My Little Tactics

Chapter Twenty Two: C͎̼̫̫̲̯̜̎̅̏̿̚̕͞͝h̵̹̝̥̠̪̥͎̎̔͊̄̕a̩̜͕͒͌̊͐̈́͊͟͠ͅo̲̤̲̜͎̅͂̎̊͘͘͡s̡̡̛̛͇̲̦̮͕̠̝͆͛̎̏̄͛̊.

“HELP!” The call of the Crusader’s call could be heard echoing to the outskirts of town.

Without a thought Dustan leaped towards Discord sword in hand and anger flowing through him like he had only felt a few times in his life. “YOU BASTARD!”

Dodging to the left of the crimson colored weapon there came a tisk tisk sound from Discord. “Dustan Dustan. If there is anything you should know about me is that I don’t harm ponies and I won’t this time. So calm down and think about things”

“So what do you call that?” Dustan barely held himself back, not even thinking about all the power the Spirit of Disharmony possessed, nor about the discomfort of wielding a sword in his current class of Monk.

Smiling, or rather it was a grin that unnerved the human to the core, he responded simply. “A situation that you can save them from. Those three are held up by a rope over a pit, said pit has more than a few nasty things at the bottom. Might be fire, might be acid, who can remember anymore what is in the bottom of pits these days.”

Dustan knew that things were too good to be true, Discord from the show and this one were two different beings entirely. One would never dare to put a pony in harm’s way, make them uncomfortable and annoyed, absolutely, but never put them in a situation to be harmed if they weren’t capable of getting out of it. This made him lose any and all respect for the monster before him.

Making no effort to hide his disgust from Discord caused said creature to frown. “Hmm I see. I think I am getting a good idea of who you are.” Shaking off the frown…literally, he removed his head and shook his head till all features fell off and then were redrawn, he came back with a smile. “Well no matter. You have about only…oh let’s say five minutes and fifty seconds? Yeah that sounds good.”

The number, like most things Discord did, made no sense to Dustan at all so he had to ask. “Why five minutes and fifty seconds?”

“You see, the timer will start when the song starts to play, when it stops that is when the rope will break dropping those three calling for you into the pit.” So that was it, a timer tied to a song. “Though I should warn you, while you can easily run to the Town Hall from here in less than that time, you shouldn’t expect things to be that simple. Anyways it’s time to start.” Parts of the malefic monstrosity exploded into snaps and pops of small firecrackers with only the head left remaining. “Good luck ‘Hero’.” With that final bit the music started, music that Dustan knew quite well.

The instant the music started was when dust was kicked up as he took off. Re-entering Ponyville proper the vocals had started to kick in, as well as the part that Discord mentioned.

‘Where have all the good men gone? And where are all the gods?’ Bonnie Tyler’s classic song was playing in its dramatic tone as skeletal ponies started to shuffle out and block his path.

Putting away his Blood Sword Dustan quickly drew out his Coral Sword and made the class change from Monk to Squire. The thought of switching to Knight came to mind but he wanted to keep the speed of Squire to better reach the Crusaders. Hearing them call for help again made his blood boil.

“Out of my fucking way!” Dustan spared not a second glance at the first skele-pony that he struck down, hearing the bones break from his strike and bones collapsing to the ground. They were everywhere, they were crowding the way.

‘Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds? Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?’ Ironic lyrics for sure considering the mass of undead in front of him and the fact they were all ponies.

Quickly slashing again and again, he could tell they weren’t Tactics Skeletons as they went down in a single shot every time, or if they were they were first level. It didn’t matter, what did matter is even though he was breaking one after the other he wasn’t making much progress. What he needed was something to clear them out, and since they were so simple to destroy well he had the idea.

Gathering the destructive power within him he felt it growing, sword in one hand magic in the other; flame gathered in his hand waiting to be unleashed. “Fi-”

His attempt at magic was cut off as one skele-pony lunged at him forcing him to use his Defend reaction. Holding his blade horizontal, the lightning elemental blade’s flat pressed against his glove covered palm of the other hand as it block the pony.

A strange pulse echoed through Dustan’s being at that moment but he had neither the time nor luxury for curiosity as he threw off the undead pony then cleaved it in two letting its charred remains hit the ground.

‘Wait, it’s charred?’ Sure enough the undead was on fire and burning away causing some of the undead to instinctively back up since it was one of their weaknesses. Holding up his sword ready to attack again the roaring and crackling of flame was what greeted him. ‘Why is my sword on fire?’

No answer was given, but something did happen to let him know the situation was better. When he swung his sword before, the resistant of splintering and crunching bones made it so that he could only realistically destroy one of them at a time. Now? Well that flaming and electrical elemental sword swiped through them like butter.

‘Late at night I toss and I turn, and I dream of what I need!’ Progress was being made and the song had barely just begun. Problem was he was still far away and every second he spent cleaving through the undead was another second that brought the girls closer to injury or worse. The crowd was thinning though, noticeably second by second, only problem was now it was no longer just by Dustan’s hand. The bones were clattering and clanking as they rose into the air, slowly fitting together making a larger skele-pony that was easily five times the size of the one before it.

‘I need a hero! I am holding out for a hero till the end of the night.’ The hoof, or would it be plural since it was made up of many, crashed into the ground just after Dustan rolled to the side swinging his flaming sword across the bones but only splintering a few, not even cutting through the entire leg. What was worse was that some of the remaining undead equines that were around broke apart and filled in the injury.

‘Least it is not super fast.’ That didn’t mean it wasn’t quick though as a rapid beat of its front hooves made the human dance about to avoid each once and just barely causing him to back off in a roll from the thundering presence before him. As soon as he backed off though the bony pony stopped and stared giving him a realization. “You are a guard!”

‘He’s got to be strong, and he’s got to be fast. And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight.’ The lyrics were right; he had to be fast, quicker than the pony guard. Making his choice he rushed in hoping to catch it off guard with how fast he could be. He was wrong.

The pony merely turned quickly as its large bony protrusion of a tail extended further to touch the ground and more and was swung towards him cloths lining him across the chest and sending him flying. Dustan felt a pain he had only felt once before in Equestria, the pain of broken ribs.

“Cure!” He called out with a rasp and though it was a quick casted spell he felt some pain leave him. Not much though. Giving a cough he noticed blood flecks hit the ground. ‘Please let that be from before I just healed.’

‘I need a hero! I’m holding out for a hero till the morning light. He’s gotta be sure and it’s gotta be soon. And he’s gotta be larger than life!’ Gritting his teeth again the song was right they were approaching the second verse now. ‘Larger than life.’

As soon as he got up and moved pain wrecked his mind yep, his ribs were not doing good things inside him. “HELP!”

