Spike: The Unwilling God of Chaos

Twilight lay on the ground as Cadance and Shining used all their might to keep Shade at bay, Shade was seemingly trying to avoid hurting them too much. Shining was sent flying, having been punted by Shade, and just as he hit the ground it turned into a combination of the bounce ground prank and the bubble prank, keeping him from getting his footing and from properly aiming his horn as he gained and lost no momentum in his bounce, Shining was soon lost to the horizon and he slid and bounced away uncontrollably, any magic causing more bubbles while the bouncy house prank seemingly following directly beneath him regardless of what was below him, a few crystal ponies running from the chaos got caught and where infected with the same curse.

Twilight watched the bouncy bubbles slowly spread across the empire before seeing Cadance get sideswiped by one of Storm clouds, Cadance was coated in marmalade and jam, and once the preserves weighed her down enough she was caught up in the bouncy bubbles, stopping her magic and wings from working, unlike shining Cadance hit a slanted roof and started ping-ponging around the empire at high speeds, anyone she hit sharing her curse as more plants began ripping up building, Rust's inky goons began grabbing hapless victumes and throwing them into the bubbles to curse them to as apples and pears began popping out of the vines with insect and animal limbs to aid the ink goons.

Twilight watched as her actions turned the empire and soon all of Equestria into mindless Chaos, with no theme, no rules, no time limit, and no game to play.

"Feeling stupid yet?" Twilight turned at the voice as a Shade clone stood a few paces away and glared at her, "You used to care; weird, isn't it? how far one can fall when all they listen to is their own ego," Twilight turned away, and opened her mouth to speak, only for Shade's mane to wrap around her muzzle and tie it shut, "Let me guess, you've already heard it, somepony else already called you out on it?" Shade leaned in, "I don't care if they have, I'll say it again and again, you used to be a lot of things and I used to look up to you, but you were never a good sister, not to Spike, frankly I used to hate that Discord did this to him, but now I'm thankful, cause if he hadn't Spike would still be getting throw into walls and tossed around like a sack because you couldn't be bothered to care about being a good guardian, you just wanted your assistant to hold the light,"

Twilight muttered something and Shade practically yelled at her, "Just because he went along with it doesn't mean it's ok, no school, a million chores, you took him and molded him to stand by you always and forever, without any thought to living his own life," Shade's mane was writhing around as though it was a group of snakes in anguish, "And when he tried to grow, and live his own life, be his own person, you blasted him into atoms because you couldn't handle not being in control, well he's not yours anymore, he's ours, and we won't let you go anywhere near him again, not until you change, and you mean it!"

Shade huffed and let go of Twilight's muzzle, "You wanna stop me, you wanna stop this? Then apologize to Havok, apologize to Spike, apologize and mean it!" Shade's doppelganger exploded into sparkles as the barrier began cracking, Shade's voice echoed out across the empire, her voice warped with magically fueled rage, "And if you don't I'll turn the Crystal Empire into the Chaos Capital of the world, and I'll make sure you and no pony else can ever undo my damage!"

The Air of the Crystal Empire began feeling as though it was filled with static cling, with all her friends trying to undo what she had done, or simply watching from the sidelines, Twilight stood alone, almost alone.

Twilight turned to look behind her and saw the entrance to Tartarus sitting just on the other side was Spike, who was poping one single piece of popcorn into his mouth at a time.

"This is the part, where you say I'm sorry," Spike noted calmly as he crunched on his snack, Twilight took a deep breath before replying.

"I'm sorry," Twilight bit her lip at how insincere the words sounded.

"Oh my poor prideful sister," Spike sighed, "I can't stop 'em if you don't say sorry and mean it, you know how seriously I take the rules to my little games," Spike wiggled his fingers at her upon speaking the word games. "Go on then, take your time, but take too long and I guess I'll be living in the empire, not that it'll make much of a difference, ain't no way I'm sleeping under the same roof as you after this," Spike kept eating his popcorn, the direction of his head's tilt made it look as though he was watching Shade, but she could feel the harsh judgment emanating from his glare.

"I'm sorry," It sounded better, almost believable, but Spike didn't buy it for so much as a heartbeat.

