The Adventures of the Chaos Colt (CHPT 7)

The Adventures of the Chaos Colt!

Chapter 7 - Let’s Take A Breather

>After all the kooky and crazy stuff you went through in the Void, it was nice being back in your cozy, safe, snuggly room. You land, as usual, in your indoor pool with the always welcoming splash of warm, bubbly water. Popping your head up to the surface, you look around to see if Eris fell in, too.
“Hey Eris! Check out my neat bubble pool! Eris?”
>Eris floats by on the surface of the water, laying down on a beach chair. With a pair of shades on, she held a coconut drink with a tiny umbrella inside it. Not to mention the tan lines all over her fur now. Eris lifts up her shades and gives you a cool smile.
>”Pretty rad pool, lil’ dude! You sure know how to make a boring old room really fun.” She takes a sip from the coconut and lets out a relaxing sigh. “Kinda makes the whole ‘Void is falling apart’ situation a lot less stressful, dontcha think?”
>Oh no! She’s right! There’s no time to play around and have fun- Buuuuuut… When’s the next time you’d be able to show her your room? WAIT! But Dad needs your help! You need to find him before anything else happens to this place- Then again… Okay, okay. You got an idea.
>You doggy paddle over to the edge of the pool, climb out, and shake off the water from your fur. Eris puts her shades back down onto her eyes and continues to drift about.
“Um, Eris, I think we should start heading out to find my dad, or uh… Figure something out to find him.”

>”C’moooon! Look at this place!” Eris takes off her shades and holds them in her talon paw, using both her arms to gesture the entirety of your room. “I just got here, man! Let’s chill, hang out! Not like we’ve got much of a plan besides waiting it out.” You trot along the edge of the pool to get closer to Eris.
“We can’t wait! Dad’s in danger, I know it! And we can’t just wait around. Hrnn… How about this.”
>The draconequus girl tosses the shades aside and teleports next to you by the pool with an exciting grin. “I’m listeeening…! But hurry up, because I wanna try out that water slide you got up there.” She points up to your loopty loop slide. You smile and hop once.
“Okay! I can give you a tour around my room and maybe try out some of the toys I got. But once we’re done, we have to find a way to find Dad. Deal?”
>Eris simply nods while continuing to look around your room. “Mhm, mhm, sure, yeah, whatever- Whoa!” She flies over to your tinkering shelf and takes a look at all the little things you’ve made. “Did you make all these?” You nod frantically.
“Mhm! Most of them all by myself! Sometimes Dad helps if something needs a lot of chaos magic, or it’s too hard for me to understand.”
>The draconequus hovers in the air as she admires your inventions. “Huh… Tiny little robot action figure… A model catapult for throwing mini pies? That’s pretty neat. Oh! What’s this?” She grabs the model car with the chimney puffing out rainbow smoke.
“That’s a toy car me and Dad made. Isn’t it cool?”
>She nods and looks at it from different angles. “So you… Like to build stuff, huh?” You shrug.
“Ehhh, I mean, building is fun, but I do it because I don’t really have stuff to do after I do all the math and writing Dad forces me to do...”

>Eris cringes. “Ouch… You have THAT much spare time? Is that all you do in here? Learn for fun? Ewww…” She shutters and gags, conjuring up a washing machine. Taking off her head, she throws it in, waits a bit, takes it out once it’s done, and pops it back on. “Ahhh, brain is nice and clean.”
>Hey! Learning can be fun if it’s not making essays and doing a ton of math problems over, and over, and over again. That’s just boooooring.
“Nuh uh! I love to learn new things! Especially about Equestria! Or, or, about how things work and stuff. Like, how everything in the world works with or without magic. It’s kinda cool.”
>Eris taps her chin. “Well, when you put it like that, learning isn’t that bad… But it’s still boring most of the time. I guess you don’t really have anything better to do. I am a spirit of chaos, but doing nothing for ages just sounds insane! Hmm…” She narrows her eyes while looking at the car. She snaps her talon, causing a neon light that says ‘Idea!’ to pop up above her.
>”You wanna see something cool?” She leans in and gives you a sly grin. Something cool? You wonder what it is!
“Yeah, yeah! What is it?”
>She throws the car onto the ground, and snaps her talon one more time. The car starts to stretch, fold, expand, and make weird metallic noises. Then in an instant, it turns into a life size version of the car. WHOOOOA! THAT’S SO COOL!
“WOW! Can we ride it?!”
>Eris looks at her talon nails and blows on them. “Oho yeah you can. I know, I’m good at what I do…” You hop into the driver’s seat and notice that your friend added a bunch of buttons and switches that you didn’t even put in. Aw yeah!
“Hey Eris! Let’s take it for a spin!”
>You look to your right, and she was already sitting down, wearing a helmet and a scarf. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s take this bad boy for a spin!”

