This was a stupid plan.

Even James had said a lot to say against this plan, even if it succeeded. Of course, all the girls had argued against it as well, but James more than others and, according to Pinkie Pie, with very good reason.

But, despite their best efforts, Discord was very clear in the fact that it may be the only thing they had left and, therefore, the best plan they had.

It was still stupid though.

“Right then,” James said as he teleported all of them into the centre of Ponyville. “You girls know what you’re doing, right?”

“Keeping the town safe!” Rainbow barked. “We got this!”

“Get them to safety and I’ll deal with doppelganger.”

“How do we even know this is where he’s going to be?” asked Rarity. “I mean, he could go to anywhere in Equestria! Why would he choose here?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said that doppelganger as he snapped into existence in front of them all. “This just seemed the most cliché to pick first.” He chuckled to himself and crossed his arms. “Oh, and it’s ‘Havoc’ now. Cool name, right?”

Before the girls could even flinch, a large hammer appeared over their heads, ready to slam down on top of them. Before it could touch them, there was a loud clang and it was parried off to one side. James dropped the shield that he’d used as a defensive tool and shot towards ‘Havoc’ furiously.

“Come on, then!” James yelled as he spun backwards in the air upon reaching Havoc, kicking out at him powerfully. “Let’s save the world and die trying!”

“That’s the spirit!” Havoc replied happily, jolting his head to one side to avoid the kick and responding with a jabbing punch to James’ knee.

James yelled in pain as his leg bent at a horrifying angle and he dropped to the ground. He clutched at his undoubtedly broken leg as Havoc grinned evilly at him.

“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be,” he said, almost disappointedly. He looked over at the girls, jaws wide open at the quick battle. “I mean, seriously. One of you could do a better job than that.”

“Let’s put that to the test!” Rainbow Dash yelled, flapping up and punching the air as if ready to take up the challenge.

“You’re no fun though. You got a broken leg.”

“So do I!” James roared as he dropped onto Havoc’s back, his knee suddenly encased in a bright pink cast. “Do your damn job, girls!”

He vanished before another word could be said, dragging Havoc with him. The girls waited in silence for a moment before sharing a worried glance and hurrying away in different directions to tell the ponies of Ponyville to get to the train to get themselves to safety, which was due to leave soon.

As stupid as this plan was, there was no arguing with the method of execution.

-=-=-=-=-

Princess Celestia awoke with her head spinning.

She looked around and found herself to be stuck to the ceiling of the throne room in some kind of pink spider’s webbing. Above her was a note that she could just about read, but when she did, her rage only increased.

BRB gotta go kill some ppl xoxo

He had a lot to pay for now.

She would have screamed, but her mouth was sealed shut by yet more webbing. She settled for thrashing and writhing as hard as she could instead, but that did no good either.

Then there was the sound of approaching hoofsteps all of a sudden. They hadn’t come into hearing normally, like they were walking from very far away, they sounded like the pony had teleported to just outside the door.

Why would they teleport, but only to outside the throne room?

If they were going for dramatic effect, suspense and Celestia’s curiosity, they had succeeded at that.

They stepped into the throne room with a cruel smile.

No.

“Oh, sister,” called Nightmare Moon playfully. “Where have you run to now?”

Celestia remained as still as she could, hoping that Nightmare Moon wouldn’t notice her. Why had he done this? Was he truly more evil now than chaos had ever been before?

“I’m not going to hurt you, sister,” Nightmare Moon said in a sing-song voice. “I’m here to help with some pest control.”

You’re not my sister, Celestia wanted to scream. Give her back.

After a moment of scanning the room, Nightmare Moon giggled evilly and looked up. When she saw Celestia, she flapped her wings and flew up to hover in front of her, almost mockingly.

“There you are,” she said cruelly, lifting Celestia’s chin up to look at her full in the face. “Don’t tell me you’re not surprised. You said that this was going to happen already. As much as you might hate it, Celestia, this is your fault.”

It was Havoc’s fault. He’d been the one to send that letter, and no doubt he’d done what he did last night as well. He’d manipulated Luna’s mind into making her become Nightmare Moon again.