Dustan’s feet left the ground as he rushed forward without a second thought, spurred on the words called out. The undead readied its tail swipe again and Dustan grabbed his sword in both hands, the negative reaction coursing through him again. He was never sure if there were any consequences for doing forbidden things for too long, or seeing an action through but it didn’t matter. Using the added power of Doublehand he cleaved through the pony’s tail. While it was using the last of the skele-ponies to regenerate its tail Dustan felt his hands go numb for a moment forcing him to drop his flaming sword, causing it to extinguish the instant it left his hands.

‘Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasy. Somewhere just beyond my reach, there's someone reaching back for me.’ This wasn’t his wildest fantasy, nor did he wish to see what was possibly reaching out for him from behind. Instead Dustan started to run straight to the Town Hall. It didn’t take a genius to guess from the loud thundering hoof beats behind him that that bony pony was chasing him now. ‘Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat.’

‘Normally I love that song; right now I hate it though.’ As he was running he slowly gathered up his power, slower as his attention was divided between running as well as breathing as best he could since that wasn’t working quite like he wanted it to. “Out of the ground,-” A hoof thudded next to him causing him to fling himself away, right into the path of the next hoof that came in like a dump truck to kick him. Dustan wasn’t sure how he landed on his feet but he did. “Raze all greenery with flame!” Gathering the flame in both hands and thrusting them forward as the pony ran at him. “FIRA!”

The heat was immense causing him to sweat more then he already wise and illuminating his pale pallor, a tornado of fire shot from his hands colliding with the pony. Shards of bones were popping off left and right as the beast gave an unearthly cry of pain as it thrust itself to the ground trying to put itself out.

‘It’s gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet’ It wasn’t a superman that took Dustan off his feet, instead it was the racking cough that did that. Trying to cover his mouth with one of his hands while the other tried to pick himself up, he felt his blood run cold as the hand covering his mouth came back wet with fresh blood.

“HELP!” That sound again spurred him on, making him ignore his own injuries for the time being and giving him new strength. Judging from where he was, he was about a third of the way to the Town Hall now, meaning he was a bit behind as the song was about at the halfway point. At this pace he wasn’t going to make it!

Getting up and running, slow at first but slowly gaining a more steady pace, he felt like he could make it if he just pushed through everything. He could do it, he could make it he could-The sound of a loud whinny caused him to turn around as the creature had managed to put itself out but not without damage. The large skeleton was now missing half its skull but the other half had a glowing red eye that was glaring at him in anger.

‘Oh shit!’ His legs weren’t carrying him as fast as they had before but it was clear to hear that his opponent didn’t share that same problem as it quickly caught up to him. Dodging to the left this time Dustan thought he had avoided it only to see a shadow go over him before the pony landed before him baring his way. ‘Sonva-’ The thought never finished as the pony opened its mouth crying out as bone spears came flying out of it. The attack caught the Squire off guard who barely had time to duck out of the way into an alleyway, though not without injury. Large bone shards covered his right arm turning it useless though Dustan would pull the shards out. ‘SONVA BITCH!’

‘I need a hero! I am holding out for a hero till the end of the night.’ The chorus had started again. ‘He’s got to be strong, and he’s got to be fast. And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight.’ Strong, that was relative for Dustan. Fast, not anymore. Fresh from the fight, well the blood dripping from his mangled right arm was a good indication of how fresh from the fight he was.

Getting up, forcing himself to stand he took inventory of his magic, not much. The Fira had taken more out of him then he thought, not to mention the Cura spell from earlier that he had used on the Coeurl. The day was starting to add up and he wasn’t fairing the best now. Wear and tear on multiple areas were getting to him. He had just a bit more then what a Cure would cost him but that wouldn’t alleviate things at all, it would be a stopgap measure at best and at worst useless and drain him of the last bit of MP he had.

‘I need a hero! I’m holding out for a hero till the morning light. He’s gotta be sure and it’s gotta be soon. And he’s gotta be larger than life!’ The chorus was almost over, the song was approaching the last few lines of itself. ‘I need a hero! I’m holding out for a hero till the end of the night…’ The song was such a parallel to everything at the moment. Those fillies need a hero.

‘I cant.’ He could feel his tears stain his cheeks. With how far the song was, with how far away he was. He couldn’t run there normally let along injured and with the undead giant in the way.

“HELP US DUSTAN!” The voices of the Crusaders called out. They called out, for him.

Turning his head he slammed it against the brickwork of the house he was leaning against causing a trickle of blood to run down his forehead. “Damn it! I WON’T GIVE UP!” Dustan had only one choice to make things up and it was a gamble, both of his safety especially at this moment and of the safety of the girls. Gathering up his remaining power he knew that once he cast this spell, he was dry. “Layer upon layer, make your mark now! HASTE!” Two spirals of green roman numerals rotated clockwise around him and towards his middle.

The moment the Haste spell took effect, three things became clear. One: It had worked his perception of time slowed to a crawl. Two: the nausea he felt last time came back full force. Three: his body hated it worse than normal time. None of that mattered to him though. Rushing out he surprised the giant as when it tried to skewer him with a shower of bone spears, the place it had targeted him was empty of him by the time they landed, and not by a small margin either.

‘Up where the mountains reach the heavens above. Out where the lightning splits the sea. I could swear there was someone somewhere watching me!’ The pony was definitely watching shooting patch after patch of bone spears trying to time its shots to the speeding human only to miss every time. Except it was getting closer and closer each time.

Just when it thought it had the human this time, he had unexpectedly stopped and turned towards it, making the shower miss again. Jumping up Dustan landed on its face and raised his one free hand. The large pony looked him square in the eyes with its large glowing orb of an eye.

“PUMMEL!” Dustan’s fist lashed out so quickly that it appeared to be multiple hits, each one landing with a loud cracking sound. “Consecutive normal punches!” The reference was lost on the pony, though it didn’t matter. The punches did their job causing the cracks to splinter all the way through the remainder of the skull. The light left the lingering socket before it would give a shudder and start to break apart completely throwing the man down to the ground with a cry of pain.

‘Through the wind and the chill and the rain.’ The wind was Dustan’s voice leaving him in agony, the chill was coming from all his blood loss, and the rain was the tears falling from his eyes. ‘And the storm and the flood.’ The storm and the flood were one in the same, his heartbeat and the blood rushing quickly through his head as Dustan forced himself to stand once more. ‘I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood.’ It wasn’t the blood that was on fire, but his entire body.

Haste was still active and the last lines were the chorus to be song twice in a row with one last line after that. The human didn’t have long left and he was barely over half way now. His body protested the entire way and the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth more and more with each step till he could feel it wet his chin. The good news was he was in so much pain that the nausea no longer bothered him, the bad news was he was in so much pain that nausea was the least of his concerns.

The chorus finished once just as the Haste spell ran its course forcing his sluggish body back to its normal pace. The steps of the Town Hall normally were never a problem, but thanks to the chaos renovation company, aka Discord, it was now a series of steps that would make Rocky proud to climb. Running up them as fast as humanly possible, more so then his body should have, Dustan could feel his ribs touch and rip something inside causing him to gasp and lose his breath. Blood filled his mouth as he kept going, there was so much pain that no other thoughts could enter his mind anymore. Not even the song playing could be heard anymore.