"Don't go saturating the market now," Spike warned, "Try and fail too many times and I may just lock you out," Spike ate some more popcorn as he watched Shade inch closer to the total collapse of a hundred-year-old empire. "Say, unrelated to this whole apologizing for murdering my thing, you think I might have a shot with Shade?" Spike chuckled awkwardly, "I know dating a fellow employee usually ends badly but I dunno, something about how she sends out waves of Chaos in outrage at my demise, threatening to permanently warp the world in my name....it's kind of alluring,"

"I'm so sorry I did this," Twilight's tone felt less heavy, she did sound sincere in her apology but Spike could feel it was less about the death and more about the aftermath that was causing her heart to hang low.

"I should not have to spell this out," Spike huffed in irritation, "You have to apologize and feel bad for murdering me, not for feeling bad for failing to get away with it," Spike continued eating his popcorn as he waited for an apology.

As the time of irreversible damage came closer and closer Luna and Discord found more and more pieces of Spike only for Discord to call it quits, "Alright we're good," He decided as he popped a lawn chair into existence and watched Shade crack more of the protective dome, she could have easily broken it but he figured she knew as well as he did Spike would rather Twilight apologize over destroy the empire.

"All we can do now is hope Twilight apologizes," Discord summoned a drink as all the collective bits of Spike came together, enough melted bio-mass to family say it was maybe half or just slightly over half of Spike, A Chair popped in and Luna took a seat next to discord as the two watched the residents of the empire ping pong around the streets, both of them having been made immune to the bubble and bounce curse they simply watched and waited.

"Thinking I might buy a timeshare up in these parts if this goes the way I hope it does," Discord chuckled, "How about you, any plans if all the Empire permanently becomes screwy and Celestia gets a little mad at you for letting it happen?"

"I'm thinking I'll hide out in my hidden vacation home near Luna Bay," Luna decided after a moment, "Should take my sister a good long while to find me there, she doesn't know I renovated it after my banishment, far as she knows it just a pile of dust and broken timber," The two watched from afar, waiting to see how things would end.

Vile Flew past them, a flow of flying Ewes following him in a V formation as he taught them the art of dive-bombing buildings, in the streets the few crystal ponies who had managed to avoid becoming bubbled and bouncy were set upon by Vile's army of Critters, Racoons and Squirrels armed with silverware riding on the backs of their living Armor with Rusts Inky Goones providing support as they hunted down every last Crystal Pony and tossed them in the path of the cursed ones bouncing around, transferring the curses effects to them.

Leading Vile's army was Lars, who had been teleported in with the army, on his back was the Racoon Leader Penny, the Captain of the Squirrels, Fluffers, and the last surviving Crab from Havoks Moat who was just named Crab. Having taken the Chaos vow several of the local Ewes had been conscripted into the Chaos Army, Vile had gifted them flight, hoping it would aid them in the Puckwudgie Wars that they were reportedly losing ground on.

"No Breakdancing Lars," Vile warned the Manticore when he saw his legs move in a motion that indicated the Manticore was fighting the urge to bust a move. "You have riders, Just keep blocking a hold of that culdesac entrance and let the troops do their job, Sky Squadron dive, dive, dive!" Vile and his flying Crystal Ewes dove into the culdesac as a few Crystal Ponies tried to make a break for it, any who Vile touched were cursed and soon the troops were moving out as they finished their rounds, "Alright move out to the outskirts of the Empire, most of the main streets are full of ping-ponging curse victims so the outer edge might be where any survivors are hiding." Vile led his chaotic army of animals and living armor, as his army moved, Rot watched him fly overhead as she just watched Crystal Ponies bounce around in a bubbly mess, none of them seeming to have a good time, hanging over her head was Shining and Cadance wrapped up in vines, and fast asleep in a crib of vines was Flurry Heart, who Rot had taken care to track down and put to sleep with some Chaos Magic to keep her from getting involved in the prank.

"Man, this is a drag," Rot watched the Chaos before her lazily, no rules, no one to hit or play with, just chaos for chaos's sake, Spike would have turned this into some sort of crazy activity, she looked back to the Cutie Mark Camp where he had used this same prospect to create a game, seeing prevented from fun to mindless madness was so unappealing to her, "No Challenge, no way to know if it'll ever end," She sighed, "Man do I have a thing for Spike? That sucks Sweetie's gonna win him over when he eventually notices," She let out an irritated huff, "And despite how chaotic we're supposed to be I'm not nearly chaotic enough to share something like a date with my friend," Before Rot could fall too deep down the rabbit hole Cadance provided a little assistance.

