"Just need a minute to prepare a few spells."
Twilight trots around the library while being watched by Justin. The man is floating near a wall while lounging, with a small serving of nachos. He can feel that excitement that his friend has for... whatever it is that she has planned. It's kind of cute really, seeing the princess this excited for a change. He takes up another tortilla chip and pops it into his mouth. His eyes continue to follow the lavender mare as she continues her way around the library and casting a variety of spells.
"All right, that should be all we need for our next test." Twilight proudly as she trots up to the human, using her magic to take a chip, and munch on it herself.
"Okay, but you never told me what it is." Justin comments, floating a bit lower to the floor.
"I want you to hypnotize me." Twilight tells him in a matter-of-factly tone.
Justin just stares at her, setting his feet on the ground. "What. Why?"
"Well, you remember about a couple years back when Discord escaped his stone prison?" Twilight asks, taking a trot around the library's center piece, seeing the human nod. "During that time, he more or less hypnotized all of my friends into acting the opposite of what they represent. I want to know if you can do it."
"No. Absolutely not." Justin tells her with a determined shake of his head. "I refuse to do that to any of you."
"Then how will we know if you can cast such a magic?" Twilight asks, trotting up to him. "By now, you know that I feel okay with it, the excitement."
"And you know I feel the opposite of that, Twi. My answer is still no, I don't want to know if I can or can't on you." Justin still stares at her, determined to stand his ground on the matter.
Twilight continues to stare back in to his eyes. "I've casted enough spells so that you won't have complete sway over me."
"My answer is still no."
Twilight stands there and stares at the human. Letting the gears turn in her head as she tries to think of a way to coax him into the idea. His face doesn't change and neither does his feeling about the whole ordeal. Twilight opens her mouth to say something when the door to the library is thrown open. The two look over to the front to see what appears to be a rather annoyed looking Rainbow Dash. Upon making eye contact with the human, she points a hoof his direction.
"Hey! What's the big idea, huh?" Rainbow yells at him as she stomps his way.
Justin just raises a brow at the mare coming his way. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Rainbow says as she starts to float up to be level with him. "I know it's you messing with the weather!"
"Alright, Hotshot, why would I mess with your weather?" Justin inquires while maintaining eye contact with her.
Twilight is looking at the both of them with her head tilted in confusion.
"I dunno! To screw with me or something!" Rainbow accuses.
"I don't think Justin would do that to you, Rainbow." Twilight finally chimes in.
"I leave the weather manipulation to the pros." Justin tells the athlete. "Even if it' just to mess with you."
"Then what's with that?!" Rainbow gestures towards the still-open door.
Both Justin and Twilight peer out the door to see what exactly Rainbow is talking about. A massive cloud hangs over the center of Ponyville with pegasi weather teams trying their best to get it dissipated or moved away from the town. A lot of their attempts are futile with such a dark mass of clouds refusing to leave. The two walk their way over to the door and poke both their heads out to see just how massive the cloud is.
"Rainbow." Justin leans back in and looks at her. "Just how long have you been dealing with this?"
"Almost all afternoon when it started showing up." Rainbow answers. "At first we thought they were clouds coming from the Everfree with all that scary lightning trying to strike my team out of the sky."
"Scary lightning?" Justin raises a brow.
"You haven't been paying attention to what's been going on outside?" Rainbow crosses her forelegs at him.
"Uh... no? I've been with Twilight all morning while she tries to convince me to mind control her." Justin explains.
"Hypnotize!" Twilight corrects.
"Whatever, same thing." Justin waves off.
A lightning bolt arcs out from the cloud in order to get the weather teams to leave it be. Twilight sees the color of the bolt is crimson. She opens a wing and hits the human right in his side with a loud whump. He stops talking with Dash to look a her somewhat annoyed, but is met with with a worried look instead. His brow raises a visible smidge while looking at her.
"Rainbow, go get the girls." Twilight tells her friend. "Bring them here, we got work to do. Make sure everypony stays inside and get your teams away from that cloud."
Understanding the tone, Rainbow salutes the princess before bolting out the door.
Twilight then turns her attention back to the human. "We need to get you some place safe."
"Now wait a minute, Twi." Justin starts to kneel down next to her to be eye-level. "What exactly is going on?"
"It's Him. I thought we had more time, but He's here and we have no time." Twilight seems to shake a bit, on the verge of freaking out.
"No." Justin tells her.
"What do you mean 'no?!' You aren't prepared for this and neither are we!" Twilight yells at him.
Justin just stands up and crosses his arms, giving her a bit of a stink eye. "I'm not going to let you all take a blow for my sake. This is my fight as much as yours."
Twilight seeing that it's no use in arguing with him, begrudgingly agrees to let him follow along. The both of them make way from the library towards the center of town where the eye of this particular storm may be. The streets were emptying at an alarming rate as panicking ponies barricade themselves inside. They farther they get underneath the overcast, the darker things get until they happen upon their destination. Standing in front of the fountain, draped in a cloak is Kronos. Levitating his journal in an aura of red magic while flipping through the pages.
"I was wondering when you'd show your faces." Kronos turns to them. He seems older somehow. He was always an older version of their human, but this time was different. "Watching these pegasi try to dispel my storm was... amusing." A small smirk crosses his face as the book closes, his magic dissipates, and the brooch keeping his cloak close stops glowing along with it.
The brooch catches Justin's attention. "Ey! Me Two: Electric Boogaloo! What's with the weird glowy shit on ya cloaks?"
Twilight damn near keels over at his words. Shooting the human a dirty look.
"This old thing? Just something I found way back when. It's a marvelous little trinket that bestowed me with the power I needed to learn spells and use magic. I believe it's called the Alicorn Amulet." Kronos starts to monologue on and on about his conquests with said amulet.
"Wow, and here I thought you talked a lot." Twilight comments in a quiet tone.
"Ouch." Justin replies at the same volume.
"... With it, I have used it to bring the Princess of the Sun to her knees along with her weak sister..."
"Hey, Twi, don't we have one of those amulet things?" Justin asks while the evil him continues his ramblings.
"Yes, and you're not getting your hands on it. I had Zecora hide it." Twilight replies.
"Good."
"It has allowed me to challenge the very spirit of chaos and best them." Kronos seems to finish off with and stares the two of them down. Not having to notice that they had their own little conversation. "It has taken considerable power just to get here to reclaim what is rightfully mine."
"Which is?" Twilight shoots out before Justin, as if reading his mind.
"The Powers of Chaos which have been promised to me as per terms of our bet by the Spirit of Chaos herself!" Kronos' hands start to light up, preparing to cast a spell.
Herself?!
"Dunno how to tell ya this, pal, but making deals with the Spirit of Chao means you should really have read the fine print. Cuz they seem at home here." Justin comments.
"Then I will take them myself." Kronos growls.
Kronos is quick on the draw and fires off the spell he's been charging right in Justin's direction. Twilight is quicker to react and fires off a similar spell to fight his off. Both spells collided in the middle with a spectacular explosion of colors. The alicorn snarls as she steps in front of her human with her horn charged and ready for a fight. Kronos just smiles at this and fires a concentrated beam from his hand. Twilight mimics the spell, firing off her own beam. Crimson and Magenta magic collide once more. Both spellcasters gritting teeth as they pour more power to overcome the other. Justin just watches on as the two's magic duel starts to get a little heated. At the moment Twilight is about to give it her all when a rainbow streak breaks through the large storm cloud above and aims right for the slinging human.
"You leave my friends alone!" A raspy voice yells.
Kronos holds his hand up in her direction before she makes contact and grabs Rainbow by the neck before throwing her to the ground before him. He places a foot on the side of the athletes neck to keep her there while giving Twilight a smile most wicked.
"Rainbow!" Both Twilight and Justin yell out.
"I'm... sorry... Twilight." Rainbow struggles to get out from underneath the other human. "I... couldn't find... the others!"
"The others?" Kronos asks with a laugh. "My, they aren't very far."