The only thing that kept him going and the only thing he could hear were the cries of the Crusaders over the speaker. The chorus finished its second round now. All that was left was its last lines to be said as Dustan opened the doors to the town hall. His vision was blurry and fading at this point, but he could distinctly see three colorful bundles of equine mischief tied to a rope.

‘I need a hero! I am holding out for a hero till the end of the night.’ Those were the last words of the song as the music faded. With its fade the rope snapped as a pit opened up from the ground. The human moved quicker than he had a right to do so, kicking up off the ground and reaching out with his free arm to take hold of the girls and let his momentum take him clear across the room skidding to a halt. Dustan had jumped the pit.

There was a flash of light and the fading figure of Discord could be made out in the human’s vision. There was the muffled sound of someone speaking but the Squire couldn’t tell what was being said nor if it was Discord that was truly speaking it or not.

‘Guess if I had to go out some way, this isn’t a bad one.’ That thought seemed like a good last thought, so much so he managed a smile as he could feel everything start to fade away.

It wasn’t to be as a flash of light forced his vision to sharply focus and his lungs to fill with air. “Now now, that was quite a show. You nearly lost your life there to save these three.”

Coughing over and over again the human slowly raised up to find not a single scratch on him and his sword that he dropped back in its scabbard. “W-What?”

“I am very impressed you know, not an easy thing to do.” Reaching down Discord plucked the bundle that Dustan was guarding with his life only to find something off. “I mean not many would risk life and limb to rescue three plush toys with a recording attached.”

Sure enough looking up he spotted they were indeed plush toy versions of the Crusaders. “But, I thought-”

“I know I know. You thought they were the real deal. But never once did I say the things you were to rescue were ponies now did I? I also said I would never harm ponies, stuffed toys are not so lucky however.” A chuckle was given but Dustan wasn’t sure how to feel.

On one hand he nearly lost his life in this round to rescue someone, well three people. On the other hand, there was never any danger and no one was in trouble at all. He had risked his life for nothing, or did he? He was so confused and not sure how to answer that as with another flash he found himself back at the outskirts.

Weirdly Dustan felt a hand placed on his shoulder and looked up to see Discord smiling kindly? “Ponies are quick to say they accept and will offer help to others, but rare is it that they would ever risk their lives for another so quickly as you. I have seen pony guards in the past balk and run when I showed up, stampeding over fellow guards and citizens alike. I have met so called heroes and found them wanting. Rarely have I ever found anyone worthy of such a title.” Pulling away Discord walked a bit a ways and loudly chuckled. “Not only are you worthy of the title, but you embody it completely. That is why the last event shall be a three part event. I want to give you the chance to win JUST to see what you would do with the wish. However that being said, I won’t make it easy for you either to get this.”

To be complimented by Discord was…a weird feeling, something Dustan wasn’t sure if he should be proud of or not. “Thank you for saying those kind things.” That being said, for some reason it did make him feel good to hear them. “So what is the last event?”

“A battle contest!” Snapping his claws there was a scoreboard now that showed Dustan three times on the left and across from him were three question marks. “You will fight a best of three and if you win two, then you win. Since we are tied that literally means you win it all. However if you lose twice-”

“Then the same goes there and I lose it all.” Snapping his fingers Discord pointed and nodded as Dustan got it right. “So will I get to know who I face before hand or will it be a mystery each time?”

“My boy, of course it will be a mystery. However let me put it this way. I will make sure you recognize each fighter I fabricate.” He didn’t like the sound of that at all, from the way Discord said that, it almost sounded like- “They will be from your memories that I snooped through, though I will try to keep it to some more memorable ones.”

‘Damn, that means I could end up fighting op assholes like Emerald Weapon or something.’ The human was praying his gaming life wasn’t about to come back and bite him in the ass.

“The rules will be simple.” Here it comes, the rules for this stage and likely they will be strict were the thoughts that ran through Dustan’s mind. “No holds bar.”

‘Oh…ok.’ Dustan could clearly say he didn’t expect that at all.

Discord continued unaware of the thoughts of the human. “Feel free to use anything and everything. Hold nothing back as I will make sure you are refreshed between rounds. Though Keep this in mind. If you beat your enemy, you win, if they beat you, they win. However if you beat them but the effects they have on you render you down and out, it is a draw. Or vise versa.”

“So literally you will full restore me after each fight?” Getting a nod from the Spirit of Disharmony that brought some plans to the humans head.

“I will give you a moment to think about things, I will be right back.” With a flash he was gone, only this time he left no window to let Dustan view through. Not that Dustan would this time as planning was important.

‘Ok I should stay Squire, its kinda all around well rounded for many purposes. Switching to Black Mage might be a course but I am wearing Leather armor so it won’t like that. Damn. Technically Monk shouldn’t like it as well, though I only notice very minor discomfort from that, unlike wielding a sword.’ Running through multiple scenarios in his head, the displaced human came to the conclusion that Squire was his only choice in the matter, though Knight was the back up if he needed the defense. Discord wasn’t yet back so another matter came to his mind and he pulled out his Coral Sword. ‘Why were you on fire earlier?’

No answer came and no answer was given as with a flash the chimeric creature was back. “Ok then, that is settled, though if I know them they will likely be on their way back now.”

Hearing him say that brought to mind the events of the show. In all the turmoil happening here he had forgotten what was happening over there for a moment. With what he said Dustan could deduce that all of the Mane Six but Twilight were now brainwashed and on their way back.

They would need more time. “So who is my first opponent in our little tournament?”

Ticking his hand back and forth Discord looked away with a smug grin. “I said I wouldn’t say didn’t I? So that means you have to guess as they appear. I won’t tell you till AFTER the match as by then it won’t matter anymore.”

With a snap a heavily cloaked figure appeared. The blackness within its hood was so deep that Dustan could only see the yellow of teeth and the red of eyes. Two malformed hands came out of the sleeves of his robe as it raised them up. Four full zombies rose up out of the ground, pony ones at that.

‘Well it’s a step up from Skeletons I suppose.’ There wasn’t much time for thought.

With a snap of his fingers Discord rang an invisible bell and relocated to watch the fight with a bag of popcorn. The match had begun. The zombies rushed at him, nothing like a slow shuffle in most old horror movies. The first zombie was finished off with a quick strike to its head, removing it from its body. Dustan activated Tactical Eye to make sure it was dead. Sure enough as he did so the body vanished as it disintegrated. With that giving him confidence Dustan deactivated Tactical Eye as he ran towards the other zombies, cutting them down after a few thrusts and slashes.