“Now let’s get you out of that web,” Nightmare whispered, her horn lighting up.

A magical blade materialised in front of Celestia, dangerously close to her throat. It remained there for a few seconds before slashing at the strings of web suspending Celestia in the air. She plummeted to the ground, wings still tied in sticky webbing, but Nightmare merely watched her fall with a malicious grin.

She landed with a pained grunt. The webbing was thick enough to cushion the landing slightly, but not enough to stop the air being knocked out of her. As she gasped for breath, Nightmare descended slowly.

“You don’t seem very pleased to see me,” she giggled harshly. “I wonder why that is. After all, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to hurt him.”

What?

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” said Nightmare. “You’re wondering why I, of all ponies, would want to help you. The answer is simple: I want to make him extinct like he nearly made me extinct.” The webbing covering Celestia’s mouth disintegrated with a quick spell from Nightmare Moon’s horn. “What say you?”

“I want my sister back,” Celestia breathed. “If you’re going to help me, you must at least be on my side.”

“You shall have your sister, Princess. Just not yet. She is not nearly as powerful as we are together now.”

Another spell and the webbing binding the rest of Celestia’s form evaporated.

“Fine,” Celestia whispered.

She didn’t like it, but it was the best she had right now.

-=-=-=-=-

Well, this plan went from very stupid but very effective to very, very bad very quickly.

“Come on, Jimmy boy!” he teases, swinging an oversized sword at my head, which I duck underneath. “You gotta fight loads better than that if you wanna save the world!”

I say nothing as I tackle him to the ground, or rather, what feels like it should be the ground. We’re in the sky right now, somewhere above Ponyville, yet it feels like we’re both on solid ground.

That’s just chaos for you, telling reality to go jump in front of a train.

“Oh, I’m having flashbacks to that final fight of the Matrix series!” Havoc laughs as he kicks up and rolls backwards, sending me flying over his head. “Can I stick my hand in your chest and murder you now?”

Again, no words escape my lips as I flip over in the air and propel myself back at him with a pair jet engines that I summon out of nothingness and swap my feet for. He jumps back to his feet and his hand shoots up to catch the punch I’m sending his way. I come to a complete stop in the air, my momentum completely vanishing, as soon as my fist meets the palm of his hand.

I feel cold. Colder than I’ve ever felt. I can’t move a single muscle. It’s like I’ve become a statue.

“Still alive?” he asks mockingly. “I mean, I haven’t even tested this yet, so maybe you are. Maybe you’re not. What’s it like to be at zero degrees kelvin? ‘Absolute zero’ sounds pretty cool actually.”

This isn’t even possible. I should be dead and gone right now. Absolute zero means that every atom of my being should be frozen in place, so why the hell am I still alive?

Because absolute zero can never exist here, the voice in my head explains. I mean, seriously, didn’t you do untested theoretical physics? Absolute zero requires no atoms at all to be moving and if he’s still moving, you can move too.

I must remember to get Twilight to walk me through that theory later.

If I live, that is.

I think as hard as I can about catching fire, and within a few seconds, I’m ablaze.

“Look at you, Johnny Storm,” says Havoc, frowning as he backs away. “Oh well, let’s get this over with.”

I can move again, but before I can do anything, Havoc grabs me by the throat and lifts me up above his head.

I choke as he squeezes and snarls at me, levitating his dropped sword back over to him. He grabs it when it’s close enough and then presses it against my neck. I can already feel it cutting through my skin.

“Honestly, have you learned nothing?” he asks with a cruel grin. “I’m better than you. You can’t win. At least you’re not putting up a fight now.”

He’s enjoying this. He wants me to react to his taunts so he can keep kicking my sorry behind out of existence. He doesn’t want to just kill me, he wants to annihilate me.

I would keep fighting, but I already know how to beat him and it’s not like this.

Then he receives a tap on the shoulder from a newcomer in this battle of the gods.

“Pardon me,” Discord says very sweetly. “But I must tell you to stop.”

