(Rookie POV)

Using Chaos Control with only one Emerald to undo a time spell, and rework the reality of a few things was a mistake. I ended up exhausting myself to the point that while I was unconscious, I was sleeping three times over in dreams within dreams. It didn’t help that the dream where I was awake, I was confronting a Super Infinite (think Infinite with the Ruby AND the Emeralds).

However, I seem to be lucky, as I ‘fought’ Super Infinite. The moon was visible in the dream and while I was in it’s light, I was stronger, faster, and more aware of myself and the surroundings. Eventually, after a while of ‘fighting’, Super Infinite vanished, leaving me to rest and recover.

As I started my rest, the moon glowed brighter for a few seconds before a blue alicorn, Princess Luna, appeared. I briefly looked up and gave her a tired wave. She approached me and sat next to me, observing the area of the Eggman Empire Fortress we were on. “Intriguing location.” She commented. “It has an air of cleanliness, but seems unclean at the same time.”

“No surprise there.” I said as I managed to regain my breath, but still was exhausted. “This place was the seat of an evil empire. An empire that has no appreciation of life and was as lifeless as it’s Emperor’s Heart.”

“I also noticed that your dream was stronger than I had ever seen.” Luna said, looking up at the dream moon. “I only had the ability to give you a boost in the fight.”

“Understandable.” I responded. “First time using a Chaos Emerald and had to use it to fix a time anomaly around a town, help a mare live out her dream of having a forever full stomach, and over-charge the town’s soil.”

“Chaos? Are you a servant of Discord!?” Luna shouted while moving away and readying herself for combat.

“No, I am not.” I calmly answered. “If anything, he’s a thief and a troublemaker of epic proportions. He’s the cause of the town’s time anomaly, and messed with a mare’s mind.”

Luna settled down and approached. “Sorry. My sister and I had a few bad experiences with that Spirit of Chaos.”

“It’s okay.” I reassured her. “Anyway, Luna, are you able to help me wake up from this dream or coma or whatever this is?”

“Of course, but I just want to know: who are you and how did you know my name when we haven’t met before?”

“I’m Carter ‘Rookie’ Tomcat, or Rookie for short.” I answered. “As for how I know your name, that will have to wait until this crisis is over and all seven Chaos Emeralds are properly gathered.”

“Of course.” She said, lighting her horn to send me back to the waking world.

“Also, the first Emerald is going to be held by a Ponyville Reporter in Syracuse.” I told her. “If I go unconscious after obtaining another Emerald, I’ll update you in my dreams.” Luna nodded and cast her aura over me, causing me to black out briefly.

(Mint Berry POV)

After that cat, Rookie, fell unconscious and was carried away by the Bow Pegasi Sisters to their home, I suddenly felt worried for him. The emotions and thoughts caught me off guard, getting me to think. Most of my life, I had little care for anyone but myself, but Rookie’s actions seemed to have struck me to my core. During my gluttonous reign over Syracuse, I had felt some sort of emptiness in me, one I tried and failed to fill with my gorging. But when he showed me kindness, it seemed to fill that emptiness.

Anyway, lovestruck words aside, my immobile form just sitting in front of the town hall prompted the many scared citizens of Syracuse to slowly exit their homes and watch me. I’d say an hour had passed before a few began cheering my ‘defeat’, bringing me to the attention of the Mayor. To say he was angry would be both an understatement and, oddly enough, an overstatement as well.

He did a big speech, talking about how with their new found freedom from my reign that they would see to the recovery of the town. But when he looked at me, as if trying to challenge me to stop them, I saw a flicker of fear in his eye. I didn’t meet his gaze with anger, like most villains do when their plans are foiled. I met it with a shrug and a light smile, glad that my ‘plans’ were foiled.

“You guys do what you need to recover.” I told them. “I have truly seen the error of most of my ways. I still intend to have an almost constantly full stomach, but I think I should do it through more legal means.” My words shocked them, but while they did have some skepticism, they all came forward for a giant apology hug.

I then asked for help getting onto my back hooves, and with the help of my magic, I walked to Calorie Crunch’s office/house and carefully leaned against the building, waiting for word on Rookie. The wait took most of the day, so I took some time to discuss with the Mayor about food for a trip I planned on going. Thanks to the enriched soil, and because I was pretty much homeless and without money, he decided to provide a full day’s worth of harvests in an enchanted bag by the end of the day at no charge.