The Squire was about to turn its attention to the hooded figure but instead of seeing a clear view between him and it, there were now eight zombies in his way. “Oh shit he is a necromancer. I should have seen that coming.” That seemed to make the yellowed toothed grin of the hooded creature widen as it continued to raise more. “Go ahead you little shit, I don’t have to hold back for you!” Calling up his power, this time no longer having to split his attention it came quickly. “Out of the ground, raze all greenery! FIRA!”

Holding out his single hand the torrent of fire washed over the zombies. Their shapes in the fire only lasted a moment before they vanished giving rise to the smell of burning flesh and burning horse hair. Not a pleasant thing at all to smell. However the flames reached the necromancer at the end and burned him as well causing him to scream in a high pitched wail.

Cutting off power to the flames Dustan rushed forward while the creature was still engulfed in the fire and before it could raise anymore zomb-ponies to its beck and call and stabbed it through the chest. “Take that.” The wail was cut off with a gurgle as it soon collapsed on itself. Opening up Tactical Eye, Dustan only took a quick glance at its health to make sure that it was indeed at zero.

It was. Giving a smile he turned towards the spirit with a grin on his face wondering how the being had liked the swift dispatch of that enemy. Instead Dustan’s grin faltered when he caught Discord staring intently behind him. Dustan barely got any warning as the tearing of cloth was heard.

Turning back something long and of a dull green had pierced the cloth and struck at Dustan, a fatal blow as well. The tentacle of the being had caught him square up under his ribs. It was then that Dustan caught sight of the being he was facing. A being that if he just took the time to examine fully with his ability he would have been ready for this.

Before him was a rotted face and body, of a dark brown only now green hair could be seen barely on the top of his head with green bones rose up along his spine down his back. Tentacles lined up on the side going up behind him and down below since his body was in a permanent hunch.

“Scarmiglione!” The archfiend smiled as Dustan revealed his true identity before tossing him a great distance. The battle was over, Dustan was about to go cover the hole that was left by the fiend when there was a flash and his wounds were gone, as was the undead.

The sound of a clack could be heard drawing his attention over to the scoreboard. “That is one win for me Dustan.” Where before was a question mark, was now the gnarled face of Scarmiglione the archfiend from Final Fantasy Four. “Take a moment for a breather and gather up an idea, I know who I am going to create next so take your time.”

‘I need to keep Tactical Eye up at all time.’ He told himself grimly. ‘I got cocky and overconfident in how the Legion bone pony was as well as how weak the zomb-ponies were that I assumed too many things about the other thing he summoned. If I had taken the time I would have been prepared for it, but just like in the game I got caught off guard and got a back attack. I am such an idiot! ’ Taking a deep breath and checking on his MP he did indeed find it fully restored as well. ‘Well now I have to win the next two in a row or it’s over.’

Looking up at Discord and giving him a nod, the snap of a finger came and went and as Dustan looked down at his opponent there was a feeling of dread that came over him. The figure standing away from him was another skeleton, this time human, or at least humanoid in that it was a biped with two hands. It wore black shorts, sneakers and a blue jacket. It was short, at least half his size but more and more a feeling of dread came to him.

To put that feeling of dread to a name Dustan activated Tactical Eye and his blood ran cold. “No…” This wasn’t a Final Fantasy enemy. Hell, he didn’t even come from Square Enix at all.

“It’s a beautiful day outside.” A shaking hand quickly drew his Coral Sword. “Birds are singing, flowers are blooming.” Taking up a ready stance, Dustan watched the figure slowly turn to face him. “On days like this, kids like you.” With that San’s turned to face the Squire with his dark empty eye sockets. “Should be burning in hell!”

Right away as those last words were said the time aware skeleton threw his hand out and Dustan felt himself flung backwards. As soon as he landed bones materialized out of nothing or out of the ground and moved at him. He knew what they would do in the game they came from but not here, so taking caution he did his best to dodge where he could. The attacks were fast in the game for sure, but if they were coming at him at the same speed as in the game, he could confidently say he could dodge them, the reality though was they were much faster than the game.

Wall after all came at him and it was all he could do to dodge each one the surprise came when the walls were no longer there, but instead a giant skull glowing with an inner power. “Well shit.”

Spike was gritting his teeth. Since near the start, he had been watching things progress between Dustan and Discord via the telescope that Twilight used for star gazing. The dragon caught glimpses of the Hide and Seek game as well as the scavenger hunt though he couldn’t begin to guess what it was the two were doing. The obstacle course had scared the dragon as the thing running against Dustan had looked frightening. Though when it had got hurt he felt sympathy for it and for a moment he had felt the same as Dustan, glad it was hurt to give him the chance to win.

The only difference was Spike felt a flash of guilt as Dustan turned around and healed the beast. Spike wasn’t sure if he would have done the same, he would like to think so but he couldn’t be sure. When it came to the Crusaders, Spike nearly leapt out of the balcony of the treebary except he was stopped by an invisible force. It was clear that Discord wanted no one interfering in whatever it was that they were doing.

So all Spike could do was watch, watch and hope for his friend. He watched the mob of skeletal ponies come, he watched them get cut down, he watched as Dustan formed a blazing sword, and he watched as the Legion came to be. Legion was a creature that Spike had read about in books, it was similar to how Timberwolves could form into a giant version of themselves except legion was also a collection of negative emotions as well as remains all coming together as one. It had taken on many forms in the past, none of which Spike would have thought was something like this.

The dragon winced watching his friend get tagged by the tail and could tell he was really hurt. From the treebary he got a good glimpse of it all, the run the sweat and tears, the spears, the blood. So much blood it made him sick to his stomach both at how much there was and to imagine how much pain the human was in. When all was said in done, Discord had proudly announced through the speaker system that he had won and saved the dolls and asked Dustan how he felt. However there was no answer, least not one that Spike could hear.

Then they appeared in the clearing at the edge of town once again only now Dustan was better, as if nothing had happened. Discord vanished again and when he came back he also brought a scoreboard of some type with him. Then the cloaked figure and zomb-ponies appeared. They were nothing like the comics he had read, these were rotten and pieces of them were missing or falling off. Spike swore off zombie books and comics right after seeing them.

Luckily they seemed easy enough to beat, and the fire! WOW, he thought his own fire was impressive but the fire that Dustan let loose, he was one hundred percent sure that he never showed Twilight anything close to that. Spike was cheering his friend on as well watching till he got impaled and then the cheers turned to cold blooded screams of fear.

He thought he saw his friend cut down before his eyes with nothing to be done or help with. He felt powerless, Spike felt hopeless, he felt…relieved when he saw Discord heal him up right as rain. However that good feeling went away when a point was added to Discord’s side. Now though the second fight started and right away Spike felt something different.

Looking at Dustan, the confident, or at least assured, face that he sported was gone. Instead a look had come to his face that Spike had only known when Twilight thought Celestia was extremely upset with her: Fear. Whatever had just appeared Dustan recognized and was afraid of. He had not been afraid of the skeletons, or zombies, but this one he was? It was a normal skeleton right, well normal for a human he supposed since he never saw a human skeleton before.