With a snap of his free hand, four ponies round the corner. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all look distant, but their eyes are glowing a soft shade of red. This is it, the final straw that broke Twilight's concentration and causes her magic to weaken just enough for a beam of crimson to hit her square in the chest and send her flying backwards. Luckily Justin is there to catch her with a grunt and holds on to her in a tight hug. She groans out in pain and flutters her eyes open to look up at him, both worry and defeat present on her. Justin looks down at her and nods a little, knowing what she's about to do next.
Another blast of magic is slung their way, but Twilight reacts with a shield spell and holds it there.
"Justin." Twilight weakly says as he sets her down.
A beam strikes the shield, causing it to break as she struggles to hold on.
"I know, Twi." Justin laments as he accepts what's about to happen. "Do it."
More cracks form as a second beam strikes her shield. Twilight gazes back at him and nods a little. Her horn lights up further and in a light of magenta, the human is gone. The shield finally gives way and Twilight is struck by both red beams, putting her back on the ground. Kronos slowly approaches with the four of her friends that are under his control now.
"Where did you send him?" Is all he asks, picking the mare up with his magic.
"I'll never tell you." Twilight rebuttals before weakly spitting at him.
"You will tell me what I want, in due time, Twilight Sparkle." Kronos replies to her while wiping the spit from his face. "Maybe you'll be more... persuaded... once I have you in my ranks."
I'll find a way, I promise
A pop rings out in his ears, momentarily blinded, and hitting the hard surface of stone. He lets out a grunt in pain and rolls over on to his belly. He groans out, holding his side as he pushes off the stone floor to get more of his bearings. His eyes adjusting to the brief flash. Ruined stone structure surrounds him. Crumbling pillars, walls missing most of their work. He looks around a bit further to see tapestry hanging from the walls depicting sun and moon motifs. Of course he sends him here.
"The Castle of the Two Sisters." Justin mutters to noone in particular. "But... I hope Fudge and Derpy are okay."
With a heavy sigh, Justin finally sits up to look up at the sky. The Everfree sky doesn't look all that different from the typical Equestrian sky. It seems calm at the moment, almost inviting. He closes his eyes and begins to focus a bit, trying to reach out to see if Twilight is still there. Everything is quiet around him save for some ambient noises from the local wildlife. It was perfect white noise for him to attempt his reach.
Twilight?
No answer.
His brow furrows and he opens his eyes. He can't discern anything she's feeling. Almost like it's being blocked. Justin grits his teeth as a fire begins to rise inside of him. He balls his hands into fists, letting out a yell and raising them above his head before slamming the sides of his fists against the stone floor. The impact causes the floor to crack from the force of his hands and small craters where they landed. His breathing gets heavy as he starts to stand up.
Justin feels lighter than he usually does, if he were as light as a feather, this wouldn't be a problem. No, the problem is that he feels light enough to be on clouds. Especially the clouds that surround his body. Did he die somehow? He hopes he didn't. One eye flicks open, then the other. He starts to turn his head around in all directions to find that he's in a bedroom, not his bedroom, not his bed either. So, where is he? Justin sits up to get a better gauge of his surroundings.
"Ah! My friend, you finally awaken!" A familiar mare's voice calls from the other side of the room.
"Luna?" Justin asks as he turns his gaze to her smiling face. "Where am I? Did I die!?"
"Of course not." Luna giggles a little as she approaches the bed. "You are fine. I have been watching over this dream for a little while now."
Justin freezes and stares at her. "Dream? How long have I been out and where am I really?"
"Ponyville General." Luna answers with a smile. "As for how long, I have no idea. I just have been making sure you have a plentiful rest while you recover."
"Oh. Well thank you, Luna." Justin smiles at the princess and holds out his arms.
Luna answers the call for a hug rather in a rather excitable manner. "It has been my pleasure, my friend. Now, I do believe it is time you go back to the waking world and reunite with some ponies there."
Justin nods a little and lets Luna go, watching his dream slowly dissolve into the real world. Right where Luna said he'd be too, except with some minor differences. To start, his right arm is in a sling with a cast, left leg is raised and also in a cast. There's a small bit of weight on his chest, focusing the rest of his senses on that, he finds Fudge asleep on him. Justin smiles a little at the sight and looks over to the small end table filled with various cards, some flowers, and what looks to be some pictures. His eyes fall to the rest of the room where he finds some familiar faces; Derpy, Fluttershy, and Vinyl still sleeping around him. He breathes in deep, his chest rising, then out just as slow. It was still a bit dark outside, sun hasn't been risen yet.
So he waits.
A few hours pass by in comforting silence. Glad that someone here thought a bit ahead and left him with a book to read where he could reach it. He was careful getting it, of course. Not disturbing the sleeping filly on his persons. Justin is just glad to have a moment of slow after all the Kronos excitement. Even his good arm feels a bit dead as he holds the book up. The door to the room opens, he doesn't even bother to look up to see if it's one of the doctors.
"Glad to see you're finally awake." Twilight's voice quietly calls from the now open door.
"Yeah, I still feel a little on the 'dead to the world' side." Justin jokes, finally looking away from the book.
Twilight chuckles as she approaches the bed, sitting on his left with her front hooves pressing against the mattress. "You kind of were. For two weeks. We were scared you weren't going to wake up."
"Damn. Two weeks? No wonder I feel dead." Justin smirks a little, turning his attention back to the book in hand.
"Justin." Twilight softly says his name, pressing a hoof against his good shoulder and leaning in close. "Are you okay?"
"Of course." Justin says as he turns a page. "Chaos-fueled human clashes with an alternate reality version of himself, out for two weeks, wakes up with a broken leg and arm."
"Sorry about those. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I tried to catch you so we didn't have human to clean up." Twilight moves her hoof in favor of resting her chin on him. "I'm here if you want to talk about it."
"Maybe later, Twi. I wanna see everyone else's smiles about me waking up. Good signs n' all that jazz." he looks over to her with a small smile then back to the book. "Also, thanks for leaving the book here."
The two spend a couple of hours in waiting, silently enjoying the other's company until another visitor awoke. The first to wake up is Fudge, who excitedly lurches forward to take the human's neck in a hug and pin the book against his body. The filly starts crying out in joy about her father finally waking up. The commotion rouses the other three out of their slumber. Smiles are exchanged, more tears of joy are cried. Overall, it's a happy reunion while ponies get him up to speed on events of the last two weeks. Which isn't a whole lot, it's been quiet since Kronos was booted out of this Equestria.
Then the room door swings open again and four more mares come filing into the room after hearing the noise. Pinkie, ever excitable as she is, was ready to throw him a "Congratulations on Waking Up Party" for the human, this got a hearty chuckle out of him. Applejack brings him a bottle of cider, figuring he may be thirsty. Rainbow brought him another book, one of her Daring Do novels. Rarity, well, she brought him a sleeping mask she made for him. Seeing he may still be here for a long while. It's safe to say a human was having a hard time not crying himself at all the positivity around him. Doing his best to take all of ponies in the room in a gigantic group hug with his one good arm.
Justin pulls out his watch from his pocket, flicking the top open to check the time. The speech is almost done, thankfully. Some weeks have already passed, the human having made an almost full recovery. His arm was still in a sling with very little functionality to it, at least, that's what he tells anyone that asks. He wears his Gala ensemble while standing in one of the castle's side rooms, waiting for Celestia to return. He closes the watch and slips the trinket into the sling to let his fingertips run over the cover. Justin sighs a little as he walks over to the window. Then a click interrupts the silence in the room and the door opens.
"How is your arm treating you?" Celestia's voice asks, softly closing the door behind her.
"Still numb up to the shoulder, have a little bit of feeling in my fingers though." Justin replies with a signature smile of his as he turns to face the Princess. "It's a little bit of progress."
"Any progress is good progress." Celestia returns his smile with one of her own, levitating a medal over to him. "You should've been out there with them, share in the admiration."
"Nah, the spotlight really isn't for me." Justin waves off her comment with a wave of his good hand. He then bows his head a little as her magic rests the medal around his shoulders. "I got enough admiration at home."
"Very well." Celestia nods and gazes at him. "May I see your arm?"
