Pinkie Pie’s tail was twitching.

She was inside and nopony was even close to anything that could fall though! It must’ve been something outside. If that was the case, it must’ve been something huuuuuuge falling otherwise she wouldn’t have been warned about it.

Maybe Derpy Hooves was dropping a piano again…

But she’d lost the job of moving pianos last week for breaking too many of them!

Whatever it was, Pinkie Pie was going to investigate. Sugar cube corner was quiet today anyway and Mr and Mrs Cake could handle what little work there was too. The twins even had a new babysitter; the now-looking-for-work Derpy Hooves!

Mr and Mrs Cake had their doubts about letting such a ditzy pony look after the twins, but Pinkie had persuaded them to let them see just how sweet and caring Derpy could be.

“I gotta go see something, Mrs Cake!” she called over to the counter, where Mrs Cake was working. “I’ll be right back!”

“What is it, Pinkie?” Mrs Cake called back. She spotted Pinkie’s twitching tail. “Oh. Twitchy tail?”

“It’s outside! I’m gonna go find out what it is and see if I can help get a poor pony out of its path!”

“That’s okay! I’ll send Carrot out to find you if we need help around the store!”

With that, Pinkie pushed open the door out and somersaulted onto the path outside, eyes shooting up to the sky.

Strange… There didn’t seem to be anything falling. At least, nothing she could see. But that couldn’t be right! If it was something so big it made her tail twitch while she was inside, she just had to be able to see it out here!

Suddenly, and without any warning, her whole body started twitching. That could only mean one thing; a doozy was going to happen! Whether that was good or bad, she had no idea. The only idea about it that she had was that it would happen in Ponyville.

Maybe it was just going to be James finding a way to keep the universe from exploding without making chaos!

“You can’t let this happen!” came the voice of Twilight Sparkle, far too loudly for the conversation to be fun in any way. Twilight only ever raised her voice when someone was really far away or when she was angry.

Pinkie Pie heard Twilight’s lowered voice say something else, but she couldn’t quite catch what it was. It sounded serious though, judging by the tone it was yelled in. It was like an angry, scared-y kind of tone. That could only be bad.

So, still with no idea as to what her pinkie sense was telling her, she raced on towards where she had heard Twilight shrieking about not letting something happen. Maybe what someone was letting happen was the doozy!

That was not good at all if it was something that couldn’t be allowed to happen.

It took her a minute to get to Twilight’s castle, where she had heard Twilight earlier, but when she got there, Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

A hornless princess Celestia, on the other hoof…

“Oh, hello Princess Celestia!” Pinkie greeted happily. “What happened to your horn? Oh, I know! You’re doing a prank on all of Equestria!” She winked knowingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony!”

“I wish it were that simple, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia replied sadly. “But you don’t have to think about it. Have you seen where Twilight got to? I heard her scream something at James and I only hope it was about nothing too serious.”

“I heard it to! We should try to find out what she was shouting about!” She remembered the pinkie sense she had earlier. “Oh yeah! I think there’s gonna be a doozy happening soon! And something big is falling too! My pinkie sense told me that!”

Celestia looked up and frowned. “I can’t see anything falling. Maybe that’s what Twilight was shouting about.”

“No, she was shouting about not letting something happen!” Pinkie’s eyes widened as an idea came to her. “You don’t think they’re both connected? Oh, I hope they are! We could be detectives and detect how they’re connected! That’d be so much fun!”

“I don’t think now’s the time for that, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia said gravely. “I think we should find James first. His mood is terrible and he said something about giving up on everything and just letting chaos take over. We can’t let that happen.”

“Then let’s go find the grumpy grump!” Pinkie yelled cheerfully. “If he lets chaos take over, things won’t be fun at all!” Her mood turned serious as she realised what had just been said. “N-no. That won’t be fun for anypony.”

The two of them set off into the town to search for James, Pinkie’s smile slowly reappearing.

She wasn’t going to let something like this keep her down!

She just hoped that James would be easy to cheer up too.

-=-=-=-=-

Twilight Sparkle was terrified.

More terrified than she’d ever been in her life.

Even more terrified than she’d been when she’d found out that the average pony would swallow at least four spiders in a single year when she was four years old.

A quick recalculation of that meteorite’s size and velocity meant that it would not only obliterate Ponyville, but at least half of Equestria.

That could not happen. Not while she was a princess and while there was still a breath in her body.

She just had to find Luna.