"I wouldn't say the feelings emanating off of you are romantic feelings," Cadance decided after a moment, her magic mostly locked up she couldn't be completely sure but she was confident in her decision as she spoke, "I think you do love Spike but I don't think you'd be happy in a relationship, your feeling seem like more of a familiar bond but him not being a blood or adopted relative is making your feelings twisted, who could say I suppose you'll have to give it time, "

"Oh thanks that helped tons," Rot sighed, "I hope he gets back soon, I liked it better when we were playing games," As Rot found a disinterest in winning without trying Shade sent another doppelganger to look in on Twilight to warn her she only had a minute or two at best.

Twilight sat looking at a massive doorway, and Shade's heart almost stopped when she saw Spike on the other side, shaking a cup of soda with a dejected look.

"I'm not reviving until you apologize," Spike said sternly. "Now hurry up and apologize. I really want a soda, and all I can do is endless sweet tea via rubber chicken." Spike pulled out a Rubber chicken and honked it, shooting Tea out of the door as he did so.

"Let me get that for you," Shade replied as she tried not to cry, filling Spike's cup with a Cherry flavored Soda.

"Shade" Spike cheered as he waved to her with his free hand, "I am feeling so avenged right now, I don't like what's happening but if I don't let it happen then she'll probably try doing it again,"

"Last chance," Shade told Twilight blandly, "Apologise or Chaos reins free!" Twilight took a deep breath and looked at Spike, who was waiting for her last attempt.

"I...I can't apologize," She practically sobbed, "Nothing I say could ever come close to being enough for an apology..." Twilight sobbed slightly and Spike sighed.

"I'll take it," he decided begrudgingly, "You are not forgiven, but I should at least not fall in your footsteps and make my problems every creature's problem, at least not any more so than I already have," Spike smacked his face against the invisible force keeping his spirit from passing into the material plain and called for his bits to get back to him, a few small pieces started moving slow as molasses towards him but upon feeling the God of Chaos attempting to come back Discord simply snapped his fingers and sent all his collected parts to Spike directly, Spikes warped into his full Havok form, still melty in places and full of holes reminiscent of an unreformed changing.

Havok looked through a large hole in his arm toward Twilight and huffed, "These better not be permanent," he muttered upon realizing the holes were everywhere, he had holes on his head spines, his ears had a few holes, the spot where he would have had a belly button if he had been born a mammal was just a massive hole through his stomach.

His body hurt and creaked in multiple places, not that he had expected to be in tip-top shape but it was still worse than he had thought it would be.

"Alright, Shade give me a hoof in making sure Gingerbread is alright before we properly dispel the chaos, let's allow Twilight to enjoy the atmosphere a little bit on her own," Shade took Havok's arm as though he was helping a Grandpa cross the street and the two where teleported to where Rust and Pinkie where caring for Gingerbread.

"I don't think I can do it," Rust said in a defeated tone as she patted a very nicely made Ink Manticore, it had a raging Mowake and little spikey wrist cuffs on its front legs, "I can give them sapience but I can't make them...real, just sentient art projects," The Manticore nuzzled Rust as Pinkie patted her back, Even hindered by some join pain Shade was delighted to see that Havok was still able to pull his old jumping into a conversation without any creature noticing prior trick as he hobbled over to the Manticore and patted her back.

"Give yourself a little credit, when you actually really try you do make some kicking sentient art," Rust and Pinkie looked over at Havok and predictably tried to jump him with hugs, but almost immediately backed off when just touching his arm wrong caused it to snap off.

"Oh my stars, are you ok?" Pinkie demanded as Rust immediately used glitter glue to try and stick the arm back on, only to break off a finger in the process.

Havok gave a hearty laugh before responding bluntly, "No," He informed her as he used some Chaos energy to convert the Inky Manticore into a Real one, "But I can still make Rust's creations into real girls, I hope you planned on keeping her because she and Lars are gonna look so awesome when we teach them how to tango,"

"I told you he'd love her," Rust said to Pinkie, who had expressed concern about how Havok might feel having to bring another creation to life simply off of Rust's whims.