Then the craziness started, Spike had been telekinetically moved more than a handful of times to recognize the look of someone that it was happening to. The bones then started to appear and attack. With each dodge Spike gave a little ‘yeah’ in response. Though he saw a skull appear behind the walls, out of Dustan’s vision and tried to scream, call out a warning or anything. Whatever barrier had stopped him from going to help the Crusaders earlier now also seemed to block in sound as none of his words were heard.

The thing known as the Gaster Blaster fired a beam of energy at Dustan who tried to block it and barely did with his sword, though at a cost. He had took damage and his sword was flung to who knows where. The purple assistant watched as Dustan reached to his belt, grabbing not his other sword but instead his axe. Twilight had explained to him before about the axe and knew how important such a thing was and what it meant. He hoped it would help.

Seemed Dustan had got tired of being on the defensive and during the next wave of bones instead of dodge Dustan swung. The bones shattered on impact making the creature who summoned them jump in shock, it had not expected that at all. It grinned then and one of its eyes shown in a blue glowing fire as it lifted Dustan up and slammed him a few times before letting him go.

The skeleton shrugged and seemed to be talking, though about what Spike didn’t know, instead he did see Dustan grin and speak. Two green spirals appeared around Dustan and the bruises that he had just gotten as well as the burns from that laser vanished. Again the bipedal skeleton seemed surprised and this time summoned bones of white and blue. This tactic seemed to throw Dustan off enough as some of the white bones hit him as for some reason he stood still to let the blue ones pass through him. This time though it seemed as though things were turning around as Dustan prepared to strike the creature with his axe.

Except the moment he tried the creature moved so fast that he left echoes of himself behind. Spike could only cheer for his friend and hope for the best.

“What? You think I gonna just stand there and take it?” Sans spoke up with a wink of one of his…eye sockets?

‘How is that even possible?’ Another question that would go unanswered as suddenly Gaster Blasters appeared, four at a time lining up to deal area damage. “Oh Shit!” He barely had a second to move and get in place, each time the blaster fired, they left space open in some areas following the patterns of the game in that regard as they made X patterns and squares. How none of those beams hit anything in Ponyville was a mystery to him but he couldn’t focus on that right now. Instead he rushed forward this time with a plan in mind. Attacking with his axe Sans dodged wonderfully once more.

Shrugging again the skeletal brother started to speak. “Our reports showed a-”

“Thunder!” Lightning shot from Dustan’s other hand only to be intercepted by a wall of bones.

“How did you do that? The reports said nothing about lightning.” Sans was sweating now, either the surprises were getting to him or something else was happening. Shaking his head he just grinned and spoke again. “Go ahead and try to hit me if you are able. You should know by now that mercy is off the table.”

‘Is he really singing like from that one animation?’ Throwing his Thunder around as he ran forward Dustan watched as bone wall after bone wall came to intercept things, Sans was now on the defensive. As another wall came up, this time Dustan used his axe to chop right through.

“You think that you can spare me like I am some pawn?” Sans still sung just like in the animation.

‘Which means…oh SHIT!’ it was too late though, Dustan was already committed to an attack.

“Well you didn’t spare my brother so get DUNKED ON!” As he said that, San’s left eye glowed in a luminous blue flame as bones appeared below Dustan and rammed upwards.

Unlike in the game however instead of trapping him and damaging his soul to death, they launched him upwards only to cause him to crash down hard. “Damn it Sans, I am not Chara!” Dustan called out as a coughing fit took him, unable to see the Gaster Blaster’s appearing to finish him off.

When he opened his eyes and saw them he right away tried to defend himself from the upcoming attacks hoping to weather them. Instead nothing came. Looking up he watched as Sans seemed to look around at things, first at the surroundings, then at himself, and finally to Dustan.

When at last he came to the human he spoke softly. “You…aren’t are you?” Looking back down at his hands he chuckled. “Then again seems I am not really Sans either.” Snapping his fingers almost in a Discord like way, the skulls and bones all vanished as Sans reached out to offer Dustan a hand. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to cause any trouble. If you ever meet the real me, promise me you won’t have a bone to pick with him ok?”

Dustan was about to take the offered hand but a distant snapping sound caused the skeletal brother to vanish in a flash of light, leaving the human feeling a bit sad about that.

“I really do hate when they become self aware like that. However I suppose in a way that is a victory in of itself for you.” Clapping his hands, a mini-Discord at the scoreboard flipped over the tally to show that now Dustan had one point on the row where Sans head was.

Another snap of the finger and Dustan felt all the damage he took vanish as well as his MP being restored to full. “Guess that means we are in the final round huh? A win and a loss on each side. This really is winner take all here.”

Grinning at Dustan, the embodiment of chaos nodded and chuckled. “Indeed it is and this has been quite fun. I am looking forward to continuing this whenever I feel like it after I win.”

Not able to withstand Discord’s grin, Dustan responded with one of his own. “And when I win, I look forward to my wish. Now bring on your last challenge!”

“As you wish.” With a snap Discord vanished and in his place stood a black robed bipedal figure.

Dustan gave a face-palm. Sure this was loosely related to Final Fantasy but all the people who wore that robe were dicks to fight for the most part. Considering that the figure was now gathering water over their head the Squire knew he was facing the most annoying of the bunch too all of which was confirmed by his Tactical Eye.

The water soon formed a dome as it rushed up to the raised hand of the figure obscuring vision though it was clear to see the hood had fallen back to reveal blond hair. “Fucking fine, let’s get this one over with.”

The water formed a musical instrument as it finally stopped flowing, a musical instrument called a Sitar. “Dance water, dance!”

Dustan’s face showed his displeasure at this as he drew his Coral Sword and glared at the hooded figure. “I hate you Demyx. I hate you so much.”

The tall man with a short blonde cut sneered at him. “Silence traitor.”

“FUCK YOU AND FUCK ORGANIZATION THIRTEEN!” Dustan called out as he rushed forward. Demyx jumped towards him water erupting in pillars along the way. Dodging to the side Dustan got clipped barely by one of the geysers and could feel that if he got hit directly on it would be enough force to crack his ribs, and he had already had enough of that for a day.

Giving a strum to the instrument the Nobody called out. “WATER!” Making balls of the liquid form and come crashing down like bullets.

There was a moment when Dustan got hit but one where he felt his body pulse briefly causing him to lose focus and get hit by a few more. “ASSHOLE!” The area around him started to dim in light and suddenly a timer appeared above Demyx’s head. “That fucking translates into the real world! FUCK THAT!”

Water clones and musical notes started appearing in mass but the angry Squire had no fucks to give for it as he called out the chant for the Fira spell. In the game that Demyx came from Fira was usually one of the best ways to get rid of it all as it created a shield around the main hero that dealt damage. All the constructs couldn’t take much of a hit so it was very effective at taking them out. That worked well as then Dustan let loose the Torrent of flames from his hand and moved his hand steadily from right to left destroying all the constructs in record time.