When I got back to Calorie Crunch’s place, I saw Redbow walking with her family back home from wherever they had gone while I was getting food ordered. I also noticed that she was wearing a chain with the Chaos Emerald on it, but I didn’t think about it.

I cleared my throat to get their attention, causing three of the four pegasi to briefly jump in fright. “Sorry, I’m just wanting to check on that cat fellow.” I told them.

“His name is Rookie, and I’m kinda wondering why you wanted to check.” Redbow, the only pegasus not scared by my size, half-asked.

“Well...it’s complicated, and I wanted to talk with him about it.” I said, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof. “Is he awake?”

“You actually just barely missed him.” Cloudbow answered, still shaken from the scare. “He just woke up and was ready to hunt the next Chaos Emerald.”

“Wait, what?” I was dumbfounded, almost rolling onto my back in shock. “I thought whatever thing he did with that Emerald left him weak! He shouldn’t be traveling!”

“He said a proper amount of sleep would fix his low energy and most of his weakness, so he planned on sleeping on the train to Manehatten.” Calorie Crunch said, trying to calm me down.

I growled deeply in frustration just as the Mayor showed up with the enchanted bag of produce. I quickly took the bag and stomped as fast as I could to the train station. My ground shaking pace drowned out most of what everyone was saying to try to either stop me or calm me down. It was obvious that I wasn’t thinking clearly until I reached the station. I had realized too late that I missed two things. One, I missed the train itself, and, two, even if I was on time to obtain a ticket and get on the train, I was too big for it.

“Crabapples.” I muttered while looking at the train tracks. “This is going to take a while.”

(Rookie POV)

Thank Chaos for enchanted sleeping cars. The pure soundproofed and shake-free cars allowed me to sleep the entire 8 hour trip. However, something seemed to have happened in Manehatten to prevent the train from actually pulling into it’s train station.

I exited the train at the makeshift station that was set up just outside of the town. Everything was set up almost like a refugee camp, everything being directed by Royal Guards and Local Law Enforcement. I approached a nearby guard and spoke to him. “Excuse me, sir?” The guard turned to me. “What is going on that’s stopped the train early?”

“There’s been a series of kidnappings and beatings that have been happening in the past week.” He reported. “Also, the Royal Mages that were deployed with us have pointed out a time anomaly had developed around the town recently, so technically, those crimes started yesterday.”

“Huh, I was just in Syracuse and they had a similar problem.” I told him. “I was able to remove the time anomaly by using a gem called a Chaos Emerald. It was taxing on me, but that was partially because I never used one before.”

“So, you are saying that someone in town set up a Chaos Emerald somewhere in Manehatten, and it is making time go faster there?” The guard asked.

“Pretty much. How did you manage to guess that from just a few things I said, and not all of it?” I asked.

“I tend to jump to conclusions a lot.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s been a bit annoying to some of my fellow guards.”

“But it at least confirms what I think is going on.” I said. I turned to the city, giving the guard a brief look. “I’ll see what I can do in terms of finding the Chaos Emerald and stopping whoever’s behind this.” I then took off at my sub-Sonic speed, time warping slightly as I entered the city.

I kept myself on the roads and weaved my way to the ‘Times Square’ of Manehatten. Upon arrival, I would have fallen down laughing at the funny scene, if the scene I stumbled upon wasn’t so grave looking as well. A singular earth pony with a hairstyle that made me think of as a ‘teenage singer look’ was being chased by a giant mob of mares, all ranging from late teenage to who knows how old.

Without thinking twice, I rushed past the mob, grabbed the stallion, and booked it across the city as fast as I could. Thankfully, I lost them at the first turn I took and we both hid in a dumpster in an alley as the mob began to break up and spread out. After a few minutes, the stallion couldn’t hold his terror and disgust back any longer and jumped out of the dumpster. He was about to start screaming like a mare, but I managed to clamp my hand over his mouth to prevent the mares from discovering us.

As he started to slowly calm down and ‘scream’ a bit quieter, I turned to him with a concerned look. “You okay?” I asked him, to which he nodded. “Good. Now, I’m Rookie and I’m trying to find out what’s going on here and find the thing to fix it.”