Justin seems to hesitate in his answer at first, then nods at her. He winces as he starts to pull his arm from the sling and roll up the sleeve. The arm stays limp as more of it is revealed. Celestia observes him, seeing that burn marks stretch themselves across his forearm, disappearing under the sleeve, reaching down to his fingers. The princess hums to herself as she looks his arm up and down.
"Docs in Ponyville don't know if I'll get full feeling back in my arm." Justin explains as he watches Celestia approach. "Twilight is working on something to help with the burns, maybe get some feeling back in it."
Celestia nods ay him and uses her magic to lift his arm, examining the marks closer. "You should stay here and let my staff look at you. They may be able to get some resources together to help with this."
"As much as I'd love to stay here, Tia." Justin chuckles a little at her gazing up at the name. "I still got me a filly at home to raise."
"I see." Celestia nods her head as she releases her magic on his arm. "I shall send one of my ponies to see you then."
"I don't think that will be necessary. Let Twi have her moment." Justin gives the princess a warm smile. "She says she's close to 'cracking the code' as she says."
Celestia gives him a small chuckle and relents. "Of course, Twilight is a bright young filly. I tend to forget that sometimes."
"Or I could help speed up that process." A strange female voice calls out from the ether.
Just then a portal rips open nearby. Both Justin and Celestia raise their brows at the newly formed portal. The Princess of the Sun charging her horn with a spell just in case. The human just rolls down his sleeve, then stuffs his arm back into the sling. He steps forward and puts himself between the princess and the portal. Then She steps out of the portal, a female draconequus that quickly saunters her way over to the human with a smirk.
"Eris." Justin addresses her as she is now in front of him. He notes just how much smaller she is compared to Discord, being at his eye-level.
"You know her?" Celestia asks, a little astonished.
"Long story. Short of it is that she's from another reality and basically was the reason I had a magical showdown outside of Ponyville." Justin explains, looking over his shoulder back at Celestia.
"Yes, and now I'm here to thank the hunk of man that has allowed me time to reform my powers." Eris interrupts in a rather seductive tone while running her lion paw against his jaw to have him look at her.
Justin makes eye contact and is about to say something. He gets cut off by Eris pressing her lips against his and taking him in a deep kiss. His eyes widen when this happens and stay that way after she pulls away. Giggling, Eris backs away, walking with her back to the portal and a noticeable sway in her hips.
"I'll see you around, Big Guy." She tells him, blowing a kiss his way and stepping into the portal where it immediately closes afterwards.
Justin stands there in bewilderment while Celestia is staring at the back of his head, also surprised at what just transpired before her. Not only did his nickname get ruined, but he also was kissed by a Spirit of Chaos not of this Equestria. He takes in a deep breath, then yells out in horror as his mind really starts to break down now. Celestia flattens her ears against her head, unable to help the poor human.
Author's Note
And that officially concludes this story. Fret not my dear readers, I have a small thing in mind that I'm going to attach to this story as a small idea that is inspired by the events here. Hopefully it'll go over well!
Feel free to let me know if you liked the story, hated it, whatever you feel you need to say about it. I will read them all.
Until next time, my friends.
~Tower of 0
Rainbow Rumble of Rambunctious Rapscallions from Differing Realities!
Author's Note
I am NOT apologizing for that title. Anyway, this chapter has probably been in the wait for longer than what may be normal (between sudden bursts to barely having a single paragraph or line). I hope you all enjoy it.
Rainbow Rumble of Rambunctious Rapscallions from Differing Realities!
"What if I give you half of my power?"
"For the thirtieth time, no."
Discord has been asking the same question for an hour now. Why is he so insistent on this idea? Justin may never know, but he isn't interested. If anything from the whine Discord made, he knows he isn't getting anywhere with the human. Despite it though, they both continues down the forest path.
"How about a quarter?"
Justin rolls his eyes a little. "No."
"But whhyyyyy!" Discord whines at him, coiling his body around the man's torso.
"Because... having one Chaos Spirit's power is bad enough, Two sets may just outright drive me insane." Justin cooly replies.
Discord rubs his chin a little and a lightbulb goes off above his head. "How about one sixth? Shouldn't be too overwhelming and may give yours a slight boost!"
"Hmm... maybe."
"Wait." Discord stares at the human. "Really?"
Justin just gives the Spirit of Chaos a small shrug all the while smirking at him. He opens his mouth to say something only for the draconequus to shove something in to his mouth and forces him to swallow it. The man stops in his tracks and leans over, placing his hands on his knees as he coughs hard. Discord uncurls himself from around the human's torso and smiles at him.
"Dammit Discord!" Justin manages between his coughing fits. Bringing a fist up to hit his chest a few times. "What the hell was that!?"
"My tooth." Discord gives a a nonchalant reply.
"Your... tooth..." Justin looks up at Discord and notices that he is, infact, missing his tooth.
"I'll be in touch! Toodles!" Discord waves farewell to the human before vanishing.
Justin can only stand there, a bit dumbfounded with what little sanity he had up to this point with the Spirit of Chaos. Then again, the only thing that makes sense with him is that nothing he does makes sense. The human kind of just shrugs it off at this point and continues on down the forest path. He just continues on where he needs to go. Discord did say he'd be in touch, afterall.
"What do you mean they aren't working? We have their bearers right here!"
...
"Well, figure it out. I need them active for this spell to work!"
...
"You. Twilight Sparkle. How do these Elements of Harmony of yours work?"
"They.. need a.. trigger."
"Yes, but what kind?"
"...Magic..."
"Yes, yes. There's something else, isn't there?"
...
"Hm, you're defiant streak will end at some point. I will be the one to break it."
Justin finally emerges from the edge of the Everfree at just a distance away from Ponyville. He gazes at it in the distance and heavily sighs to himself. With something of a renewed determination, he starts to head out to his home, there's something he's gotta check on. One field crossing later and he found himself sneaking through the streets of the town, not really keen on drawing attention to himself. The large storm cloud still hung overhead, drowning his hometown in some sort of darkness. That didn't stop him from reach his front door however.
He turns the handle and pushes the door open. To his shock, it looks like the place has been ransacked. For what? He may not even know. Justin silently closes the door behind him and scans the current surroundings of overturned furniture and his knick-knacks knocked on to the floor. First thing though: see if any of the girls are here.
"Fudge?" Justin whispers with a small hiss to it as he explores his wrecked home.
No answer however.
"Derpy?" He asks as he looks in to his room.
Still nothing, he hums a little at the silence.
He heads over to his filly's room and opens the door. "Fudge?"
Justin backs out after a full minute of no answer and heads back down to his living room. He peers at the wreckage and spots the urn. Thankfully still intact as he picks it off the floor and puts the coffee table down. He sets the urn on the table and with a quick snap of his fingers he conjures up a parchment, a quill, and an inkpot. Justin is quick to pree the tip of the quill to his tongue and dip in in the pot, soon fashioning out a letter to one of the Princesses to catch them up to speed.
He exits his home a little while later and starts down the path to the main road. Before he can reach the road, a magenta streak of magic zooms out from his right, cutting him off. Leaning back a bit, he looks over to spot Twilight with her horn charged for another spell, five other ponies, and a taller creature. Six pairs of glowing red eyes staring him down and a wicked grin from the other human show. Justin just looks at each of his friends.
"I was wondering when you'd come out of wherever she hid you." Kronos says with his satisfaction showing. "Bonds make one... predictable."
"Oh yeah?" Justin gives him one nod, a stance of faux cockiness plastered on his face. "How so?"
"I knew you would come for your ponies eventually, if I know me, we don't like to sit idle for very long." Kronos answers, taking one step away from the group. "To which you'll probably try to save them in some capacity. Maybe remind them who they are? Make them realize how such good friends you are? Or.. OR.. Wake up their true selves deep within and break my spell?"
Justin doesn't say anything as he crosses his arms across his chest.
"Well, I will tell you something, none of those will work. Simply put, my magic is too strong for them to even hope to resist. Except for one." Kronos pauses and looks back to Twilight. "She will break in time, I suppose."
"You seem so sure about yourself, what makes you think she can't break it on her own?" Justin asks as Kronos turns his attention back to him.
"She still follows my commands, but she is not always talkative."