Even though the Ursa Major was gone, Luna should still be where it was last; beside the Everfree forest. But if Luna had dealt with the Ursa Major by now, there was no telling where she could have gotten to.

Maybe she should have stayed and waited by the castle…

Which would be the most effective method of stopping that meteorite?

Would they be able to stop it completely?

So many thoughts and more raced through her mind, the most prominent being the safety of the ponies of Equestria. She had to save them. If she couldn’t save them, what would be the point of being a princess in the first place?

“Twilight!” yelled just the pony she was looking for. “Here! The Ursa Major has been dealt with!”

Twilight spotted Princess Luna off in the distance, casting a bubble spell around what looked like a very tiny Ursa Major. Twilight flew over to Luna, dropping into a gallop. She skidded to a halt in front of Luna.

“Did he do anything?” asked Luna. “The Ursa became tiny on its own! What did he do?”

“Nothing, and that’s the problem!” Twilight replied frantically. “He’s letting chaos take over! Did you see the meteorite in the sky?!”

“Meteorite?” She looked up and spotted the red dot in the sky, now the size of her hoof at this distance. “That… Is it headed for Ponyville?”

“Yes, but it’s too big to destroy just Ponyville on its own! It could take out all of Equestria! I came to find you to ask for your help stopping it!”

“I’ve got a better idea, princess,” said James, grabbing hold of her horn from behind. “How about I take your horn and we just let it kill everyone? Wouldn’t that be –“

He was interrupted by something hitting him hard, presumably across the face, by the sound of it. Twilight couldn’t see what it was, but Luna gasped. Twilight spun around just in time to see another figure holding James in such a way that restricted his movement. As soon as she saw them, however, they disappeared.

That other figure had some similarities to someone she knew…

But it couldn’t have been him!

She was drawn suddenly to the sound of Luna yelping in fear. When she spun back around, however, Luna looked to be completely fine.

“What was that?!” Twilight asked.

“What?” Luna asked bewilderedly, glancing around at whatever Twilight was talking about. “What happened? Did I miss something?”

Twilight shook her head and snapped herself back to the problem at hoof. “We need to stop that meteorite! It’s a matter of life and death!”

“Yes, of course! We need to stop it now! Let’s go!”

The two of them took off and flew up towards the meteorite, ready to stop it by any means necessary.

-=-=-=-=-

Fluttershy heard the screaming start when she had re-entered Ponyville.

It must have been about all this chaos going on. There was nothing else it could be; there was an Ursa Major somewhere and a house was upside down, but even that was probably just the beginning by now.

She had to find her friends to help them out with all this. It shouldn’t be too hard to do; Rainbow Dash was still in hospital and Applejack and Rarity were most likely gone to the schoolhouse to keep their sisters safe, so it was just Pinkie Pie and Twilight that could be anywhere else.

But, as soon as she’d thought it, she spotted Twilight and Luna fly up to the sky. She watched them for a few seconds, wondering what they were doing. Perhaps that small red dot in the sky had something to do with it…

“Hey, Fluttershy!” yelled Pinkie Pie happily. Fluttershy turned to see her bouncing towards her with Princess Celestia right beside her. “We’re being detectives!”

“What happened to your horn, Princess Celestia?” asked Fluttershy, pointing at Celestia’s hornless head.

“I’m afraid James took it from me,” she replied with a sad frown. “I’m not sure why he wanted it, but we need to get it back after all of this is sorted.”

“But will it even get sorted?!” James yelled angrily, barrelling out of an alleyway beside them. “Because no matter how hard you try, I’m NOT stopping this!! You hear me?!”

He seemed to be directing his words at someone in the alleyway. The others turned to look for who he was talking to, but who could it be? Who would be strong enough to put a smidgeon of fear into even James’s heart?

There was definitely something there, but before any of them could discern who, or what, it was, there was a small bang and suddenly a thick cloud of smoke surrounding them.

Fluttershy coughed as she breathed some of it in and her eyes started to water. Despite this, she still had the ability to just barely see through the smoke. James was lashing out all over the place, as if something was about to leap out and attack him at any angle.

“Come on then!!” he roared as he swung his arms wildly. “Where are you?! At least show your stupid face!!”

Fluttershy saw a chain with a small blade at the end shoot through the smoke and into James’s back. “GET OVER HERE!!” yelled a deep voice she couldn’t place as James was yanked through the smoke towards the chain’s point of origin.