“I am not dealing with that bullshit mechanic!” That cry gave the musically inclined man a look of slight trepidation before he found his nerve again and started to play his song calling out another couple of water attacks.

Dustan was more aware of how much those bullets hurt now and avoided most of them, his shoulders took a beating but mostly bruises. Taking a look at his arm he could see his Hp was about half and that needed to be fixed. Calling out the chant for Cura he restored his HP to full very happy about that. Problem was that he had done nothing to the Organization member and instead has only taken hits. At this pace it would be a battle of attrition that he would lose. He had a remedy for that as he pulled back his fist and punched it forward socking the blonde haired man right in the face with an Aurablast.

“OUCH how did you do that?” The water user asked as he rubbed his jaw.

“Fuck you that’s how.” At hearing Dustan say that the musician rushed forward creating his water spouts again, thankfully Dustan had predicted it this time since the man had reacted the same way before. Taking a step to the side Dustan jumped up and gave a horizontal slash though he underestimated how thick the geysers were and took a good hit to the arm.

Demyx didn’t get off scott free though as he sported a good long gash across his arm. “Well looks like we both got our arms hur-”

The bruising of that sword arm almost completely vanished as Dustan flexed his arm. “A sword that drains the vitality of those I hit and gives it to me. Really, really handy you know?”

“Now that just isn’t fair.” Strumming his instrument he shot balls of water from his Sitar at the human rolled from the first batch but got an idea at that.

“Fair or not, doesn’t matter to someone with no heart.” He shouted as the human ran to the side.

Growling at that “We do to have a heart. Water!” Strumming his instrument again he started firing off a rapid machine gun of those water balls again.

Grinning Dustan held out the hand that was now crackling with energy. “Thunder!”

The lightning bolt connected his hand to the first water ball destroying it, then connected it to the next, and the next all the way up to the main user who gave out a yelp. “What the hell Roxas?”

Rolling his eyes Dustan figured that it was that much. Whatever Discord did he remade the enemies he was fighting using the perceptions that Dustan himself had seen them have without anything too unique about them outside of normal thinking skills and the like. Thus Demyx was seeing Dustan as Sora who had fused with his Nobody Roxas. Damn he realized that he would never learn how that game series would conclude now that he was in Equstria.

‘No time for regrets now.’ Rushing forward Dustan was prepared to strike at the black robed man till he strummed his instrument and created pillars of water around him, pushing Dustan off and giving him a good hit as a result.

Demyx wasn’t done either, starting to ‘rock out’ aggressively towards Dustan and with each step a wall of geysers. The area was getting positively soaked at this point and no doubt it was making the water attacks happen easier. Dustan had to move and quickly to avoid the robed man’s assault though he couldn’t get away flawlessly. One of the geysers hit his free arm causing it to give a distinct popping sound as it caused it to be dislocated from the socket with a cry of pain from the man.

“Like it?” The sitar wielder called out before taking up a more relaxed stance. “Dance water, dance!”

The water that soaked the area formed into the constructs like before except more plentiful with leaving more than enough water to still soak the ground. The timer this time was twenty seconds, cutting the time from last time in half. Slamming his sword into the ground Dustan took a risk. Jumping to the top of the sword he used it as a springboard to jump higher into the air.

Angling his body downwards he held out his free hand and called out without the chant. “Thundera!” The massive bolts of electricity shot from his hand like a certain emperor wielding unlimited power striking the sword and having it flash fry the water and the constructs in the process. The clones and notes faded with a watery pop and Demyx was crying out in pain as Dustan landed closer to him and drew free the Coral Sword.

“No you don’t, WATER!” Demyx cried out shooting the machine gun bullet style of water balls out at him.

This time Dustan didn’t have the free hand to cast with and was forced to give some distance. “I am not losing this Demyx. Sad to say you are not even real, and I don’t even mean that in the Nobody way, but in the way that you were created by someone here as an image of something from a memory.”

“Shut up! I do too have a heart!” It was clear by that response that Demyx misunderstood him completely, but Dustan had to try. The Nobody started doing his aggressive strut causing pillars of water to rise up from the ground in walls. Dustan knew he only had a few chances to come, he had to dodge and wait for the right time. It took about thirty seconds, but finally the walls stopped and the man called out. “Water, water, water!” A few times in a row.

No bullets came out so Dustan took this chance to rush forward. Demyx looked surprised at the rush and could only hold up his Sitar to block. A musical instrument made of water VS a powerful sword that emits lightning. The water instrument was cut in half and a large gash was now sporting on the organization member.

“N-Nooooo!” The man of water started to evaporate into black and white energy and Dustan smiled.

Putting his sword away Dustan smiled. “Get fucked, you timer assh-”The victory was short lived as the dud of abilities now hit him.

Demyx had not tried to shoot them, but instead conjured the water balls in the air like he had the first time, three sets of them too. Dustan had not been in anyway shape or form prepared for it as he thought he had beaten him. That made the rain of bullets that much more intense battering and bruising to the point of a few things snapping inside him. His dislocated shoulder he was sure now had torn muscles and tendons to go along with it now, a few ribs cracked but from the pain it didn’t feel like any broke. His legs took the least amount of the beating but still got a good few hits on them weakening them to the point he collapsed.

With a flash the water vanished but Dustan couldn’t move as Discord appeared in front of him. “Hmm you both went down in the end, you are unable to move or continue, and needless of me to say that if I left you like that you would likely die. However you did beat him so that leaves us in a jar of a pickle as it means you technically had a draw, with one win and one lose on either end.”

Discord turned into a jar of pickles as he made the pun as the lid popped off and one of the pickles floated up. “Damn…it.”

The chaotic entity was right. He was badly hurt, and while he was sure his ribs weren’t broken, he wasn’t so sure about internal injuries. Giving himself a look thanks to his arm he used his Tactical Eye to read his own status and…it wasn’t looking good. A unique status had appeared to him: Bleeding. It looked like a triple scratch wound with a drop running out of it. Problem was, he couldn’t feel any place on him with an open wound.

“Tell you what Dustan. I will give you…let’s say two hours. If you can manage to stand up by that point and hit me, in anyway shape or form I will admit defeat.” Holding up a watch that appeared from…well the chain was connected to fur so…his coat….a pocket in his coa-oh his coat pocket. “Any longer than two hours and you run the risk of bleeding out. Or rather bleeding in. Anyways I got to go. Ciao.”

With a flash of light the former lawn decoration of the Canterlot maze left leaving Dustan with a countdown that told him just how much time he had left. Problem was he had no magic left, and everything hurt to the point where he didn’t think it was possible for anyone to stand. However that didn’t matter as Dustan knew that without him distracting, Discord was free to do as he wished.

‘I have, to get, u-’ Struggling to stand the Squire barely made it to pushing his own body up before the world started to tumble and turn.

