Rarity had been having the feeling that it was going to be one of those days for quite a while now.

She had woken up and it had just come upon her; the feeling that it would be a very bad day.

But there was so much evidence to the contrary; the boutique had more customers than usual in the morning, the newspaper had shown another positive review from one of her previous customers, and Sweetie Belle hadn’t obliterated anything yet!

Regardless, the feeling remained. It was just something that she couldn’t explain. It was like something would make this better-than-usual day a complete disaster.

At some time past noon, things started to look like they would change for the worse.

She heard the sound of something falling to the floor in the next room over. With no idea what it could be, she left her dressmaking for the moment and hurried in to find out what it was. Perhaps it was just Opalescence knocking something over...

But, when she got into the next room, the sight that greeted her was not a welcome one.

“Ah, curly!” the human greeted happily, waving at her from beside a heap of clothes. “Good!” He cleared his throat and motioned at the mess he’d no doubt made. “Ah, yes. I may have… broken something. Completely unintentional, mind you. I don’t know my way around this place quite yet.”

“What do you want, James?” Rarity spat, hurrying over to the pile of disorganised clothing.

“Ah, so Fluttershy introduced me,” he replied, smile fading slightly. It popped right back as he clapped his hands together. “Brilliant! I hate introducing myself! Isn’t she just an amazing friend to have?”

“Is that sarcasm?” Rarity asked, picking up one of the spilled dresses and ironing out the creases with her magic. “Because I really can’t tell.”

“I wouldn’t be sarcastic about Fluttershy being a wonderful friend, curly,” the human said harshly. He snapped his fingers and the box the clothing had fallen out of scooped up the dresses on the floor. “Now, I came here to ask you something.”

“I already asked what you wanted, you merely changed the subject.” She took a calming breath and levitated the box of dresses back to its rightful place. She smiled calmly and turned back to face him. “Now, what is it that you wanted, James?”

“Do you have any spare animal food?” She blinked in confusion at his unexpected question. “You know, the thing that you give to your cat when it’s hungry. Do you have any spare?”

“I have some, but why would I give it to you? I’m running very low at the moment.”

He turned and sighed. “I thought you were the element of generosity at one point. So much for that.”

Rarity ground her teeth together and her smile faded. “How much do you need?” she asked, careful not to growl too much.

“A lot,” he replied, smiling in a way that made her want to hit him. “Maybe all of it, if you’re feeling nice today.”

“What would you even want it for? I wasn’t aware that you had a pet yet.” She shook her head lightly. “Wouldn’t Fluttershy be better to ask for it?”

“She left this morning and hasn’t come back yet.” His happy expression sank a little. “I didn’t want to take any from her without asking.”

She was surprised by his thoughtfulness. “That’s… very decent of you, James.” She smiled warmly. “You can be a very nice person sometimes.”

“I’m a nice person all the time,” he replied sincerely. “You just don’t notice it. It’s all for the greater good in the end.”

Her smile faded once more. “Yes, I… I suppose it is. Just don’t expect us to be approving of your… good intentions.”

He snorted with grim amusement and smirked at that. “Now, about that animal food; can I borrow it off you?”

“Borrow?” she asked incredulously. She rolled her eyes. “I hardly think you’ll be giving it back after your pet is done with it, or I should hope not anyway.”

“Oh no, I’m not that twisted,” he laughed, holding his hands up defensively. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. “I suppose I won’t be borrowing it if you put it like that. Alright then. Can I have it please?”

“I suppose it would be impolite for me to say no seeing as you’ve asked so nicely, but you still haven’t told me what it is you’re feeding.”

“A big, hungry bear. I read somewhere that this one is an omnivore and the stuff in most animal foods will suit it just fine.”

“Oh, you’re taking care of one of Fluttershy’s friends?” she asked, smiling yet again.

“Not exactly…” he muttered, smirking. “So where can I find it? She’ll be wanting it soon.”

“It’s in the other room, I’ll go and get it.” She left him for a moment as she hurried out of the room to fetch it for him. After a minute or two, she returned with a large sack that looked to be barely filled. “Here you are. If there’s none left when you’re done with it, let me know. Otherwise, bring what’s left back please.”

“Will do! Have a nice day, curly!”

He grabbed it out of her magical grip and vanished with a crack. She sighed loudly and went back to her work, pondering about that human. Was he really trying to make friends? Was he just misunderstood for doing what was right? Or did he really enjoy making lives a misery?

No, that was a cruel thing to think. Even if he did make chaos, he had already explained that it was for the right reasons. It was just the wrong way to go about it.