“ALRIGHT! Let’s see… Uh…”
>Uh… You, uh… How do you drive a car?
“Eris, I, um… I dunno how to drive.”
>Eris scoffs. “It’s easy! Put your hoof on the gas pedal there to go. And put it on the break pedal there to stop. Turn the wheel to change where you wanna go.” She taps her paw fingers on her cheek and looks at a watch on her wrist. “What are you waiting for, don’t be scared!”
“It’s kinda hard to grip the wheel with my frogs… But I’ll try.”
>O-Okay… Here it goes. You gradually inch your lower foreleg down to the gas pedal, until Eris groans and swaps spots with you. “Lemme just do it.” And then she kicks the gas, sending you both speeding towards the wall.
“EEEEERIIIISSSS! SLOW DOOOOOWN!”
>Right before she crashes into the wall, it sharply turns upward and starts driving up the shelves and windows. “YEAHAHAHAAHAH! CHECK ME OUT, ANON! WOOHOOO!” Your face starts to turn greener than usual, and you slump against the door.
“E-Eris… *burp* I think I’m gunna… Slow d-down…”
>You have no idea how fast you’re going, but it’s so fast you couldn’t see anything anymore. Everything is just a blur. Things start to spin around, but suddenly everything falls back into place as the car slows down. Once it stops, you fall over and land on the ground on your side.
“Ooogghhhh… I think that was too fast for me…”
>Eris pokes her head over to you and takes off her helmet, whipping her mane back in place. “You okay there, bud?” She gets out, conjures up some bubbling liquid, and forces you to drink it. You burp out a green bubble, in which the draconequus teleports it away.
“Phew… I feel a lot better. What’d you do?”
>”Just took your puke out and put it somewhere in Tartarus. Meh, doesn’t matter. I guess I kinda got carried away… But did you see how awesome I was- I mean, how awesome that was?” After shaking your head a few times, you spring up and smile.

“Well, even if I got sick, it was totally cool! Dad’s used a car a couple of times, but never THAT fast! I wanna do it again! Again! Pleeeease?”
>”Even after getting sick? You’re getting tougher by the second. I like it!” Eris hops back into the car and beckons. “C’mon! I’ll go a bit slower so you can get used to the speed. Besides, it’s good practice juuuust in case something crazy like this ever happens to you.”
“Alright! I’ll be- Wait a minute…”
>Oh snap! You almost forgot that you have to save Dad! Darnit! You got distracted again! Okay, no more fun and games.
“I can’t Eris. It was fun and cool, but we really should be finding Dad.”
>Eris pouts and poofs the car away. “Awwww… C’mon! You haven’t even showed me everything yet!” You groan.
“Fiiiine… But real quick, and that’s it.”
>So you did show her around your room. There wasn’t much from the shelves besides books, trinkets, and tinkerings. You showed her your workbenches and homework table, the game room and mini theater, and even shower her your little gym and training arena.
>”You have a personal gym and magic arena? Dang, you must be, like, good at everything.” You scratch the back of your neck with the frog of your hoof.
“Well… Except my powers… But I’m not SUPER good at everything. I’m okay at most things…”
>”Daaaaw, don’t take yourself for granted! You’re pretty smart and amazing for a lil’ colt.”
“But yeah, it’s a tiny gym Dad made me. He doesn’t want me getting all fat and lumpy since I can’t go out and play. So we do exercise sessions together!”
>She snickers and rubs her talon and paw together. “So… That means…” She points to you with an evil grin. “You’re capable of some risky pranks, huh? Ohhh…! You and I are going to have a BLAST! Can’t cause chaos if you’re a lazy bones, amiright?”