"To be fair, if I ended up like you, I wouldn't be surprise at none of the ponies talking to me." Justin snidely remarks with a smirk.
Kronos gives the man a stare down and raises his arm at the elbow. "We shall see how snarky you get..." His hand, eyes and the amulet glow it's familiar crimson as he summons Fudge, Derpy, and Vinyl in their own orbs. They're suspended in the air, but otherwise not awake. "...after I snuff out your little pony family."
"You wouldn't." Justin says in an almost challenging tone to his voice.
"I would." Kronos remarks, slowly closing his glowing hand and causing the arcane orbs to shrink. "And I will."
"No." Justin throws out his hand, the orbs change their color from a red to a rainbow of colors.
Kronos hums a bit at the unexpected takeover and watches as the orbs float over behind Justin and pop like bubbles upon setting down on the ground. Each pony being set free but still out.
"Interesting." Kronos says to himself. "Was not expecting this."
Justin doesn't seem to pay his counterpart any mind as he rouses the three ponies on the ground from whatever sleep they were in. With all of them awake, he simply tells them to head inside and not come out no matter what. Fudge puts up a bit of a fuss at first until being shut down and told to go inside. Once they all are hidden away inside his home, Justin turns his attention back to Kronos.
"Alright, Dark Lord Pouty-Puss of Steamquestria." Justin starts while slamming his fist against his palm. "Let's just get down to the fighting so we all can go home."
"Unfortunately for you, I have more important matters to tend to." Kronos turns to the six ponies behind him. "Twilight Sparkle and the unicorn, with me. Maybe once these four are done with you, then I will take care of the rest."
"Oh, you bastard." Justin says as he watches Kronos leave with Twilight and Rarity at his side.
Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow all start to march towards the human. Justin taking a small step back. He let out a small breath and prepares himself for a defence. By whatever pony god above, he will keep his damn promise to not hurt his friends, not matter what. Justin firmly plants his feet against the cobblestone street and braces for the first strike. Rainbow takes off into the sky above and disappears in to the cloud cover. Fluttershy slinks off somewhere he couldn't see while Applejack begins a charge at him down the street. Pinkie bounding after the farm mare with the same target in mind.
The first hit to land on him is a head colliding against his gut. Justin lets out a strained grunt as he grabs Applejack by the barrel and struggles to keep his ground. Before he can act further, a pair of pink hooves collide with his jaw that sends him stumbling backwards. The pink anomaly seemingly poofing behind a tree, a streak of orange going right for Justin again. He steps back when Applejack rears up to hit him with her forelegs. The man ducks and tackles the apple bucking wonder to the ground and pins her on the ground. The mare wiggles, thrashes, and attempts to kick the human off her, but taking a cue from Twilight a while back, he presses a thumb against her forehead. The spell breaks and Applejack's eyes return to their normal state.
"Oh, sugarcube." Applejack says as she wraps her legs around the human. "Ah'm so sorry, Ah cou-"
"Make up later, go get your rope." Justin interrupts. "I need you to catch me a Rainbow."
"Wh-what about the others?" Applejack asks with a hint of fear in her voice.
"I'll get them. Just go get your rope." Justin responds as he gets up off the mare.
Applejack gives him a nod and quickly scrambles away to her farm. Justin scans his surroundings for a moment to see who would be next to strike. From above, an elbow lands on the back of his head and sends him back to the cold stone. Justin groans out again as he listens to the sounds of wings beating away from him. Another presence took a spot on his back and soon what feels like a jackhammer starts to push his body deeper into the cobblestone. He turns his head slightly to get a glimpse of pink before she just as quickly vanishes.
Justin begins to slowly push himself off the ground and gets slammed back against the street when the weight of a full-speed pegasus comes crashing down onto him. Two hooves smashes his face back into the street. He groans out a bit out of annoyance more than pain as he lays there and lets the pony just beat down on him. It doesn't seem like long when the mass of equine is suddenly ripped off his back by force. Justin rolls over onto his back, starting to look around. He spots Applejack not too far away with a tied up Rainbow beside her. Damn does she work fast.
"Ya all right there?" Applejack asks him while Rainbow struggles to break her bonds.
"Physically? Sure." Justin slowly gets to his feet, walking over to the farm mare and the captured athlete. "Mentally? Could be doing way better. Being attacked by my friends isn't exactly the best feeling in the world."
"Eeyup." Is all Applejack can say while watching the human get up.
As soon as he is back on his feet, Pinkie jumps out from atop a nearby roof and latches herself on his back. She pulls back on him but he leans forward while grabbing the sides of her head, putting her on the ground before him. When her eyes open, they're normal now. Pinkie makes an exaggerated gasp and zooms away from Justin. So far that's two down, one restrained, and the other is somewhere else. Damn that buttery yellow mare for being so good at the quiet game.
"Where do ya think she ran off to?" Applejack asks now that he was on his way over to her.
"Dunno" Justin simply answers as he leans down and does the same thing to Rainbow that he did for the farm mare watching. "Probably to go bake some apology cupcakes."
"Wouldn't that be somethin'." Applejack chuckles a little. "Anything else ya need?"
"Wait a sec! What about untying me first?" Rainbow interjects.
Justin more or less beat Applejack to the rope, freeing the athlete from her bonds. "I got something in mind, but I'm going to need all four of you for it."
"Why just four, Big Guy?" Rainbow asks a bit more confused.
"Let's just say I have a feeling an Alicorn and Unicorn with magic won't be easy." Justin answer as his gaze switches between the two mares. "For now, go hide. I got a Fluttershy to catch."
Both mares essentially nod and part ways from the human. Justin smiles a little to himself and lets out a heavy sigh. He starts to make his way back to the street. Something comes out and hits him right in the back of his knee. He goes down on the hit knee, turning his head to look at his assailant for a hoof to cross his jaw. His head snaps and goes right back to stare at Fluttershy. Who of which is rearing up for another strike. Thinking quick as he watches go in for what he feels is a punch with a fore hoof, he moves his body just slightly to be out of the way when he throws it his way. Justin takes his arm and tucks the outstretched leg under his pit, starting to stand up again. Fluttershy lets loose an uncharacteristically angry growl and tries to hit him with the other leg. Justin merely does the same to the other leg, now trapping the yellow pegasus mare in his grasp as he just tightly hugs her.
He can see her face a lot more clear now, seeing the tears streaming down her cheeks despite the expression of rage on it. Of course that cold-hearted bastard would make them aware that they aren't in control. Make them watch as they hurt their friends. Then again, that cold-hearted bastard is also him but not at the same time.
"Shhh.. it's okay now." Justin murmurs to the mare he has trapped in his arms, moving one of his hands to graze her forehead. He starts to get back down on his knees as the mare goes from thrashing anger to completely breaking down against him. "You're safe, it'll be fine." Justin says as he runs his fingers through her mane to comfort the pegasus.
Fluttershy just uncontrollably bawls right into his chest, holding on to the human as tight as possible. She doesn't want to let him go. Justin just sits there and lets her cry against him. Essentially letting his shirt get covered in tears and snot from the current bawling mess of a mare. It wasn't long until Applejack and Rainbow joined up with the two. The two mares glance at one another before staring at the back of Justin.
"Is she all right?" Rainbow breaks the silence.
Justin just kind of looks over his shoulder a bit at the two and nudge his head to beckon them closer to him. "C'mere."
The two get closer, two arms wrap around their necks and pull them into a big group hug. Seeing no other choice than to just embrace their friends, they go ahead and wrap their forelegs around Fluttershy and Justin. Fluttershy has started to calm down quite a bit with the occasional sniffling but kept most of her face buried against his chest. Discord soon appears in front of the group, causing Justin to look up at him.
"Good, you're here." Justin says as he gently breaks up the hug, cradling the yellow mare in his arms.
"Well of course I'm here." Discord snidely remarks. "This is your plan after all."
"I didn't know when you were gonna show yourself." Justin snaps back at him to some mild amusement from Rainbow and Applejack. He practically pries the mare off of him to which she whimpers in protest. "Here, take her and make sure she's comfortable. Do what you can."