But what was wrong when chaos was right?

She shook herself out of her confusing thoughts to return to her work. She had a lot of orders to be getting on with and she certainly didn’t want to get behind just by thinking about someone that made chaos for a living, quite literally.

It wasn’t until about an hour later that James reappeared.

“Boo!” he yelled from right behind her, making her jump forwards in surprise.

Luckily, she had just finished using the sewing machine so her work was not ruined. That didn’t excuse him for making her jump though. She spun around and swung a hoof at him, but he dodged backwards before she could hit him.

“Don’t do that!” she panted, putting a hoof over her chest to feel her racing heartbeat. “You nearly scared the life out of me!”

“I couldn’t resist,” he said happily, chuckling to himself. “You’d do the same at one point with this kind of power.”

“Well, I… I hardly think so,” she said breathlessly, “but I can see why you would find it entertaining.”

“So here’s that food back anyway.” He held out the sack of food to her. Rarity took it from him and looked inside. “Sorry, but I had to use all of it.”

“That’s alright, there wasn’t much there. At least you brought the bag back. It’s always good to be recycling this stuff instead of leaving it out there for some other poor pony to clean up.”

“I don’t sink to that level,” he said seriously. “I had enough trouble with that back at home when…”

He went quiet and stared straight ahead.

“Are… you alright?” asked Rarity, tilting her head at him.

“I better go,” he quickly replied. He put on a false smile and looked down at her. “Sunshine and moony need a warning about the incoming Ursa Major after all.”

“What…?” He vanished before explaining what he meant. It only hit her what he had said after he had gone. Her eyes widened. “Incoming Ursa Major?! I’ve got to tell somepony!”

She rushed out of the boutique as fast as she could. As soon as she did, some kind of brown dust in the air went into her breath and she choked on it. It tasted like what the animal food she had given out earlier smelled like, and that thought made her retch.

If what he had said about the incoming Ursa Major was true, he must have turned the food into powder and spread it around for the Ursa to follow the trail of. It was a smart plan and one that was undoubtedly working if what he said was true.

But why he had let the trail end at her house was beyond her.

Perhaps what she had thought earlier about him enjoying making others’ lives a misery was true.

Pushing that thought aside, her eyes darted over to the Everfree forest. She couldn’t see it over the trees yet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. The first thing she thought to do was to warn Twilight; the most able bodied pony in Ponyville for this problem. She’d dealt with an Ursa Minor before, and that was before she was a princess.

She coughed some more of that animal food dust up and spat it out quickly before hurrying off to Twilight’s castle, where Twilight would undoubtedly be thinking up ways to cope with James. Maybe she’d already come up with something. Maybe this wouldn’t have to happen anymore.

She heard a roar from the Everfree forest, drawing her attention back towards it. She still couldn’t see anything yet, but that roar had proven that the Ursa was indeed coming towards Ponyville.

She picked up the pace towards Twilight’s castle. After a minute, she spotted four guards soaring in the opposite direction. One of them spotted her and dashed towards her.

“Ma’am, you need to leave the area now!” he barked, pointing at the Everfree forest. “There’s an Ursa Major coming in from the Everfree forest!”

“Yes, I know!” she replied frantically. “James told me about it just now! We’ve got to warn Princess Twilight!”

“She knows, ma’am!” the guard replied quickly. “Right now, we just need to get the area evacuated! Get to a safer location and we’ll deal with the rest!”

Before Rarity could say anything else, she noticed a dark blue blur shooting overhead towards the Everfree forest, where there was now a monstrous, blue figure standing over the trees. She noticed that the blur was Princess Luna when it had slowed enough to discern who it was.

The guard opened his mouth in awe as he noticed some untold truth.

“What is it?” Rarity asked, noticing his expression.

He shook his head and turned back to her. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” His expression returned to a stern one. “You need to leave the area for your own safety, ma’am!”

Rarity nodded as the guard took off again to get on with his task. She watched him go, then realised that she should have offered to help him out. He probably would have said no anyway.

She galloped out of the area, opting to head to the school to make sure Sweetie Belle and her friends hadn’t decided to do anything that could be catastrophic for their well-being, like finding out if their cutie marks were saving Ponyville from Ursa Majors.

She only hoped that Cheerliee could keep an eye on them well enough, but there was no denying the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ cunning.

-=-=-=-=-

The Ursa swung at her again. She ducked under the swipe and sent another tranquiliser spell at it. This was taking far too long; the Ursa was already in Ponyville and the guards were still evacuating ponies from nearby buildings.