>Eris playfully nudges you with her elbow while looking at all the gym gear and mats.
“I like moving around and being strong. Watching movies and playing games is fun, too, but… Not as fun as pretending to jump over lava pits, or using those monkey bars over there to escape a swarm of parasprites!”
>That’s always so fun. You always pretend you’re going through the dangers of equestria when you do some of your obstacle courses or exercises. Sometimes, you pretend you’re giving an exercise session to ponies so they can get fit! You start doing some stretches that your dad taught you.
“And one, two, three, four! And one, two, three, four…! C’mon everypony! You can do it! Twist your neck!”
>”I totally understand.” Eris takes out a duffle bag and in one swoop, puts on exercise gear and a headband. “Because if you want to keep up with me, you gotta be top game.”
“Mhm, I know. You can be crazy sometimes.”
>”Me? Crazy? Please.” Eris starts stretching along with you. “Look at this wild zoo your dad reigns over. THAT guy is weird.”
>Why does she always have to be so mean about Dad? Did he do something to her?
“Eris, do you have something against Dad?”
>”What? Pfff, I have nothing against the old coot. I’m smarter, better looking, and way more experience at chaos than him.” She puts on a cool grin and starts doing jumping jacks. “Your dad probably has something against me for all those things I mentioned.”
“Really? He’s never talked about you ever, not even at meal time! I wonder why… And he always makes fun or complains about any of the creatures in the Void.”

>”Figures… That doesn’t matter, though... Oh! That’s adorable.” Eris stops her workout as she spots the schedule you and Dad made out of crayon. “Hey… You both have a schedule worked out and everything. Maybe he ain’t a bad dude after all.” You also stop your session and walk over to Eris’ side.
“Even if Dad is a frizzy mess, I always make sure we do all the things we have to do together. Most of the time he does, but ever since he… Started to take over Equestria…”
>Pony feathers… You’re having those sad thoughts again… You miss Dad… Miss having workout time, meal time, story time, movie time… Oh, why’d you have to- Easy, Anon. C’mon. No more sad thoughts. Like Eris said, be tough! You’ll find him soon, you just know it. But you still sigh, not able to hide your frown.
“He’s been slowly getting too busy for me. But at least… He always, ALWAYS came for meal time.”
>Eris takes a moment and taps her chin with her paw finger. “You said ‘Discordville’, right…?” She makes a map appear between her paw and talon, unrolls it, and looks at it by herself. Once she finishes looking at it, she snaps and it disappears.
>“I think I know where you saw that old coot last. Tell me my cute, green side kick, what do you think might have happened?” Huh, you haven’t thought much about that. Um, let’s see…
“He did go against these two, beautiful and big looking alicorn princesses-”
>”He what.” Your friend freezes, her eye beginning to twitch.
“Maybe, just a teeny tiny maybe… Dad lost? Their name’s were… Hmmm… Luna, aaaand… Celly? Yeah, there were called that!”

>”That stupid… Stupid geezer! Always doing something- Ahrm… Uh.” She acts like she knows your dad really well. Hmmm… “Huh, that’s odd… I could have swore they were fillies when I last saw them, and that wasn’t too long ago… Was it?”
>Eris takes out some glasses, sits on one of the nearby bean bag chairs, and thinks. Your eyes widen at the realization.
“WAIT! You know them, too?”
>Eris springs up and throws away the glasses. ”Eh? Oh! Actually, that’s a story for another time, he he! For now.” The draconequus teleports you onto your magic training arena. “We get ready! Ready…” Her voice gets all dramatic for a moment. “To take on the Void…”
“Wuh-What? What do you mean, Eris?”
>Oh boy, she’s going crazy again. Funny, she reminds you a lot of Dad at times.
“If we're getting out of here, we have to take one of the most dangerous, most horrifying, most insane, and worst of all… The most impossible, impossible path to get out of the Void!”
>H-Hold on a sec! There has to be a not so dangerous way, right? Not that you’re scared or anything, it would just be better. Right! Better safe than sorry.
“Wait, Dad has a door that could get us to Equestria! We could just use that!”
>”I know. Every creature in the Void knows about THAT door. But think about it. If everything knows it exists, and since the old coot isn’t around, something must have stole it and taken it deeper into this looney town.” Eris slithers behind you and rubs your shoulders.
>”Don’t worry about it! Plus, I’ll make your training fun, more fun than any way your dad could ever do it.”
“But I thought there weren’t any paths or directions in this place.”