Discord takes Fluttershy from the human and the mare just curls into herself. His face goes serious upon seeing the mentally distraught mare. "Make sure whoever did this to her pays for it."
The comment and tone sends a shiver straight up Justin's spine, he wasn't used to the serious Discord. "You know I will."
Satisfied with the answer he was given, Discord disappears in a bright light with Fluttershy. Applejack comes trotting up the man's side. "Think it's a mighty fine idea fer us to go join him to help her?"
"Nah, Jackie, I need you three for the rest of something." Justin says with a small smile while he looks down to the farm mare
"Three?" Rainbow pipes up.
Pinkie launches herself from behind and hugs Justin from behind. Somehow not dropping the platter of cupcakes on her head. "Ohmygosh! I felt so bad about what I did to the bestest human is all of Equestria that I just had to go back some apology cupcakes!"
Justin now raises a brow at the mare. "Ready?"
Discords appears in the cottage's living room with Fluttershy in his arms. She still hasn't said anything or moved in any significant way. Understably worrying the draconequus quite a bit. He gently sets her down on the couch while her animal friends start to gather around to see what's going on. Even Angel is up on the couch to see if he can get a reaction out of her. Nothing.
"Hmm. Let's see about making you more comfortable."
Discord then goes off poofing around her cottage, gather as many soft pillows as he can and dropping each one off somewhere near the pegasus. Some of the animals making their angry noises as the Spirit just keeps dropping pillows on or near the mare. Discord pays them no mind as he sets out to accomplish the only task he has accepted from any other being. He continues his quest for pillows for quite some time until Fluttershy has a fort of softness built around her.
The draconequus soon appears around the large mass of pillows, musing for a moment. "Shall we check up on our human friend?" He asks her.
She doesn't really respond to him, staying quiet.
This doesn't deter the Spirit of Chaos however as he snaps his fingers to conjure up what looks to be a screen with the human on it. This gets something of a reaction from the mare he's around. She shifts a bit to look at the screen from within her mane.
Ponyville has been silent for a while, most of its inhabitants staying inside with quite a number of curious eyes staring out to the streets. A lot of the eyes watching the seemingly brave or outright stupid human as he walks the empty roads. He pays them no mind as he pushes on to his goal. He has Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie taking a rather long route to the other side of town, just hoping like hell his little plan fires off without a hitch.
Justin steps around a corner and Ponyville's fountain comes into his line of sight. What he does see leave him with some confusion. The three figures standing over near the fountain he knows; Twilight and Rarity, both still under Kornos' control as they're trying to cast some spells. The target of these spells were leaving some questions with the human. He gazes upon the Elements of Harmony floating in a circle around a journal as the centerpiece. Four of the six gems housed in their trinkets are emitting a faint glow. The three haven't noticed his presence yet.
He spots three mares off in the distance as they dart between alleyways. A smile spreads across his face as he starts walking towards the three. "Hey! Lord Pouts-a-lot! I'm back for round two!" Justin all but yells while slamming a fist against his palm.
Kronos looks over at his boisterous rival with some amusement. "Funny, I thought it'd take beating down your friends longer than that, or they'd at least be something of a handful and have you brought to me." He turns to face the approaching man. "Did you leave them in the street, broken like their minds?"
"I left them in safety. That's all there is to it." Justin somewhat lied.
"Very well, since you seem so insistent, we shall see how you handle an Alicorn and an Unicorn." Kronos tells before waving his hand in a dismissive manner towards him. "Ladies, do please take care of our guest."
Before Justin could react, a light blue aura appears around his body, holding him in place. Being unable to move, he can only watch as the two mare approach him. Twilight's horn having a spell on charge. Once she was close, Twilight lets the spell loose. A concentrated beam of magic right into the center of his chest and ruining his shirt. Justin yells out a bit out of pain as the heat from the magic bores right into his body.
He struggles against the magical hold of the fashionista, whom of which somehow got stronger magic. He grunts, baring his teeth, as he attempts to move his fingers. Justin manages to finally form the motion he needed and snaps, disappearing from the magical hold. The aura fizzles out, the human appears in front of the snowy unicorn, ready to grab her. Twilight was quick to react, blindsiding the human with a blast of magic that sends him flying into the nearby flower stall. His body collides with the wood, causing it to splinter and break around him into a mass of wooden beams that vaguely resembled a stall.
"Rose is going to kill me." Justin groans to himself, shifting the remains out of his way so he can stand up. "This was my favorite shirt too."
He looks over to see both Twilight and Rarity approaching again, horns charged and anger on their faces. It looks like Twilight is about to fire first until a cupcake lands on her horn, causing it to fizzle out. Rarity fires of a small blast of magic his way. Justin put out his hand and catches it like a ball. He chuckles a little as he looks at it, muttering a small 'nice' before crushing the spell in his palm and causing it to fade away. The pale unicorn takes a small step back, charging another spell.
Twilight finally clears the pastry from her horn and looks at the human, finally starting on another spell. Her concentration was broken yet again when a weight presses down on her back. Then another. Then a third. Three ponies had all piled on top the Princess and held her down. Justin, upon seeing the three friends hold down the alicorn, makes a mad dash for Rarity. In something of a panic, the unicorn puts up a shield to keep the man at bay. Justin slams against the arcane shield and makes a crack. He rears back his arm, throwing a haymaker towards it, and successfully shatters the shield entirely. His fingers wrap around the alabaster horn of the mare. His hand glows, her eyes match the shade before it fades, and her eyes roll up before her lids close. Rarity collapses against the ready and waiting arm of the human who sets her down gently against the ground.
After laying the mare down, Justin notices the soft glow appear on the Element of Generosity. Twilight casts a shockwave to knock her friends off her before the human can question the glowing. He looks over at her in time to see the alicorn rise to her hooves and glare at him. Justin got into his charge stance, ready to run her down. Twilight starts to charge a spell and he dashed... backwards. He keeps his facing towards the princess as he bolts with his back towards the street. Twilight tilts her head a little at the display before giving chase and galloping after him. She slings a multitude of spells at the man in an attempt to slow him down.
Justin manages to dodge the spells thrown his way while weaving through the streets, leading the princess away from the group. At some point during the chase, he hears Twilight yell "No!" while her head pulls up and a spell fires off towards the sky. It collides with the cloud hanging over the town, blowing a hole in it. Justin coms skidding to a halt in the middle of the street.
"Wooooo!" Justin cheers, throwing his hands up into the air. "Thatta girl! I knew ya were still in there!"
The cheer seems to snap Twilight from the slight daze and she looks at him. Hate apparent on her face.
"Oh shit."
Twilight unfurls her wings and takes off towards the man. Justin turns around to make a mad dash down the road. A blast of magic hits him square in the back, causing him to stumble a bit. Twilight snatches him up in her aura before he can fully recover and slam his body up against a wall. Then she throws him over a home, crashing into a window planter of another house. Justin sits up against the wall, covered in dirt and flowers, watching as Twilight lands in front of him.
Justin looks up at her, he can see the tears staining her cheeks. He can tell she's been trying to fight the control this entire time. The human just gives her a small smile and raises his arms, outstretched for a hug. Her horn loses its charge as the crying gets a little more audible despite the anger eyes she's giving him. Twilight cautiously approaches, entering his arm's length, and allows him to wrap her in a hug. He slides a hand underneath her mane, pressing his palm against the back of her head. Twilight soon collapses against his chest and his arms going limp and falling to his sides. Her breathing is steady, but she's still awake, softly burying her muzzle against him.
A portal tears open a fair distance away and out steps Kronos, slightly shaking his head. "What a shame, here I thought I could make you a glorious protégé."
Twilight says nothing as she weakly opens her eyes to stare him, trying her hardest to charge a spell.
Wake up.
"Guess I'll just have to make do with him suffering from your loss." Kronos plainly states as his hands light up.
Wake up! You're going to lose her!
Justin's eyes snap open, his right arm wrapping around Twilight's barrel and pulling her off to his side while he moves forward, bending his left arm to block the spell. Kronos casts and hits something. Something that isn't his target or the human. A loud metallic clang rings in the air as a shield has attached itself to Justin's left arm. By the looks of it, a kite shield that's only a little larger than his forearm as he bears it. The motif on it is quite unique; A six-pointed star stretches out across the face of the shield, accompanied by five smaller gems between each point.