I took my hand off of his face and after a few deep and somewhat anxious breaths, he spoke. “I’m Feather Bangs. Thank you for saving me from those mares. I usually have a fair mix of both mare and stallion fans chasing me, but those mares both didn’t seem like fans and seemed to act more...violently? Aggressively?” He wondered out loud. “And both of those combined made me think they were bent on either kidnapping me or murdering me.”

“I doubt they’d murder you.” I commented, pushing him out of site as a mare passed our alley. “I spoke with a guard that was outside the city’s ‘time bubble’, and he said that kidnapping and beatings have happened. He didn’t mention any killings or murders.”

“That’s a relief.” Feather muttered quietly to himself. “Um...so, what’s a ‘time bubble’?”

“Time in the city literally goes faster in the city than outside it, because magic and a gem of almost ultimate power.” I explained. “Add to that, a pony that is probably somewhat insane is doing something to the place as a means to boost their own ego or fulfil some fantasy of some kind.”

“What kind of pony would find pleasure in-” Feather began to say, but I quickly shushed him and pulled us out of sight again as a pair of mares stopped just outside the alley.

“Did you find the Pop-Star?” One of the mares asked.

“No, he has escaped. And he had help from a cat looking thing.” The second mare asked, her voice in monotone. A magical blast struck and obliterated the dumpsters we hid behind, which covered us both in enough garbage to keep us hidden.

A growl was heard from the first mare. “How is he able to avoid getting caught?!” She bellowed, getting Feather to huddle down and whimper quietly in fear. “No matter. I already have 100 stallions ready for me to marry. All I need to do is finish the decorations and the cake, and I should be a married mare by tomorrow morning.”

“Understood Mistress.” The monotone mare said. “Anything more you want us to do?”

“For now, no.” The ‘Mistress’ answered. “I’ll be heading back to my suite, so you’re off duty.” A pop followed by a body collapsing was heard.

I took a peek out of our garbage pile and saw a mare unconscious on the ground just outside of the alley. I pulled Feather out so he could try to clean himself while I checked on the mare. “I have a theory.” I muttered out loud.

“What are you talking about?” He asked as he pulled a few fruit pieces out of his tail.

“Didn’t you notice that only one of those mares spoke with a normal tone, while the other was monotone?” I asked while checking her pulse, thankfully normal...I think it was.

“Are you implying that the normal mare is the one behind all of the mares chasing me and the rumors of kidnapping?” He asked.

“Yes.” I answered simply, taking a peek around the alley corners. “A similar thing happened in Syracuse, except the insane mare there used the power of a Chaos Emerald to become a bit of a glutton. This mare seems to be using the Chaos Emerald she has for more lustful reasons.”

“Kidnapping stallions and forcing them to marry her?” The now ‘clean’ Feather Bangs asked. “I’m sure there are things more lustful than that, but hay, what do I know? For all we know, she is against intimacy before matrimony.”

“Could be, but not our biggest concern.” I reminded him.

“Our concern?” Feather asked in confusion. “I was planning on getting myself packed up and out of the city.” He started to walk off.

“I’m sorry, but your move can wait.” I said, grabbing his tail. “I’ll probably need extra help to get the Emerald. I can already see a bit of a pattern. A town or city gets placed in a time bubble and a crazy mare goes on a power trip with the Emerald is the main similarities. All that is needed is for the Emerald to be protected by a shield of some kind, and the messed up mind of the crazy mare is just broken in a specific way that I can ‘fix’, for me to expect the same for the other Emeralds.”

“But I...you...me?” Feather stuttered before he slumped and nodded. “Okay, I’ll help. However, don’t expect me to help you after this. I love mares, I’ll admit that much, but I’m scared of them. If you’re going to be dealing with more mares that are crazy as the one we’ll be dealing with, I don’t want to deal with them.”

“Agreed.” I said, then pulled out my scanner. “Now, the Chaos Emerald emits a form of Chaos Energy, but I can’t seem to pinpoint its location with my scanner.”

“Hmm…” Feather sounded out. “Have you tried adjusting it to ‘hear’ its general direction?”

“Wha?” I eloquently asked.