I cringe. That’s just a bad joke that I don’t think he even understands very well himself.

Havoc makes a move to turn around, but Discord has already brought his comically large hammer down onto his head, sending him hurtling back down to earth and leaving me to recover from being strangled by an angry god.

“Hammer time?” I ask, rubbing my aching and bleeding neck.

“I’m glad you get it,” Discord says blankly. “Because I don’t even know why MC Hammer isn’t a construction worker.”

“Is she ready yet?”

“Yes, she’s on her way now. I’ve just asked her to take a little time to let you and I bash him around a little.”

“Then let’s bash him around a bit more.”

The two of us are back in Ponyville all of a sudden, on solid ground again, beside the crater that Havoc made when Discord knocked him out of the sky. We step to the edge of it and peer down into it.

He’s not there.

“Oh, great,” I mutter. “Of all the times for him to vanish without a trace, the time when he’s probably suffering from a concussion and unable to get very far is the one where he does vanish.”

“James?” I hear Fluttershy call over. “Is everything alright?”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Discord replies, crossing his arms disappointedly. “Is Ponyville safe?”

“The train is packed and outta here with everyone on it!” Rainbow Dash yells with a salute, joining Fluttershy.

Soon after, the others are with us. All except Twilight, but she’s got her own little job right now.

“Alright, did you see where he went?” I ask the girls.

“D-Did he get away?” asks Rarity.

“He can’t have gotten very far. He’s probably just recovering from a concussion that Discord gave him.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Jimmy boy,” says the one we’re looking for from right behind me. “Little bruising here and there but no concussion. How are you by the way?

I can’t even move before Havoc stabs his stupidly massive sword through my stomach. The girls gasp. Discord leaps over to join them, holding his arms out to defend them if necessary. The sword is pulled out and stabbed again into my back.

And again.

And once more.

“Well, besides dead, I mean,” Havoc adds smugly.

“Urk,” is all I can manage to say as everything starts to go black.

I’m going to die now.

But that was always a very distinct possibility. I just thought I’d last a little longer.

-=-=-=-=-

Havoc dropped James’ lifeless body to the ground, leaving the sword piercing his heart. He stared at him with a maniacal grin on his face for a moment before looking up at the girls and Discord.

“Well, looks like you’re down one,” he said coldly. “Let’s see how long it takes you all to die.”

“Excuse me, Mister human, Sir!”

Havoc spun around to face the source of the voice, but saw no one. He snarled and spun back to the others.

“Why, whatever’s the matter, good sir?” asked Discord, smiling innocently. “You seem a bit paranoid. Are you hearing things?”

“Pardon me, good sir!”

“What is this?” Havoc growled, glancing over his shoulder.

“Does he look paranoid, girls?” Discord asked the girls calmly. “He looks paranoid to me.”

“I concur,” Rarity added, standing up straight and putting on a straight face.

“Ah hear ya,” Applejack put in, tearing her eyes away from James’ body.

“He’s about as paranoid as a…” Pinkie Pie trailed off. “Uh… He just looks really paranoid.”

“Sir, I have a question!”

“Okay, you wanna play that game?” Havoc spat. “Let’s play that game! Where are you?!”

“How much is that going to cost?”

“How much is what…?!”

Before he could finish, a very large and very purple magical shovel smacked him across the face so hard that he flipped over backwards and landed flat on his stomach with a pained grunt.

“Oh, wait,” said Twilight Sparkle as she marched confidently away from the fading smoke of her teleport spell. “I forgot that you’re getting served for free.”

Author's Note

It's been a while. ~~I spent all this time thinking up that last joke.~~ Sorry about that.

I'm not actually going to finish this one. The chapter title was being honest: this is where my journey through ponyland ends. I've had this chapter finished for about six months, debating exactly what to do next and that's my decision. I'm tired of ~~not getting enough sleep~~ harmony and chaos and horses with tattoos on their butts. It was just a phase that I went through while on a journey of self discovery anyway.

Thanks for coming, hope you had fun and have a good one.

P.S: I haven't proofread this chapter since I last edited it so expect mistakes or something.