Kronos is staring at this new piece of equipment his foe has, questioning if it's something he made or was given. He didn't have long to dwell on his questions however, the shield lurches forward and slams against his chest. Kronos is knocked down to the ground and a spectrum of light just leaves him alone now.
Justin appears next to Twilight's friends with the princess cradled in his arms. Knowing she's in some damn good hooves, he sets her down. "You should be okay here." He tells her, dusting her off some before turning to leave.
"With my friends? Always." Twilight looks up at him and presses a hoof against his leg. "But where are you going?"
"To do what I do best." He tells her with a smile, then looks at the peculiar-looking shield. "Especially with my new toy. You girls do what you need to."
"Which is what?" Twilight asks, but he's already gone in a bright flash of rainbow lights. She turns to look at her friends and Applejack steps forward.
"He wants us ta figure out how ta get the Elements back, Twi." Applejack tells her with a smile.
Justin appears above Kronos a few moments later, bringing the shield down. Kronos moves and sparks fly out from metal meeting stone. A fist crosses Justin's jaw after he lifts the shield from the street and sends him stumbling back a few steps. The man looks over to be hit with another blast of magic that completely knocks him off his feet. His spine crashes against the hard stone a few feet from Kronos.
Discord hums a bit out of intrigue while munching away on popcorn. Much like Fluttershy, he has been watching Justin for a different reason. Fluttershy has emerged in the time while watching the human stand his ground. Now she's watching him with some concern as it seems he may be out of his league. They both watch as he's picked up by some telekinetic spell and slammed against a couple of nearby walls.
"Limitless power of chaos at his fingertips and he isn't even tapping into it." Discord mutters to himself. "What exactly is the game plan, our little human?"
A beam of red breaks towards the sky with a body breaking away from it. The body breaks through a shop window and crashes against the wooden floor, causing a groan to leave his lips. Justin struggles a little as he forces himself to push his body up off the floor and sits up on his knees. With an idle snap of his fingers, he teleports himself to the middle of a field outside of Ponyville. He lifts his head up and stares up at the blue sky above him. A portal opens up behind him as a smile now crosses his face.
"You know..." Kronos opens with as he steps out from the portal. "... I thought you'd put up more of a fight. Hell, Eris actually put up more of a fight than you have so far, before I destroyed her." He lets out a chuckle as he approaches Justin's back, feeling his final victory at hand. "Here I thought you'd have more fire to you, a determination to protect those you care about. Yet, here you are, on your knees in some field out in nowhere."
Justin doesn't say anything as his stops looking at the sky and towards the grass.
"Do you thinks this makes some kind of hero? Maybe a martyr to inspire your friends to fight harder?" Kronos asks, getting closer to the man.
"No." Justin finally replies and he starts to stand up. "Just someone who thinks you talk too much."
Kronos just snarls in response and slings some kind of spell at him. Something different happens this time however, instead of colliding with Justin's body or him reacting in some way, he just disappears into a fine mist. His chuckle starts to fill the air around the field. Kronos is look around to figure out just where the laughter is coming from, but it sounds like it's coming from everywhere. A little bit of frustration becoming present on his face.
"What's a matter, Kronos?" Justin slightly taunts. "Lose your prey?"
"Show yourself!" Kronos growls, keeping his hands charged with spells. "Stop hiding like a coward!"
"Is that what you really want?" Justin's voice calls out in a sing-song tone.
"Face me!" Kronos commands.
Justin just starts to chuckle again for a little while before stopping. The field falls silent save for the chimes of magic coming from Kronos' hands. His eyes are quickly scanning the horizon, failing to see the object flying towards him in his wake. The shield slams into his chest like an overgrown frisbee, the force of the throw sending him a few steps back. The piece of armor falling to the ground with a muffled clang. Kronos just stares at it, intrepid in his approach to it. The man looms in slight over the shield. His surprise when it comes shooting up towards his chin.
Twilight lets out a frustrated groan from another failed attempt to get the Elements back. She and her four remaining friends have been trying to get them for Celestia knows how long. Every attempt so far has failed to some capacity. One of the stranger notes she made is that when they tried activating their respective Element of Harmony, there wasn't a response. Twilight uses a hoof to rub the bridge of her nose, trying to calm her nerves.
It's also around this time a certain draconequus appears with a couch, a mountain of pillows, and a yellow mare in tow.
"Discord?" Twilight looks at him a little baffled. "Wha-Why're you here?"
"Oh, just poofing in to drop Fluttershy off before Justin's little signal goes off." Discord says with a wave of his hand.
"Signal?" Twilight is about to ask what he means when a loud explosion goes off just west of Ponyville.
Ponies are starting to come out of their homes after hearing it to see what exactly it going on. The six and Discord look in the direction the noise was heard to see a large pillar of smoke billowing from a field a good ways away. For a briefest of moments, the field around the Elements of Harmony flicker. Discord sees this and raises a brow.
"That must be it then! I'll be off!" Discord waves bye, giving Fluttershy a brief hug before disappearing with the couch and pillows.
Something seems to flicker to life nearby, drawing the six's attention. It looks like a screen of some sort. Something or Someone wants them to see whatever is about to happen next. On the display is their human, his body impacted against a large stone while dark fumes are leaving his body. Soon a small mob of ponies start to gather with them to watch the newfound magical screen that appeared in town. Curious to see what happens next as the human starts to stir.
"We have to get out there and help him!" Rainbow exclaims.
"Not without the Elements!" Twilight cuts her off. "He wants us to get them first."
Justin feels the pain, but he's doing his best not to show any of it. He groans under his breath as he peels himself off the large boulder Kronos' last strike pinned him up against. He can feel the glare, planting his feet firmly on familiar ground, and looks over at the other self. Kronos is glaring his way, reaching into his cloak, drawing his two swords and using them to strike the ground a couple of times in a challenge.
A brow raises on the manf face and he reaches for his belt. His fingers wrap around a silver and black cylinder that wasn't there before, pulling it from his belt,bringing it to his face to gaze at it a little. He thumbs over the switch while his eyes are fixed on the object. In one swift motion, Justin swings the handle down while pressing the switch. A purple light ignites from the object, jutting out in a straight line with a soft humming to follow in the wake. Its long enough to be a shortsword made of light.
"You think that little toy can stand a chance against these?" Kronos asks with somewhat of a smirk, crossing his twin blades in front of him. "I've forged and enchanted these swords to be the strongest there is!"
Justin doesn't say anything, in fact he only makes one response. He flourishes the light by twirling the handle a couple of times and getting into a defensive stance. He doesn't know if it's any good or not, having seen it from a history book some years ago. Justin has his shield raised in front of his body, eyes peering out over the edge at his counterpart, and sword raised close to his head. He waits. Waiting for Kronos to make the first move.
The first move he did make, Kronos rushes forward at a high speed. His arms stretched out behind him while the blades' tips drag across the ground. The gap is closed rather quickly, ending when he is close enough to just leap into the air and spin. Justin holds the shield out, letting it take the first few strikes before stepping off to the side and swinging his light blade into one of the swords. Like a hot knife through butter, the blade is near perfectly cut in half.
Kronos lands and readies for another strike against his opponent, now holding one and a half blade back handed. He growls at seeing the damage done to one of his precious swords and surges forward once more. His strikes are wild, uncoordinated to such an effect that Justin has no problem hitting his hand with the intact blade away. Without missing a beat on his end, he then proceeds to cut the rest of the half sword clean to the hilt. Justin then slams the shield into his challenger's back and pushes him away.
Kronos stumbles forward a few steps ad turns his body around with a growl. He discards the broken sword by throwing it to the ground and raising the hand it was once in. His palm lights up with magic and he screams out in rage as the concentrated beam leaves his body. Justin's shield arm get pulled up and out by an outside force that also forces his fingers apart. Ribbons of light shoot out from the human's fingertips of differing colors that seem to knit themselves into a tight cord as it meets the opposing magic at the last second. Quick ground is gained as Justin's rainbow-colored cord pushes back against the crimson light of Kronos, almost leveling out somewhere in the center between them.