Feather sighed in slight annoyance. “Ever play Mareco Pony?” He asked.

It took me a few seconds to get what he meant. “Oh! I get it.” I messed around with the scanner’s radar function, taking a few pieces of metal that Feather missed in his mane to cobble together a small spinning receiver dish. A few rotations and it started to show Chaos Energy everywhere. “It’s still a bit of a dud.”

“Can you work in a ‘sound filter’ of some kind?” He suggested. I had to hold back my attempt at a face palm. Following his suggestion, I reduced the scanner’s sensitivity to allow only the stronger Chaos Energy bits to be seen. And the Chaos Energy seemed to originate from...

“What is that statue in the harbor?” I asked, seeing the pony version of the Statue of Liberty, and comparing it to the scanner’s radar.

“That’s the Statue of Friendship.” Feather said. “It was built some time ago as a monument to our kingdom’s belief of friendship and to encourage immigration at most, trade deals and alliances at least.”

“Well, from what my scanner is saying, the Chaos Energy is coming from that direction.” I said. “I’ll let you lead the way. You sound like you know these streets better than me.”

Feather sighed and began walking towards the statue, following the roads and occasionally weaving into alleys to avoid any mares walking around (brainwashed or not). While we were walking, I struck up some small talk with him. I explained part of who I was, and gave him a ring for when sub-Sonic speed and Mobian stamina would come in handy next time he has to deal with a crowd of mares...like the crowd we’d be dealing with at the crazy mare’s ‘wedding’.

After an hour of walking, we arrived at the ferry that would take us to the island that the statue was on. Just before we boarded, I took a quick peek at the scanner, only to notice that it showed another Chaos Energy source. I quickly grabbed Feather’s tail to stop him from boarding the boat. “My scanner is picking up an additional Chaos Energy source.” I told him. “And with the fact that the Statue’s Island is more than likely the wedding location, I think we should check this source before we head over there. The Chaos Emerald could be this source.”

“Huh...and you aren’t worried about all the stallions that crazy mare will marry?” He asked, giving me a look that conveyed his skepticism.

“With how she’s basically forcing them to marry her, no matter what she does, said ‘marriage’ won’t be legally binding...I hope.” I said.

“Well, then let’s get going before anything bad happens.” Feather said with some frustration in his voice. I noted the frustration and picked him up, causing him to briefly freak out before I shot my grappling hook out to swing and parkour through the city until we arrived at a run down apartment building.

Looking at the building, I saw a yellow light shining from the top of the building. I grappled me and Feather to the top and we saw the Emerald on a pedestal similar to what I recall from Syracuse, except the Emerald was Yellow. Surrounding the pedestal was what seemed to be a library’s worth of love novels, personal journals, and… “I’m not even going to touch those.” I muttered, walking past those magazines.

“Huh, I envisioned the Chaos Emerald to be a bit...smaller and more...ordinary looking.” Feather commented.

“Not sure what you were thinking, but I shouldn’t be asking that.” I said, partially snapping at myself for getting distracted. “Anyway, I think this will reject me from grabbing it off the pedestal. If it does, I want you to try it...but don’t fear it rejecting you.”

“I-What?” Feather said as I carefully approached the Emerald. I moved one of my hands forward to grab it, but I was zapped back, just like the last one. I was able to use my grapple to stop myself from flying out of the building, but it was clear that it wouldn’t let me remove it.

I gave Feather a subtle nod, to which he nervously nodded and moved toward the Emerald. He placed his hoof on it and was surprised at the lack of reaction from the gem. He then slid it off it’s pedestal, causing it to stop glowing. “Now what?” He asked.

“Well, let’s get an understanding of the mare behind the crazy.” I said as I picked up one of the journals. “If we know why she is crazy, we can be a step ahead of her and maybe calm her down enough to stop and see clearly.”

Feather Bangs shrugged and picked up one of the other journals. It took us close to half an hour to sift through most of her love-mad scribbles and piece together a semi-cohesive ‘story’. Apparently, this mare, a unicorn named Desire, was well off in her life and was soon to be married to a stud of a stallion (name is unknown...literally, she never wrote his name down). However, due to a...betrayal, the wedding was broken off and she was heartbroken beyond repair. She then met Discord, who gave her the Emerald and gave her a ‘literal’ crash course on how to use it and she is now ready to ‘marry’ 100 stallions for her to...well, you get the idea from there.