“REALLY?!!” James bellowed as another figure entered the smoke and struck him hard across the face. “YOU COULD’VE TAKEN ANYTHING TO REMIND ME OF MY HOME AND YOU PICK THAT?!!”

Fluttershy gasped as she began to notice more and more of James’s attacker. They looked so similar to someone she knew…

But that was impossible!

She watched in awe as James swung one arm at the attacker and the strike was deflected with ease. The attacker sent a fist shooting towards James’s throat, and he choked as he was forced to the ground by the attacker’s blow.

“Fluttershy?!” yelled Celestia through the smoke. “Where are you?! We’re out of the smoke! Who’s in there with you?!”

Fluttershy remained quiet as she watched that ever so familiar assailant deliver another punch to James’s stomach before grabbing him by the leg and vanishing completely, taking James with them.

Suddenly, she felt someone touch her head lightly. “I’m so sorry about this, Fluttershy,” said…

Wait, what just happened?

There was a pop to her right, but there was no one there when she looked. What had James done? When did this smoke appear?

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie yelled from somewhere to her right. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m… *cough* fine!” she replied. All of a sudden, the smoke vanished. “W-what just… happened? I don’t remember getting into that smoke…”

Pinkie Pie and Celestia shared a concerned glance before hurrying over to her. “You should’ve come out of there!” Pinkie said as she hugged Fluttershy tightly. “You could’ve gotten hurt by that… uh, that somepony James was running from!”

“Did you see who it was, Flutershy?” asked Celestia.

“What?” Fluttershy whispered. “I… I don’t what you’re talking about. I only saw some smoke. Was there somepony in there with me?”

Again, Celestia and Pinkie Pie shared a concerned glance.

“If you’re okay, then it doesn’t matter,” said Celestia. “Now, we still need to talk to James about all this. Do you think you can come with us? He might listen to you more.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Fluttershy answered. “Let’s go find him before it’s too late!”

And so the three of them set off in search of James and…

Was there someone else? Fluttershy couldn’t remember.

-=-=-=-=-

Applebloom was on a mission!

And because that mission could be cutie mark related, her friends were on that mission too!

“What exactly are we doing?” asked Scootaloo.

Oh right. She still hadn’t explained what she’d seen out the window of the classroom.

“Ah saw a whole house upside down!” Applebloom explained excitedly. Then she’d had… “And then ah had the idea to see if we could get our cutie marks in bein’ chaos stoppers!”

“That’s not really a good idea, Applebloom,” said Sweetie Belle. “Why did you get us to sneak out of class for that? Didn’t chaos stopping need six elements of harmony last time?”

“Well mah sister said that there’s a new Discord! Ah bet if we talk to him nice enough, we could get ‘em to stop it all!”

The other two looked at each other in silence, trying to think of anything they could do to persuade Applebloom to not go through with this. As sensible as it was, there were still fifty billion flaws with her idea. For one, they weren’t exactly the best at talking. Second, they didn’t even know where to find this new Discord.

And so on and so on.

“Is this really a good idea?” asked Scootaloo.

“Of course it is!” Applebloom replied happily. “We just need to find that stupid chaos fellah!”

“That could take all day,” Sweetie Belle stated. She glanced over her shoulder at the schoolhouse in the distance. “Maybe we should’ve just waited with the others until Princess Twilight sorted all this out…”

“There he is!” Applebloom yelled, pointing at who could only be the new Discord. “Cutie mark crusader chaos stoppers, go!”

“Yay…” droned Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo dully as Applebloom charged towards their target and…

Was there someone else with him?

Whoever it was, they vanished before they could see who it was.

“Well, howdy there, chaos fellah!” Applebloom greeted with a happy wave. “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders and we’d like to talk to ya!” She noticed his bruised eye and tattered clothes. “Uh… you alright?”

“Applebloom, be careful!” hissed Sweetie Belle as she caught up with her friend. “He could be dangerous!”

“Heh…” the new Discord chuckled weakly. “You really… ow... picked a bad time for this…” He sat up straight and smiled weakly. “I am so… uhg… dangerous I could… uh… make you explode!”

“See?!” Sweetie Belle whispered. “I told you!”

“That just means… you’re braver than… most…” he explained, wincing as he grabbed at his stomach in pain. “So be proud of yourselves… for coming here…”

“Ah got us to come out here!” Applebloom put in proudly, standing up taller. She frowned and regarded his broken body again. “But… yeah, are you alright?”

“Never been... unf… better,” he said, but his voice told Applebloom everything she wanted to know.