Rainbow turns away from the group still trying to get the Elements back with a groan of annoyance and looks at the screen. See exactly where the fight is. "Enough of this, we need to go help him!"
The other girls are looking at Dash now, but Twilight is the first to speak. "We can't go out there and fight without the Elements. How could we stand a chance?"
"We have to at least try! For him!" Rainbow retorts. "He took a beating from each one of us just so we'd be close enough for him to free us!" The other look down a little at her words, Fluttershy even nodding a little in agreement.
Twilight looks down, scanning the ground below her for a brief few moments as if to find an answer. She comes up with nothing and looks up. Rainbow isn't there, having already started flying out towards the human. Twilight then looks to her remaining friends and notice that Fluttershy has also snuck off. She doesn't need her friends to say where they stand, the answer is in the looks in their eyes.
"Alright, girls. Gather around, we're going to go help Justin." Twilight requests with some resolve in her tone.
Sparks fly as the beams fluctuate in power, one trying to overcome the other. It's a game of tug of war where the loser gets torched. Kronos is baring his teeth, pouring as much power into his crimson arcane art. The beam fans out a bit and comes back down. His eyes widen at what he sees next. He spots Eris, standing next to this world's counterpart and is whispering something into his ear. He nods. Kronos furrows his brows.
"Damn you, Eris!" Kronos screams out and the beam he's casting gets bigger.
The sudden change catches Justin off-guard, causing his rainbow ribbon fare to fail and take the crimson blast right to the chest again. The human goes flying backwards and hits his back against the ground with a grunt. He just lays there for a moment, letting it sink in, then starts to sit up. He drags his feet across the ground, bringing them closer to his body. Without another word, he slips the shield off his arm and places it to his back, making it stay with no needed support.
"Hey!" A raspy mare's voice calls out from above. A streak of cyan and rainbow landing in front of Justin. "Why don't you pick on somepony your own size?" Dash stands tall, hooves firmly planted on the ground and wings flared out to make herself bigger than she is.
"If you hadn't noticed, Hotshot, he kinda already is." Justin mutters while getting up, a look of surprise on his face when he finds Fluttershy helping him up. "Flutters, why're you here?"
"I, uhm, wanted to help." Fluttershy meekly replies as she hovers back towards the ground.
Justin just gives the shy mare a small smile and scratches behind one of her ears. "Well, I'm glad you two did come. I assume the others are on their way?"
Rainbow lets out a snort, not tearing her eyes away from the pacing Kronos across the field. Fluttershy gives a happy hum from the ear scratch and a little nod to answer her human friend. Justin opens his mouth to say something else until a pop reaches his ears, his eyes shift from the yellow pegasus to his four pony friends who had just teleported in. They all rush over in a mix of excitement and anticipation to see the human once again.
It's at this point in time that Kronos decides to open his mouth and start on another of his monologues. About what this time around? Well, noone knows really. They all just sort of tune him out at this point, not really interested in what he has to say anymore. Justin clasps his hands together, rubs his palms together for a short moment, and give the girls watching him a wink with a smile. He pulls his hands apart to let a tube take the space between his hands and hoists it over his shoulder. Justin takes aim with his tongue out to the side and fires.
Kronos is interrupted, mid-monologue, by a pillow smacking his face and falling to the ground. "Where did-" Another pillow hits his face yet again and looks towards the culprit.
Justin is grinning to himself as he stuffs another pillow into his launcher and cocks it.
"Oh! Oh!" Pinkie hops up and hooks her forelegs around his shoulders. "Do you think that thing can launch ponies?!"
"I think it could if we tried." Justin replies as he takes aim for another shot at the baffled Kronos.
He pulls the trigger and sends another soft mass of feathers fly through the air. The trajectory is on point as he hits his mark for a third time. Kronos growls out of anger and he slings a spell their way. Twilight is quick on her wits with having a protection spell already casted. While the alicorn is occupied doing that, Justin places both hands on the edge of the barrel, pulling on it to expand just wide enough for a pink ball of energy to hop right in.
"Hey, Hotshot, wanna do something really awesome?" Justin asks, garnering the athlete's attention.
"Uh.. yeah?" Rainbow asks in a way it seems obvious.
Justin gives her a grin as he lifts the modified Pinkie launcher off the ground, hoisting it back over his shoulder. "Excellent, let's make the biggest thunderstorm this side of Equestria."
"Doesn't that seem a little... I dunno... Dangerous?" Rainbow asks with some hesitance.
"Wouldn't have asked you if I didn't think you could pull it off, Hotshot." Justin replies, pulling the trigger to launch the squealing pink pony full of excitement towards the other human.
Rainbow flies off to go gather clouds for, as quoted, "the biggest thunderstorm this side of Equestria." Justin collapses the launcher between his palms before making it disappear into thin air like some magician. He resumes watching Pinkie fly across the field while she gleefully laughs away. Kronos seems to just stare on in absolute confusion at the pink pony currently on course towards him.
"Special delivery!" The shrill voice fills his ears before his face gets smashed and smeared with pastry. "It's cake!"
Pinkie perfectly lands on her hooves before going up on her hind legs and giving a bow in the direction of her friends. Justin starts slapping, cheering for the pink mare before pulling out a sign that has '10' written on it in bold numbers. PInkie lets loose a series of giggles before bouncing her way back on her tail. Kronos recovers, wiping the cake away from his face, glaring at the back of a certain pink mare that's using her tail as a spring. Without a word, he raises his hand, ready to blast her square in the back.
Then Justin appears, grabbing his hand and twirling him around. "Care to dance?" He asks in a faux gentlemanly tone, twirling his other self around again and stopping to see a white unicorn indignantly staring up at him. "What do you think, Rares? Perfect dance partner material?"
The unicorn just seems to hum while observing the helpless foe. "Not a chance, Darling."
Pleased with her answer, Justin starts to spin his less inclined self around. Twirling Kronos into the state of a human top, attaining inhuman levels of top energy. He is soon stopped by a single finger from his cheery counterpart pressed against the top of his head. Gone is he cloak and drab clothing, in their stead is a tuxedo of expert craftsmanship. Kronos' hair also finds itself immaculately groomed and his long beard trimmed down to hug his chin. The grey present in his hair showing way more than it probably should.
"How about now?" Justin asks his friend.
Rarity audibly hums while staring at the dizzy human. "Better, darling. Yet, his attitude leaves much to be desired."
"Yeah, I guess you're right on that one." Justin mutters a little. "But that look! I could pull it off, eh? Ehhh?"
Rarity just smiles at her friend and nods. "Of course!"
The grin on Justin's face grows wider and snaps fingers on both his hands. He replaces his current clothing with the tuxedo and hairstyle that was once on Kronos. The other human being returned to a somewhat normal state. "Excellent, I wanna look my best when I do this!"
Before Kronos's world can stop spinning around him, the back of his cloak is grabbed. He gets the feeling of being lifted then darkness surrounds his vision. His head has been piled into the dirt like an ostrich. Justin quickly snaps up Rarity and gets her away from him as fast as possible. Once back with their friends, he sets her on her hooves and looks at Applejack with a smile.
"Hey, AJ, still got your rope?"
Kronos finally pulls his head free from the dirt, shaking what sticks to his hair and face off. He uses his hands to wipe off what little might remain as he stands up. A loud "YEEEEHAAAA" meets his ears then something tightens around his midsection. Confused, Kronos looks down and sees a lasso tightly secured around him. The he is yanked through the air towards the group, the one holding on to the rope in plain view with the farmer next to him.
"Ready for it, AJ?" Justin asks with a grin.
"As sure as ah was raised to!" Applejack gives as a reply.
"Buck!"
That one little word is all Applejack needed to raise up and buck her hinds legs into the chest of Kronos. She puts enough force to return him to his original place. Justin has a different idea however, yanking back on the rope when he's about halfway there. Kronos changing directions in a near instant with a yelp. He flies back through the air towards Justin and the human performs a roundhouse kick to embed his counterpart right into the ground in the middle of the group. Justin taking his thumb and wiping some sweat from his top lip.