"And I owe you a soda," Pinkie replied in her most adult-like manner before turning on full panic mama mode, "Now about Gingerbread,"

Shade and Rust helped Gingerbread stand back up, having spent so long as a mare that she had lost her ability to properly walk in her original form, Havok walked over to Gingerbread, gave her a quick inspection, and then nudged Rust slightly with his tail.

"Maybe add a second eye before we turn her into a real girl this time?"

"OH!" Rust rushed to Gingerbread's blank side, she could have spent some time decorating it so her coar was all one color but she felt the half-and-half coat gave her the distinction of being based on Cheerliee but also being a magic Cookie girl and didn't want to rob her of that without her permission, and since Gingerbread wasn't quite aware of her self enough to ask she figured Spike could easily re-cookie her if Gingerbread ever did want to fix her coat.

Rust took great care in making sure the next eye was the same size as her original eye, instead of matching her red pupils Rust chose to make the new one the same color as Pinkie's blue eyes for the sake of aesthetics, one done she blew on the frosting and it began sparkling, Gingerbread let out a sharp yip as the new eye blinked and Gingerbread was granted what was probably an odd field of vision being flat with two eyes before she could be disheveled by the experience Spike patterned her softy and she cracked up.

Pinkie was ready to Great Gingerbread, but for a short panicky moment, she seemed to vanish before something grabbed onto her leg, looking down she was met with the sight of a young filly, with a half-brown coat looking back up at her with a mixture of excitement and confusion.

"Mama Pinkie, how'd you get so big?" Gingerbread seemed amused that her Mama Pinkie had somehow grown in size, meanwhile, Pinkie looked like she was about to cry.

"You did mention you felt it was wrong she would have to start life as an adult," Havok noted to her as Rust and Shade took great care in keeping his arm in place, the act of turning Gingerbread and Rust's new Manticore Sadie into real girls having visible caused him to crack up a little, "Well I'm sure Chesse will love her when he-" Havok coughed a little before he could fully finish his sentence, "-meets her,"

"Pinke you have a lot to do with your daughter," Shade noted, as Rust brought Sadie over and had her lay down so Havok could ride on her, "And we have a lot of making sure Havok doesn't explode again to do, bye-bye Gingerbread, I'm happy your feeling better," Team Chaos disappeared and, seeing as Mama Pinkie was crying Gingerbread tried to cheer her up by showing off her bounce practice, it was odd but it almost felt like she could judge where she was landing with her bounce better than she could before, earning a hug from Pinkie on her second hop.

Rainbow Dash was handed off to Applejack and Fluttershy to make sure she got proper medical treatment for her injuries, just to make sure the dislocation wasn't too serious, Storm waited as Vile sent the troops back to the Castle, riding back on Lars.

"I was told Lars had to come with us," Vile informed her upon seeing the odd look her got, "Apparently they have a surprise for him, a little reward for all his hard work,"

"I want a reward," Strom muttered, "when do I get my prank?"

"What about-"

"Rust helped with Pinkie when I recruited you, it doesn't count," Storm snapped back, "I'm not saying I need a solo prank but it'd be fun if we all had to do a race you know, I'm excited to show Rainbow just how fast I can go,"

"I get how you feel," Storm and Vile looked over as Rot walked up to them, having just freed Cadance and Shining to have a chat with Twilight, they had asked to see Spike but Rot had given them the bad news that outside of a very select few all visitation rights to Spike where currently on hold until it could be confirmed he was properly revived and safe. "Havok promised me and you rights to the Iron Pony Competitions prank but that's still a while away, think he'll go for a boxing prank?"

"We can ask once we confirm he's ok," Storm replied as she and the others waited for Havok to finish up with Gingerbread, they only had to wait a short while before the rest of Team Chaos popped into Existence, Vile and Lars jaws both dropped when they saw Sadie and Vile immediately began whispering into Larses ear when he felt the Manticore tense up.

