wanted to avoid.

[Demon Eyes Laharl]

Heh, interesting interestinger...

Full out conflict now.

[Written Out]

Yeah, this chapter was surprisingly stressful to write. With over 3,000 words of nearly pure conflict, coupled with the last chapter, it actually felt too intense.

I definitely prefer writing about softer character development as opposed to this.

This is going to be the last major fight scene for a good while, and the story's going to be slowly scaling back before...

Well, let's just say I'm pretty sure you won't expect it.

[Soul Reaper]

1732566 he turns into a super saiyin!!!! lol i wish.

[omega-ze-wargod]

make discord pay make the human find out ... PAAAAAAIN but hurt the ponies more

[slade03]

Liking the story so far :> I only request longer chapters, even if it takes longer to post. Good stuff!

[Written Out]

1732913 Ahahahaha, no. Funny as that would be, I can safely say that no matter where the plot goes, the characters' respective 'power levels', for lack of a better term, will remain the same. Which means that, in a fair fight, one-on-one, toe-to-hoof, no tricks or traps, any one of them could pound him into the dirt. Yes, even the unicorns. He resists magic, but they could just pick up a log or a rock or something and hit him with it until he stops getting up. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png

1735355 I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises. When I first planned out the story, I wrote down everything that I wanted to happen. Then I looked through what I had plotted and split it at points that seemed like they would make for good breaks, dividing the story into chapters. So I've already planned out what happens in each chapter. That said, it's not set in stone. For example, the 'Day for Recovery' chapters were originally intended to only be a single short chapter focused on the CMC, with the most important event being John seeing Apple Bloom interact with Applejack and setting up for the foalnapping. Personally, I think the story benefited a lot from that change.

[junkers1337]

Damn, that was a lot of ass kicking. Guess its safe to say do not fuck with a human that lost its marbles.

[Soul Reaper]

1735875 fine, then at least write in more explosions

[FattBoy94]

... Damn. Just... DAMN.

[Organized Chaos]

Ah am Applejack, Ponyville's most dependable pony, and you! Shall not! PASS!

blackliberal.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/you-shall-not-pass.jpg?w=490

[twad]

You lost me at this chapter. By all means, a good part of the M6 should be dead or permanently crippled.

The protagonist is just a puppet with no control over himself (and the pupetter have god-mode on) and he's invincible. Nothing can affect him both magically and physically (survived holding a nade and regen that sort of damage? OOoookayy).. and his mind doesn't matter since he's a puppet.

And a puppet is not interesting in the least to read about. Make it scream in anguish all you want, what matter is actions, and the actions show that the puppet-master is a complete rabid/evil monster doing rabid/evil monster things with the invincible puppet for no other reason than he can.

And he just keep pulling stuff, tools, advanced traps, critters and knowledge out of nowhere. The puppet is god-like and devoid of any personality, and its super boring to read.

Discord being the puppet master doesnt justfy that. Discord was, at least, colorful, unexpected, random and interesting with his tricks. But that? ist just an escalation of murder attempts and how the M6 somehow manage to survive. And they do, because we cant have them dying. So both sides just waste time trading ineffective yet horribly violent blows to each other and accomplish exactly nothing.

Edit - what would help, imho, is to show how the guy manage to do his traps, how does he get a manticore,/hydra. His daily life/struggle for his sanity and how he fights for himself. Right now it jump too much from one scene to the next, and too much stuff have happened behind the "scene" and they are just.. already there. We can only watch as the action is already done, the act already completed and can only wonder "How/why/when did he do that?!" and get no answer.

And the guy need a personality that drive and color his actions (hollow powerless puppet isnt fun). His humanity need to matter and have an effect on the story.. because it doesnt. As it stands the guy could be Chtullu or a angry mobile flower pot and it would have the same narrative effect on the plot.

[Firedon]

Nothing better than a righteous speech before passing out, right?

[Goffee]

Somewhere in Equestria, Discord is laughing his ass off.

[ynfiltra]

YEAH!!! DESTROY THOSE PONIES!!!!!!!