"Now.." Justin walks over and kneels down next to Kronos. ".. when you lift your head, I'm not going to recommend you look straight ahead, got it? Cause you ain't gonna like what you see."
Kronos mumbles something unintelligible.
"Alrighty then, nice and easy." Justin tells him
Kronos only groans as his plants his hands against the ground and pushes himself off the ground. He blinks a couple of times to focus his vision in a little bit to his surroundings. His eyes eventually focus in on a pair of teal eyes glaring his way. Kronos lets out a screech akin to that of a school child, backing away from the pair of eyes boring into his soul.
Justin just shakes his head. "Now what did I say? Don't look straight ahead! Look at ya! Now you're caught in The Stare by Fluttershy!"
"G-get her to stop!" Kronos almost breaks his voice. "Please!"
"That's not how this works." Justin says as Fluttershy takes a step closer to Kronos, causing him to flinch. Justin moves in to be at the mare's side, putting his hands together. "You see, she can't control it. So when you piss her off enough, you gonna get the stare." Justin all but explains as he gives a deadpan stare towards the cowering man.
"How do you get her to stop?!" It seems like Kronos is on the verge of a panic attack.
"Good question." Justin looks over to his side where a Twilight now stands. "Twi?"
The princess doesn't say anything. She just smirks at Kronos and lights up her horn. Her aura surrounds his body, launching him up into the air. Justin is watching this, nodding a little as he watches the man reach the peak and start coming back down. Twilight already has her horn on charge and blasts him back over to the other side of the field where his body smacks into the trunk of a tree.
"Nice." Justin comments, holding out his fist for a bump.
Twilight just looks at him and bumps his fist with a hoof. "Thought you'd like it."
Rainbow flies back down after she feels she's gathered a big enough storm cloud above them. Alright, Big guy, I think that's as big as I can get it."
"It'll do just fine, Hotshot." Justin remarks as he starts walking away from the group.
The six mares all watch him walk away, making his path clear. Justin raises his hand at his waist and snaps his fingers. The storm currently hanging over the field starts to change, the clouds growing nearly twice their size, obtain an rather noticing swirl, all the while arcing lightning changes color from their more natural light to a spectrum. The mares are scared at the power just poured into the storm, but nothing else happens for the time being. Justin continues his walk a little bit farther, then stops about halfway to Kronos.
He looks up to the sky, then turns to smile at his friends. Another snap and the storm starts to open up in the center. He may have just opened a portal to somewhere, but something comes out instead. The girls aren't sure what it is coming out. It's a dark grey that almost blends into the clouds, the front of the object is split in two down the middle, and the lightning reveals that the word 'Grafton' is written on it. Thankfully, it's not pointed at them. They all look to their human, whom of which has their back to them, with his arm stretched out. He has his thumb pointed to the sky along with his index and middle fingers pointed out towards his counterpart.
"Hey! Hotshot!" Justin calls out.
With her attention grabbed, Rainbow flies over to the human. "What's up, Big Guy?"
"How long do you think it'd take for you to get a sonic rainboom out?" Justin asks, curiously looking at her.
"Uh... I dunno." Rainbow answers.
Justin shrugs and bends his thumb down. A loud boom that sounds like thunder breaks the air above them all. Whatever it is that's above them, fired something big. A large pale blue object strikes the area where Kronos sits and embeds his body in a large carter that has taken out the forest much to their horror. Justin looks over to Rainbow and nods his head towards the smoking hole in the ground. She doesn't need words to know what he's thinking and she flies at top speeds with her forelegs out.
Kronos audibly groans out in pain while he gets up from receiving a face full of railgun. He takes a few shaky steps forward, gazing through the thick smoke and haze to see the frigate above retreating back into the storm. A grimace crosses his mouth as he now realizes he is grossly outmatched by the human here. His thoughts don't last long when a pair of cyan hooves crash into his chest with such force to knock him back down. The pony in question quickly disappearing into the rising smog. Then a different battlecry replaces the ringing in his ears as he suddenly sees Justin coming down, being closely followed by some very colorful lightning.
Justin slams into the ground after his counterpart rolls away from the blow. He looks to see where Kronos went and the rainbow colored lightning strikes his position. Successfully trapped, Justin gives a whistle to call his ally. Rainbow hears the whistle and comes diving in from behind, digging a hoof into the back of their foe's head. Kronos stumbles forward a little and catches an uppercut to the bottom of his jaw. More stumbling in the opposite direction, but Kronos doesn't fall this time. Hands are grabbing his shirt. Justin pulls him in close, lifts, and slams his foe's back against the dirt as the scenery changes suddenly. Kronos is laying with his back against the cobblestone in the center of Ponyville, near the fountain.
Justin is still on top of him, the Elements starting to surround the both of them, and almost the entire town staring at the group. The former gives him a smile and starts to stand up above him. He looks towards his friends and starts to approach them, kneeling and getting them all into a group hug. Justin soon pulls away, warmly grinning at the each of them.
"So, how about we get them Elements back?" He asks as he stands up, looking towards the fountain.
"Yes, but where are they?" Twilight asks, noticing the severe lack of the Elements and the journal.
Justin looks at Twilight, nodding towards the fountain before turning his attention to the mess that was made from their conflict in town and beyond. Twilight looks back to the fountain and steadily approaches. There she sees the Elements at the bottom of the basin and a ruined journal floating on the surface. A snap from Justin's fingers falls on her ears and she looks over at him. Everything is repaired or restored back to how it was before the fight. The only items left to deal with now are Kronos and his own little storm.
Levitating the Elements out of the water and placing the crown on her head. Twilight gives her friends their respective necklaces. Seeing his time is now limited, Kronos scrambles to his feet and rushes over to Justin. He draws his blade and presses it against the neck of his now captive. Justin hasn't tried anything to get out of it, not wanting to risk anyone else getting hurt.
"Want to blast me? Going to have to blast your friend as well!" Kronos threatens.
"Let him go." Twilight orders, charging the Elements of Harmony with her friends.
Kronos doesn't relent, their friend is just... smiling at them.
"Twilight." Justin softly says, getting her attention. "It'll be fine."
Twilight remains silent as she just stands there and scans her friend's face for fear. He isn't scared though, his eyes portray hope and trust. A trust in his friends and in his words. She sighs and relents, looking back to the others and giving them a nod. They nod in turn and start the spell with Twilight. Their eyes start to glow white, Justin closes his with that smile of his, and Kronos widens his eyes. Then both men are engulfed in a beam of rainbow light that shoots way passed them and curve up towards the sky. The beam punches straight through the cloud cover brought on by Kronos' magic starting to suck it back to their reality.
Kronos lets loose a growl as he digs his heels in to resist being pulled away by this magic. Eventually he lets go of his blade and it goes flying down the rainbow tunnel without him. Justin stands there for a few more moments more before he decides to jump back and put his entire weight into Kronos' chest. This action causes both men to start tumbling backwards, carried by the force of Harmony alone as an intertwined mass of limbs. Eventually they both are carried up into the sky. Kronos is still clinging to Justin's shirt with all his might, baring his teeth as he tries to pull himself closer. Something is holding this one back. He could only yell out in defiance as the other pries his fingers from his shirt, letting Kronos go as their worlds fade to black.
The Elements stop and power down after a few minutes and the girls are looking up into the bright blue sky above. At first, that's all they see. The ponies of Ponyville start to disperse, assuming the worst is over, and leave the six mares to continue searching the sky for someone. Twilight's eyes widen when she spots the body of a familiar face taking a tumble out of the sky.
"Rainbow" Twilight exclaims and points a hoof where she's looking.
"On it!" Is all the response Rainbow gives before darting off to catch him.
She reaches his body in mere seconds and hooks her forelegs under his arms. As hard as she flaps her wings, they've barely slowed down.
Twilight is still watch, unfurling her wings. "Come on, Fluttershy! Rainbow needs some help!"
The two fly off into the distance to save their human. Twilight hoping they can make it in the nick of time to prevent serious injury. Or worse.