Between one blink and the next seemed longer then it should have, so long in fact that he felt even more sluggish then before. He thought he saw something glow in the distance, a slight rainbow hue only for it to die out without accomplishing anything.

‘The…Elements?’ Struggling with his thoughts for a moment Dustan remembered that the Mane Six were just in Canterlot. They couldn’t have been here. Looking over to his good arm, the parts of his skin that were exposed he could see deep purple bruises on. Those types of bruises took time. “Did I…pass out?”

A chuckle was his answer, though he had not expected it to be. “You did indeed. The two hours are nearly up and Ponyville is looking splendid as the new chaos capital of the world. You only have about fifteen minutes left in fact. You were out so long those meddlesome Element bearers had enough time to get back home. Though don’t worry, they tried and failed to use the elements on me over there so didn’t see how badly you are beat up.” Summoning up a lounge chair the multi-parted maniac laid back and put some sunglasses on. “Hope you don’t mind if I relax to the last few minutes of our deal do you? Lay there if you don’t mind.”

He wanted to growl out his hate for the creature at the moment but couldn’t muster up anything beyond a wheeze. Taking that as agreement Discord laid back and pulled out a small reflective plate used to tan himself with. It was all true, everything looked like the end of the episode where everything was plaid, more clouds with chocolate rain were around, floating buildings, a pink sky and more.

‘Damn it. Was that the first or second attempt of the elements? If it was the first then that means they are about to come back and wreck his shit. If it was the second that means I fucked up the timeline bad enough that Discord is going to remain free.’

As if to taunt him the earlier words of Discord came back to him. ‘Not only are you worthy of the title, but you embody it completely.’

‘Bullshit. Heroes help people. Heroes save people. I have fucked things up just by being here.’ Barely managing to gather enough strength in him he could feel the grass under his hand flex but that was it. There wasn’t even enough strength to crush it. ‘I can’t do it. I have lied so much to everyone, just to try to make things right, but I still screw it up.’ Tears he had been holding back for so long were falling from his eyes now. His feelings of being powerless were only part of it though, as others came forth from the depths of his soul too. ‘Almost a year here, or maybe it has been a year, it doesn’t matter though. Nearly a year and all I do is lie. I sneak about and do what I can to assure a future that might not even exist anymore just because I am here.’

A voice called out to Dustan now as if it had listened in on his thoughts. “Jeez man, you are really harping on yourself badly this time.”

‘Shut up Pat, it’s true!’ The thought of never seeing his friend was getting to him it seemed as he heard his friend talk. ‘Damn it, I won’t see you, or anyone from my world ever again.’

“Pfft, like that would stop me. Since when do I care about rules and the like? I mean I beat your ass up for how many years?” The soft subtle sound of grass moving came from before him. As Dustan looked up, there stood his friend, the same as he last saw him in his Kamina costume. The blue haired cosplayer smiled and knelled down. “Come on man, seriously. How long are you going to lay there like a little bitch huh?”

The glint off the oddly shaped glasses made Dustan wince and move his hand to intercept only to find out it did indeed block the light. ‘How?’ Since his mind seemed to be working to communicate his thoughts and his strength was gone, thinking his words seemed easier then mustering up the strength to actually say them.

Chuckling, the tough looking costumed human smiled. “I just told you that I give little shits about the rules. However it looks like your wish came true. You are in colorful girly horse land. So how is it girly toys beat up your ass?”

‘I’m not strong enough. There is a literal god of Chaos here with the power to do whatever he feels like.’ Dustan told him feeling his tears start anew. ‘To make matters worse, me being here seems to have caused shit to go all kinds of haywire as things from the Final Fantasy worlds are here.’

“So, just go out and kick their asses. Do like you always do and be a hero.” Patrick gave a wink and a flex of his arm in a manly gesture. “I mean look how well it worked out for you and me. Doesn’t matter what you say, it’s what you do. Everything you do is heroic, even if you don’t realize it.”

‘But….I’m not strong enough.’ Dustan could feel his will draining away now, the last bits of his strength leaving him. No doubt the internal bleeding was having something to do with that.

A crash before him brought him back showing the angry face of his friend who had just punched the ground. “THAT IS BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT!” There was a moment where Pat had to calm down and brush back his hair. “Look man. You have always been stronger than me when push came to shove. Every time I bullied you, you are weak yeah no doubt. But when it came to others your strength goes up so much that I can’t believe it’s you. So many times have I witnessed you do things where they contradict how powerful you think you are to how strong you can be are too many to count. But let’s go back to my first time experiencing it. You tackled me remember?”

Nodding and giving a smile. ‘Yeah, you were being a dick to another kid.’

“Yep, I was being a huge shit stain and you came over and tackled my ass to the ground. I never told you this, but when I started fighting back to get you off, the reason I started to hit you was because I couldn’t move you.” Laughing loudly and holding his hand to his chest he smiled. “This loser of a kid who wouldn’t fight back, was stronger than me. That is what pissed me off the most about you. I wanted you to fight me back seriously but you never did.” The laughter soon calmed down and Pat placed a hand on Dustan’s shoulder, something that Dustan could surprisingly feel. “As the years passed and you never did, more and more I got frustrated but more and more I felt lost. Why would that kid use his strength against me to save someone else? If he had all that power why didn’t he use it to get what he wants? What was the reason for power? What should I do with mine? They were all questions I had to face thanks to you.”

The warmth of the hand, the sound of grass moving under feet, it all felt too real. ‘It’s not possible for you to actually be here. How?’

“Dude, you are in crazy colorful horse land full of magic and shit and you question how I am here?” Shaking his head he stood up and smiled. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is you laying there defeated.” Crossing his arms the Kamina cosplayer just looked at him. “So I am going to say this plainly since you seemed to think you have lost. Ahem.”

‘But-’ Dustan didn’t get to say anything as Patrick continued.

“Dustan. If you don’t do this, that Lunchables Mascot reject is going to do with Ponyland whatever the fuck he wants.” Turning around to look at the chaos around him Patrick pointed. “And if this M.C.Esher landscape is any indication, this place is royally fucked. People can’t live like this and I doubt ponies can either.” Bending down again the next words spoken were softer then before but with a firm undertone that spoke of steel. “That means ponies are going to die.”

The sound of grass crunching could be heard and the feel of his fist tightening registered in his mind. ‘But how?’

“How? Because you are a hero. Now get up and do what heroes do kick villain ass.” Standing up once more the Kamina clone looked down at him. “Cause if you don’t, those ponies over there…will die.” Dustan couldn’t help but frown at that and start to push himself up. “The ponies across the world will die.” A growl came from his throat as his body pressed upwards. “The ones you like from the show, the ones with the goofy names, THEY WILL DIE!”

“No.” It was said so quietly that Dustan wasn’t sure if it came from his mouth or not.