"Don't bust a move immediately, let the moment happen naturally," as Vile spoke Rust told Sadie the thing, having been artificially created for Lars, Sadie held his same desire and talents for dancing, as Lars and Sadie eyed each other from afar, waiting and seeing who would break out into dance first the rest of Team Chaos moved to Havok's side, having been warned he was in unstable conditions.

"Oh dude," Vile and Stome looked at one another through Havok's stomach hole, "How are you alive right now?"

"I can not turn back into Spike," Havok informed them simply, "And I am too pooped to even try to recreate my proper moral body so you'll have to deal with broken ass Havok who, being my pure god from, can't die via missing organs, like my damaged belly, and my spine now that I think about it, no wonder my back hurts so much,"

All the members of Team Chaos waited for him to give an order and he in return needed a second to warm up.

"Alright, here we go," Havok took a seat on the ground before beginning, "Shade, I need you to go to Tartarus, you'll find Sombra playing dead, Cozy Glow, and Tirek, trap all three of them in separate snowglobes, Cozy and Tirek already have little play areas set up just copy their stuff for Sombras, once you have them detained move them to the Library vault, just in case this ever happens again to me or any of you we'll be setting them free to wreak havoc in the name of Chaos, I already have Cozy and Tirek under contract, I'll haggle with Sombra latter,"

Havok coughed several times through his instruction and by the time he finished his first order he had been given some tea that, despite the holes, didn't leak out of him.

"Vile, go back to the castle and make sure the Puckwudgie haven't started an assault during our absence, also set Sadie up with the works, and see if she and Lars wanna start fast or slow, proceed however they wish upon getting their answers and once that's done hold down the fort for us,"

Vile saluted and teleported off with both Manticores, after a moment everyone turned to look at Shade, who had not left after receiving orders.

"I'm making sure he doesn't forget to leave someone to take care of him,"

"Yeah don't worry I'll make sure to take him home once Vile sends the all-clear, Anyone gets close I'll knock 'em into Yak country," Rot saluted and Shade responded with her own and proceeded to cease existing in the group.

"Storm check in with Photo Finish and see if any of my mother's spies or Lunas have been up to anything, good or bad I just want information,"

Storm turned into a puff of smoke, and once it dissipated it was revealed she had not gone anywhere, she proceeded to wave goodbye before rocking into the sky and off towards Canterlot.

"Rust this task is a little lame but could you go retrieve my personal belongings from the castle, I don't wanna go anywhere near it at the moment, and if Twilight Trapped anything your Inky goons should be able to take the blow effortlessly,"

Rust turned to Rot and the two bumped hooves, "Kick in the teeth of anyone who tries to touch him," Rust told her cousin before pulling out a clipboard and taking care to get the hot deets on what all Havok needed to be retrieved, neither Rust nor Rot had a particularly good response when they asked about his bed and was informed of his basket.

"Sweet Stars in the sky what are you a dog to her," Rust muttered once the list was done and she headed out to do her task. Rot walked behind Spike and made herself bigger as she lay down, using her tail to wrap around him protectively as she waited for the all-clear.

"You missed me," Havok noted snidly.

"I punched the shit out of your sister," Rot replied smugly.

"I know," Havok chuckled, "I was spying on your guys while I was dead," Havok let out a disappointed sigh and Rot got all the information she needed from it.

"She didn't apologize did she," She asked simply.

"She admitted nothing she could ever do or say could make this right," Havok noted with a dull tone, "Best I was gonna get,"

"Well she's not gonna get another chance to apologize for a while," Rot informed him simply, "So she'll have plenty of time to find the right words if she does care,"

"She is pretty good at studying," Havok smiled the kind of smile one has when they remember a once fond memory tainted by time of him helping Twilight study, "How are your grades?" Havok asked suddenly, "Because I just so happen to be a great tutor,"

"Mediocre at best," Rot replied.

"With my help, we shall make you Mediocre at worst," Havok declared, coughing a little as he laughed, and earning a smile from Rot.

"You always know just the right words to say to make something sound stupid," She decided, "I know it wasn't all that long by dame have I missed you,"

"I missed you guys too, Sombra was way too dirty-minded, let me tell you!" The two lazed about in the middle of the still Chaotic Empire, content to leave it a mess until it was safe to depart to their castle and enjoy some time as a group.