Luna snarled and flew around the back of the giant bear creature, firing another tranquiliser spell into the back of its neck. It spun around and snapped its jaws at her, missing her by a hair’s breadth. She flapped away quickly and sent a freeze spell at its mouth. It iced over for a moment, but the Ursa broke free almost immediately.

“He’s certainly a tough one, isn’t he?” said a voice to her right.

She turned to look as the Ursa roared and lashed out at her again. The distraction was almost her downfall, but she managed to put up a defensive barrier to deflect the blow just in time.

“Where are you?!” she bellowed, turning back to the Ursa and firing a slowness spell at it.

“Here,” said the human, appearing right in front of her.

Luna caught a glimpse of his morbid expression before the Ursa’s jaws clamped shut around him. She shot a rope spell at its jaws to tie them shut but, again, it broke free quickly. The human looked to be in the same place, untouched.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled at him. “Do you have a death wish?! Get out of the way!”

“I do actually,” he said slowly, spreading his arms wide as the Ursa swung a claw at him.

It sent him flying off into the distance, leaving Luna alone with the Ursa again. Luna growled and let out a burst of magic light, blinding the Ursa so she could get close enough to tranquilise it again. It swung its claws wildly, knocking the roof off a building before destroying it completely.

“But I can’t like this,” the human said, appearing beside Luna again. She pushed him out of the way of another swipe of the Ursa’s claw and sent another tranquiliser spell at it. “Why bother fighting all this? Everything’s going to end in chaos one way or another.”

“Not if I can help it!” Luna shouted, launching yet another tranquiliser spell at the Ursa. “You can create chaos, but we will always be ready to keep it in check!”

“That’s my job. I keep chaos under control. But I see no point in doing that anymore.”

“What?!” The Ursa leapt at her and she darted out of its path. “What do you mean?!”

“I’m done with all this. Goodbye.”

He snapped his fingers and he disappeared with a puff of smoke. Luna cursed and fired another tranquiliser spell at the Ursa. What did he mean he was done with this? She couldn’t think about it for very long before the Ursa renewed its assault.

She knew Ursa Majors were almost immune to tranquilisation spells, but she had put in enough force with those spells to put a dragon to sleep a hundred times over! What kept this one going for so long?

-=-=-=-=-

Fluttershy watched the Ursa Major swat at Princess Luna from atop a hill on the other side of town.

She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t doing anything though. She wanted so badly to do something to help, but she couldn’t find the ability to do so. Something was stopping her, but she had no idea what.

When James appeared beside her, she looked up at him with a sad frown. She fully understood why he was doing this, and that was why she couldn’t bring herself to get angry at him for it. It was to keep him alive and, by extension, everyone else alive.

It was a chaos that she would have to accept.

She noticed that he looked more down than usual. “What’s wrong?” she asked. The answer came to her immediately. “Um… I mean… you just look… sad.”

“I am, Fluttershy,” he replied, sighing as he sat down. “I have to make chaos for the rest of my life or everyone suffers. I make them suffer to stop them suffering. That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“I… I don’t know what to say to that,” she whispered, looking down at the ground in shame.

“You don’t have to say anything.” He raised a hand at the Ursa Major off in the distance. “That thing should keep going for a few days at least. I made its coat doubly fortified against any spell that would put it to sleep, so that’ll keep me free for a while.”

“But… wouldn’t that mean that…”

“Nobody will be able to live there for a while, yes,” he confirmed, dropping onto his back. “I will have to ruin lives in order to save them, and I hate that.”

“Um… well…”

“I see no point in keeping the world safe if all I’m doing to keep it safe is putting it in danger.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I give up. Chaos can have the world.”

“W-what do you mean?” asked Fluttershy, leaning over his face to look down at him.

“I mean I’m giving up.” He teleported to stand beside Fluttershy. “I’m never going to see my friends or family ever again, and they were pretty much all I lived for. Due to that, I’ve decided to just stop caring. You can’t understand what I’m going through, so don’t try.”

“Help me understand!” She flapped up to his face and looked him in the eye sadly. “I want to help in any way I can! If you help me understand, I’ll help you get through this!”

“What’s the point?” he asked bluntly.

A crack of lightning struck right beside them both, making Fluttershy yelp and jump away in surprise. She stared at the charred spot on the grass for a moment before spinning to face James, who remained unfazed.

“W-what was that for?” she asked cautiously and fearfully.

“That wasn’t me,” James replied calmly. “That was the chaos I’ve given up controlling.”