“Ah think you should go to the hospital,” she said concernedly. Her serious look switched back to an excited one. “And while you’re at it, could ya put a stop to the chaos please?” She scowled at him. “Else I’m gonna hafta put some hurt on ya!”

“What happened to being nice?!” Scootaloo yelled angrily. “We’re sorry Mister chaos man. Please don’t make us explode.”

“Call me James,” he replied, reaching down to ruffle Applebloom’s mane. “And I’m not going to make you explode. I lied about that. You’re still pretty… ah… brave.”

“Well looky here, Mister James!” Applebloom growled as fiercely as she could manage and jumping right in front of him. “Y’all better stop all this or we’re all gonna make you ‘splode!”

He smirked and ruffled her hair again. “You remind me of… my own daughter,” he said sincerely. He closed his eyes and smiled. “And just for that reason, I will.”

“W-what?!” Scootaloo yelled incredulously. “Just like… that?”

“What, were you expecting something more… ow… dramatic?” he replied, rolling his eyes at her. “I can be dramatic. Just give me a second.”

He snapped his fingers and suddenly all the bumps and bruises on his body faded back to normal. The jaws of the Cutie Mark Crusaders dropped as he stood up, completely fine now. He drew a line in the air with one finger and a sword was pulled out of nothingness, attached to the end of his finger.

“Now then.” He grabbed the sword out of the air and swung it round to hold underneath his arm. “Oh no! You have defeated me! I must stop this chaos before the entire world ends!”

He dropped back onto the ground, facing upwards. He gave one final grasp at the sky with one hand before his eyes closed and he gasped in a final breath.

“What just happened?” asked Sweetie Belle blankly, staring at James with a confused look.

“Weren’t you listening?” he asked, eyes remaining closed. “I lost. You beat me. Shouldn’t you be celebrating now?”

Applebloom grinned and looked back at her flank. “So we should be getting our cutie marks now!” she cheered. It was about a minute of her staring at her flank expectantly before she frowned and kicked at the ground in frustration. “Aw, haystacks.”

“Maybe we didn’t beat him good enough?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Should we try again?”

“Oh no, please not again!” James pleaded, sitting upright. “I’ve had enough beating for one day!” His smile faded. “Way too much.”

“Well maybe our cutie mark isn’t in chaos stopping,” said Scootaloo. “So what? We’ll just have to try again tomorrow!”

“Or maybe,” James said, jumping up to his feet, “you shouldn’t limit yourselves to one special talent. From what I know, you three are good at a great number of things, so why should you limit yourselves to just one of those things?”

“Well ah wanna get mah cutie mark!” Applebloom yelled. “Cutie marks are what makes a pony special! Right now we can’t –“

“Applebloom, there you are!” yelled Applejack as she approached from the direction of the schoolhouse. “What are you…?” She growled when she spotted James and picked up her pace. “Get away from mah sister, mister!”

“But Applejack, he ain’t so bad!” Applebloom replied.

“Did you find them, Applejack?” yelled Rarity from somewhere behind Applejack.

“Ah got ‘em, Rarity!” Applejack yelled back. She glared at James fiercely. “An’ ah swear, if you’ve so much as touched a single hair on her head, you’re gonna get it big time.”

“Sis, leave ‘em alone!” Applebloom yelled, standing in front of James defensively. “If we make him mad, he might not stop makin’ chaos now!”

“Oh yeah,” James said quietly. “Your sister’s just saved all of Ponyville, apples.”

“What?” Applejack said dumbly, blinking in surprise.

“Ah talked to him good enough and he said he’d stop all that’s goin’ on!” Applebloom said proudly, grinning ear to ear.

“You should be proud of her,” James said in a complimentary tone. “She’s a real star.” He frowned and looked up at a red ball in the sky. “Just like that one there.”

“What one where?” asked Scootaloo, looking up to where he was looking. She gasped when she spotted it.

“Please don’t say that’s what I think it is,” whimpered Sweetie Belle, going weak at the knees.

“Sadly, it is,” James said calmly. “But it’s not gonna be there much longer.”

Before anyone could ask what he meant, he vanished with a puff of smoke. Once he had done so, Rarity ran up to beside her sister. She frowned when she got up close to her.

“Sweetie Belle, don’t ever do that again in a time like this!” Rarity yelled, pulling Sweetie Belle close. “You had me sick with worry!”

“Rarity, we were just saving Ponyville!” Sweetie Belle replied, struggling out of her sister’s tight hug. “Well… Applebloom was. We just tagged along.”