“This mare is insane.” Feather said in shock, after we pieced together the story. “However, I can’t help but feel bad for her.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “She loved and then was broken. Through Discord’s manipulations, she has now confused Lust for Love.” I paused for a moment. “First Gluttony, now Lust...if the next Emerald is associated with another of the deadly sins-”

“Dare I ask?” Feather asked.

“For now, best not. I can explain later.” I told him, picking him up and setting him on my back. “In the meantime, off to crash a wedding.” I then grappled us away towards the Island of Friendship.

(3rd POV)

The Island of Friendship was in complete chaos, and not like what Discord usually liked. The grounds were a battleground between a mob of brainwashed mares and a contingent of Royal Guards. While the two groups fought outside the Statue area, inside the statue, the 100 kidnapped stallions were chained to the walls and a well dressed pony was chained to an altar.

“Start the ceremony.” Desire, a pink unicorn with a black mane and tail, commanded the well dressed pony.

“But, there needs to be-”

“NOW!!” She bellowed, cutting him off. “The battle outside isn’t going to last forever, and I want to be wed before the battle is won or lost.”

The well dressed pony jumped a bit at her yelling, and obeyed. After rushing through the vows, with Desire saying all the stallions agreed. Just as the ceremony was about to end, there was a *thump* sound from the wall behind the well dressed pony. Sparks suddenly started flying as a hole was being cut into the metal wall.

“What?!” She bellowed, teleporting the pony to the other chained stallions and approached the soon-to-be opening. “How is someone managing to get to the Statue so soon!? None of the the guards should have been able to break-”

The hole was then kicked in and two figures, Rookie the Cybernetic Cat and Feather Bangs, ‘flew’ in through the hole. “Who said we were guards?” The cat said, giving her a bit of a glare.

Desire breathed heavily in anger before speaking. “You do know, it is bad luck to crash a wedding.”

“This isn’t even a real wedding.” Feather said. He then stepped back in fear as she looked at him in anger.

“Say That Again!” She growled out.

Rookie stepped between the two. “Feather, work on getting the stallions freed and outside. I’ll talk with Desire here.”

Feather nodded and began working on the various chains while Desire sneered at Rookie. “So, you hoping to try to talk me out of this?” She angrily asked.

“That’s part of it.” Rookie said, pulling out the Yellow Chaos Emerald. “The other part is trying to balance your mind, since Discord isn’t the best therapist to consult for a broken heart.”

“Trying to take away my chance of Love!?”

“No! Trying to help you return to normal, but still be yourself.” Rookie interjected. “Trust me on this. It’s one thing to lust after and/or love others, but to be consumed by it to the point of committing crimes to get what you want. Is that what you truly want, or is that Discord’s influence?”

Desire looked ready to yell a ‘yes’ answer back, but she paused and seemed to be thinking over her decisions. Just as the last stallion was freed from his bonds and sent down a set of steps, the madness in her eyes slowly faded and her face changed from rage to concern. “You make sense. I feel like I’m not one to do crime for lust and love, but another part of me is saying the opposite.”

“Probably Discord’s influence is fighting the real you to try to keep you in madness.” Feather commented.

“Then I’ll need to act fast to purge his influence from you.” Rookie said, raising the Emerald up. “Chaos Control!” The Emerald glowed brightly and shot out two light beams. One went for Desire, cleansing Discord’s influence from her mind. The second beam curved through the hoof of Lady Friendship to it’s torch, making a multitude of beams. A big one went into dispersing the time anomaly from around the city, and all the smaller beams removed the mind control from all the mares that were fighting the guards.

After the wrongs were fixed and chaos was no longer reigning over the city, Rookie stopped the energy flow and fell to his knees. Feather and Desire managed to catch him before he could fall onto his face. “Wake me when morning comes.” He said before he slumped over, unconscious. Both Desire and Feather looked at each other briefly before they began to carry him out of the statue to a spot to rest.

Author's Note

This took me "forever" to write. The COVID-19 quarantine sucks, but it's neccesary. Does it mean I have to like it, no.
Anyway, enjoy, and I hope you all haven't gone stir crazy yet.