“But most importantly, and to quote one of our favorite shows.” Patrick moved closer to him and spoke quietly. “Most importantly, but before all that, if you don’t do this. You’re going to die.” A knee moved up under Dustan now supporting his weight. “And you are better than that. You are better than him.” He called out pointing to the still sunbathing Discord. “You are better than me!”

“Hmm, what’s this? Looks like you are trying to stand my boy. Let’s see you do it?” Seems Discord finally noticed his movement but he didn’t seem to notice Patrick standing there.

Nor did Patrick seem to care. “You are Dustan Warner!” Dustan moved his other knee up under him. “Now, plant your feet.” The twin thuds of the Squire’s feet moving up under him to steady him were heard. “Grit your teeth.” Growling out now Dustan could feel his jaw strain. Patrick smiled and pointed at Discord. “AND EAT THAT HORSE!”

“AHHHHH!” Raising himself up Dustan spotted Discord looking impressed before him as well as the Mane Six running up the hills with their Elements, before it all faded to black.

“Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing.” The creature of Chaos spoke out unaware of his guests.

Stepping up and posing, Rainbow Dash and her friends all struck a pose. “Not as wonderful as friendship.”

Giving a groan Discord looked at them. “Ugh, not this again.” Taking a drink from his glass, which made the glass itself vanish, he then tossed away the chocolate milk left behind to explode.

‘I don’t even want to think about how much that is going to suck coming out the other end.’ However it was then she noticed the only human that she knew standing blank faced behind Discord. “Hey, what did you do to Dustan?”

Looking from her to him Discord rose from his black throne and smiled. “You see, we made a bet, a bit of a scuffle here and a fight there and he end up like that. However the end of the deal said he had to get up and hit me in some way to win. Problem was, he passed out on his feet. You have got to admire that willpower though.”

“Yeah right. Like you didn’t just do to him like you did to all of us.” The pegasus snorted as Twilight moved up beside her.

“You nearly tricked me to being in a state where I wasn’t myself as well. You did that with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack too. You had to touch Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash when they didn’t do what you wanted to and force them to change.”

“I know, it was so strange.” Discord said as he popped out of reality to appear in front of the group. “Fluttershy was stubborn I admit, but I could have sworn I would have been able to influence the young Rainbow Dash myself without having to come into direct contact. But alas, seems Dustan here had a bigger affect on things then he realized.”

Scuffing a hoof in the dirt the farming pony Applejack looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

Stroking his goatee Discord chuckled and said. “What DO I mean by that? For now let’s put that on the back burner.” A stove appeared and on the back burner of said stove was the book that Discord made of the memories he copied from Dustan. “Let’s just hope that doesn’t-” the book went up in a flash turning to ashes. “Opps, nevermind.” Patting his hands to clean them off Discord looked at the girl and grinned. “But enough about that, lets talk about-”

“Whoa what is going on over there?” Pinkie Pie shouted as she moved to point from over the shoulder of Twilight.

Everyone, including Discord all looked over to the still body of Dustan, or rather the formerly still body. “Oh wow, that is something else. His body is out of commission but his will is moving it.”

‘Wow.’ Were the thoughts running through everypony’s head at that moment.

Part of Twilight wondered. ‘Is it even possible to study that kind of phenomena?’

Applejack looked on and could only think. ‘Gosh darn even Ah ain’t that stubborn.’

Rarity thought that if he was a pony this would almost be like a scene straight from one of her romance books where the gallant knight’s body moved even when the knight itself had died. ‘Oh I do hope he isn’t dead though.’

‘Poor thing, he needs to get treated right away.’ Fluttershy’s kind nature not caring about so much as the how he could move, but more towards treating him so that he could get well.

‘That is kinda like me when I was planning a two week long birthday bash and then overworked myself only to fall asleep the day of shopping. I had to settle on just the day party instead of the two week one I had planned for lack of supplies.’ However that did remind Pinkie Pie of something that she had been meaning to look into. ‘Hey, I never did get to know when his birthday is. OH HE IS GOING TO GET ONE LATER SO HELP ME CELESTIA!’

Rainbow Dash was strangely not impressed, more so that she was worried about what she saw. ‘He wasn’t even that beat up when I bucked him. What did he go through? How can he move?’ That wasn’t the last question to be asked though, as the next one came as he raised his sword above his head. “Um Twilight, why is he glowing?”

Her magical friend had no answer for that as the glow pulsed for a moment then vanished, no rather it relocated. The Coral Sword raised above his head was now glowing a steady blue as energy seemed to waft off it like evaporating ice or fog on a hot day.

“I don’t know Rainbow Dash, but whatever it is isn’t like his normal magic, its…hard to describe it’s almost like-” The egghead couldn’t get another word out as all ears focused forward, even Discords.

The source of the sound was Dustan himself. “Life-”

“Life?” Everypony of the group repeated wondering what he was saying.

“-is short.” The second part seemed a bit grim to most of them listening.

Except Discord. “Not mine, I have been around for quite some time thank you very much.”

Dustan didn’t seem to hear him nor seemed to be finished as he continued. “Bury.”

“You don’t think he means bodies or anything do you?” Fluttershy managed to say above the volume of a whisper.

“Pu-lease Dustan, like the threat coming from an unconscious person can scare-.” Again Discords words fell to deaf ears as the chant was finished.

“Statis Sword.” The hand holding the blade above his head suddenly and quickly brought the blade down chopping the air in front of him.

“Stasis what?” Twilight asked only to get her answer.

Shards of clear ice seem to fall onto the spirit of Chaos from out of nowhere surrounding his body completely. All before shattering into a clear blade before even that vanished. The attack seemed to either surprise or hurt Discord as he made a motion right after the blade hit except after that he stood stock still.

The purple leader of the group of girls wasn’t one to look a gift in the mouth though as she called out. “Now’s our chance girls.”

Dustan’s body collapsed to the ground as the rainbow light started to appear. Discord was unable to move for some reason as the six ponies rose up into the air and gathered their power before shooting it in a beam forward hitting the Draconequus and slowly reverting him to his stone prison.

Rainbow Dash and the others could all hear one thing clearly from the villain before the petrifaction was finished. “Well played Dustan, you win.”

With the deed done they all ran over to their collapsed friend and the prismatic pegasus looked to her friends. “You think he is going to be ok?” None of them cared that with the spread of the magic of friendship Ponyville and everything around it was back to normal.

Twilight was using her magic while Fluttershy was busy touching and listening in on various places of his body. “He is really badly hurt, more so then I thought. He needs a doctor now.”

Fluttershy’s diagnosis was further backed up by Twilight as her scan completed. “She’s right, he has internal bleeding in several places and lots of blood pooling, putting pressure on places that are barely holding on as is.”

Applejack soon came back with a cart she borrowed from a nearby shop and they all worked to put the human in it before moving him to the nearby hospital. They all hoped that he would be ok, though none seem to notice the smile on his face as they brought him to get treated.

Author's Note

So ends the tiff with Discord for now. I really do hope I nailed his personality, he is kinda hard to pin down at times.