He vanished with a pop, leaving Fluttershy alone on the hill. There was a loud bang off in the distance, drawing Fluttershy’s attention back to Ponyville. She gasped when she spotted a house floating upside down in the air and another was inside out.

It was like Discord’s first return all over again.

Her pupils dilated when she noticed the crater in the ground where the carousel boutique used to be. Rarity must have gotten out. There was no way she’d stay in there! An Ursa Major was attacking the…

Where did the Ursa Major go?

It was there a few minutes ago when she last looked over at Ponyville, but it had completely vanished now. Maybe James had decided to stop all this…

He hadn’t though.

Where did that thought come from? It was like something had put the thought into her head without her knowing. Why would she think something like that when that was the worst thought she could have at the moment? She wouldn’t ever think so hopelessly on purpose!

Fearfully, she decided to find her friends and help them out in any way she could. She charged back into Ponyville, ready and willing to do her part.

What had stopped her from doing this before?

-=-=-=-=-

When Twilight regained consciousness, she was inside her castle and on her bed with Spike and Celestia waiting for her to open her eyes.

“Twilight! You’re awake!” Spike cheered, rushing forward to hug her. He stood back from her and looked down at her in concern. “Are you alright? Princess Celestia said that the human drugged you to sleep!”

“I’m… fine, Spike,” Twilight replied, rubbing her aching head. “How long… ow… how long was I out?”

“Not too long, Twilight,” Celestia explained. “Luna went to take care of the Ursa Major, but I haven’t checked to see how she’s –“

She was interrupted by a loud bang from outside the castle.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, sitting up.

“I don’t know,” Celestia replied, turning to face the door out. “With any luck, it’s just Luna using a little more force.”

“It wasn’t,” said James. “That’s chaos. Glorious and terrible chaos.”

It took a moment of searching for Celestia to spot him; he was on the wall, quite literally. He was a completely two-dimensional image on the wall and, if she hadn’t noticed him breathing, she could’ve sworn that he was just that.

“Twilight, get back!” Spike yelled, leaping between her and the human. “You touch her and I’ll burn your flank off!”

“What have you done?” Celestia asked coldly, glaring at him.

“Nothing,” James answered, blinking very slowly. “And that’s just it. This is the end of my short, little adventure in Ponyville. I give up here.”

“Wait… what?” Twilight asked, sliding out of the bed. “You’re giving up? What does that mean?”

“It means what it sounds like, princess,” he explained. “I’m done with this. I’m not doing anything anymore. What’s the point in it? There isn’t one. Not when I can never see the people I love ever again.”

“What are you saying?” Twilight asked, stepping closer to the wall and tilting her head. “If you’ve given up and aren’t doing anything anymore, what was that chaos you said was outside?”

“That, my dear, was the chaos that I have to stop by making more chaos.”

Twilight blinked. “Are… are you saying that… you’re just going to let it free?”

“Until there’s no one left alive to experience it and, by extension, no one left for me to make chaos for. Then it’ll all be over.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “All of it.”

The image on the wall cracked and he vanished suddenly.

“Uh… what did he mean?” Spike asked, looking over his shoulder at Twilight.

“Spike, stay here,” Twilight said quickly. “It could be dangerous and you don’t have the magical powers of an alicorn. I think it would be better for you to stay here too, princess Celestia.”

“Normally I would argue, but right now I’m forced to agree,” Celestia said gravely.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Twilight said, turning and charging out of the room.

When she was out of the castle, she took flight and soared up to get a better view of what was happening.

She couldn’t spot anything too bad just yet, but then she noticed something in the corner of her eye up above. She looked up and saw a tiny red dot in the sky. With no other way of telling what it was, she cast a magnification spell in front of her to get a better view.

She gasped.

It was meteorite.

A quick calculation showed that’s its current trajectory would land it dead center of Ponyville.

With a million and one panicked thoughts in her mind, she came to the conclusion that she would have to find Princess Luna. She couldn’t do this alone.

Luna would be… where would Luna be? She might have gone for the Ursa Major, but where was the Ursa Major? She couldn’t spot it anywhere.

“Just let it land, princess,” said James, snapping into the material plain beside her.

Twilight spun to face him with a ferocious and terrified look on her face. “You can’t let this happen!” she screeched. “Hundreds of ponies will die!”

“Then I’ll be able to join them quicker,” he replied darkly.

“You can’t just give up like this! What would your family think?!”

He said nothing, instead vanishing again.

Twilight shook herself out of the teary eyed state she was in. She was NOT going to let ponies die like this, especially under her care!

She just had to find Luna to get some help.

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long with this one it's a long story that I can't be bothered to go into.