“Saving Ponyville?” Rarity queried confusedly. “What do you…?”

“James said that too,” Applejack supplied. “Don’t ask me how she did, because ah don’t know.”

“Well, whatever the case, the three of you are coming with us this instant!” Rarity said crossly, scowling at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “We’ve got to get you somewhere safe!”

“How’d ya find us anyway, sis?” Applebloom asked as they were led away by Rarity.

“One of the other students said they saw ya through the window,” Applejack answered. “If you’re gonna sneak out, make sure no one sees ya first!”

“Applejack!” Rarity reprimanded, snarling at her friend. “Don’t encourage them!”

“Right, sorry,” Applejack replied, smirking to herself. “Now Applebloom, tell us how ya ‘saved Ponyville’, why don’t ya?”

Applebloom began her story with beaming pride.

-=-=-=-=-

The meteorite wasn’t slowing down.

Luna and Twilight had both been pouring endless amounts of energy into their slowness spells, but nothing seemed to be working.

But they weren’t giving up yet, and nor would they do so while they still drew breath.

“Afternoon, ladies,” said James, suddenly appearing between them. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

“Get out of here!!” Twilight screamed at him, sending yet another slowness spell up at the meteorite. “We’re not letting you stop us from stopping this thing!!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I’ve got no choice,” he replied with a dark chuckle.

“We know you have to make chaos, but you don’t have to kill thousands of ponies for it!!” Luna shouted angrily, snarling at him.

“Oh no, not like that,” he said, shaking his head at her. “I mean I’m gonna have to stop you doing this because I’m going to stop it.”

“W-what?” Twilight faltered in her spell casting to stare at him in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, princess, that I am going to show you how you should get rid of a meteorite.”

Twilight and Luna both glanced at each other incredulously, then back at James. He held a hand over his eyes to block out the sun and squinted at the meteorite.

“First off, don’t use slowness spells from so far away. They’ll lose their effectiveness as they travel further from their point of origin and that thing’s only just entered the atmosphere.”

“What makes you…?” Twilight stopped, stunned. “How did you know that?! That’s a theory that was proven only months ago and Discord was never told about that!!”

“Oh, I’ve got my ways,” he replied with a small chuckle. “Secondly, don’t use slowness spells on something that big; gravity still works fine, after all.”

“Well then, how do you propose we deal with it?!” Luna roared at him.

“Simple.” He held a hand up to his mouth as if he was talking into something. “Jimmy Boy to Broadsword, come in Broadsword.” He held his nose with his other hand. “This is Broadsword, we read you loud and clear, Jimmy Boy.”

“What are you doing?!” Twilight yelled. “Stop playing games!!”

He took his hand away from his nose. “I’m trying to save the world here! Get off my back!” His hand went back to his nose. “We’re getting some interference, Jimmy Boy. Could you speak up a little?” His hand moved away again. “Don’t worry, that’s a problem on my end, Broadsword. You are free to engage.” Back onto his nose again. “Roger that, Jimmy Boy.”

James moved both his hands away from his face and he pointed at the meteorite with two fingers on either hand. All of a sudden, lines of light drew themselves around him in a strange construct. Twilight and Luna flew out of their path and gawked at what looked like an outline of a very large cannon, but with more machinery attached than they had ever seen on a normal cannon.

“What is this…?” Twilight breathed in awe at the intricate detail the lines of light had created.

“Jimmy Boy, this is Broadsword,” James said, his hand over his nose again. “Are we clear to fire?”

“You are clear to fire, Broadsword,” said a voice that sounded like James’s from what was best described as a speaker beside him.

“Aye, sir.” James saluted and his hand went back to the position they were in just moments before. “Firing now.”

His fingers made a squeezing motion and there was the sound of something charging up.

“What’s it doing?” asked Luna.

“I’d cover your ears if I were you.”

Twilight and Luna barely had time to comply before there was a deafening boom, like a cannon firing but much, much louder. They were almost blinded by a beam of light that shot towards the meteorite from the end of the ‘cannon’.

And then the meteorite exploded with a force so great that Twilight and Luna were knocked back a little, even from this far away. When the echoes had faded, there was no evidence that it was ever there; it had been completely disintegrated.

James smirked as the lines of light around him vanished. “And that, my dear, is how I propose you get rid of your meteorite.”

Author's Note

Disclaimer: Mortal Kombat was created by some guy that was not me. Please support the official release.

Seriously, the latest one is awesome.