>”Well, technically, no. But technically, yes there are. You just have to GET chaos to see everything. And trust me, there’s a LOT to see. But enough talking!” Everything around you disappears, being replaced by pitch black nothing. Yet, you can still hear Eris’ voice. “Let’s TRAIN!”
>A distant flicker of a switch causes your ears to perk up. Agh! Too bright! The lights are too bright! You squint as studio lights brighten up the room. You couldn’t see much since your eyes were still trying to get used to the light, but you swear that there’s an audience full of Eris.
>What’s going on? Why are you on a dance floor? And why is there this giant machine and screen in front of you? Ohhhh darn… You have a baaaaaaad feeling about this.
>”Ladies and more ladies! All that look amazing, mind you. Welcome, to the first Dance Dance Chaos Revolution tournament! And I am none other than your host. THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE BEST ERIS IN THIS ROOM! ERIIISSS!”
>The crowd goes super wild. They start throwing flowers, chocolates, streamers, anything nice they could give to your friend. You walk over to her. She’s dressed in a suit, has a microphone headpiece, and a color flashing tie with her face on it that says “Dance Til’ You Explode!”.
“Eris, what are you doing? Dance competition, what? A-Am I going to blow up?”
>”Introducing our soon to be champion!” The tournament host scoops you up and holds you in a one arm hug. “Don’t let his size fool you! He may be small, he may be green, but he’s meaner than any string bean if you tussle with him! Give it for the CHAOS COLT!” The Eris crowd goes wild again, but not as wild as when Eris introduced herself.
“Um, Eris? I don’t think any of this makes sense for training. And I know I’m supposed to figure out why it makes sense, but I still don’t get it!”

>You could really use a nap about now. Ogh… This is too much crazy in one day, even for you. Guess thing’s are only going to get crazier right? Huh, maybe that’ll help you get better with chaos! You’ll give it a shot.
>Eris puts you down and looks at the audience once more with a charming smile. “Alrighty then! Introductions aside, it’s time to get with the rules of the game! They’re simple, only, not so simple! Of course, the goal is to beat the game! That’s as easy as it gets!”
“A game? Like a dance game? Ohhh! That sounds fun! I love games!”
>You stomp your hooves with the crowd, ready to see what the game is all about. “Well, all you have to do, is follow the pattern on the big screen over there! Each tile corresponds with different-”
>Wait! You know this game! Dad once used this game to torture on of the creatures that bashed into his house once. They were dancing for an entire year straight. Kinda mean, but at least they never bashed into the house, right?
“I know this game! I’ve played it with Dad once. Or, er, seen him use it. You use a lot of Dad’s ideas.”
>The host shoots you a menacing glare. Yikes!
“I-I mean, yeah! I’ve never heard of this game before! Woooo!”
>Better if you don’t compare her to Dad. Seems like she reaaaaallly doesn’t like him. You’ll find out why one day, that’s for sure, but not now.
>”Ahem… As I was saying… Well, since the contestant already knows the game, and you all, of course, know all too well what it’s all about, let’s just get RIGHT into it!” Before Eris gets off stage, she slithers by and whispers in your ear.
>”By the way… This isn’t standard Dance Dance Revolution. This is CHAOS Dance Dance Revolution: Chaos Edition. So things will be a little… Different.” You tilt your head.
“Different how? It looks the same to me, just bigger. Does it have to do with that weird machine under the screen? It has a lot of holes in it.”

>”Maaaaaybe. Actually, I’ll let you figure it out. It’ll be fun that way!” And so she goes backstage. Guess you’ll just… Step up to the platform infront of the screen. Your tummy doesn’t feel too good. You burp, and a couple of butterflies fly out. Oh boy… Your powers are acting up again.
“Not now… Please not now…”
>The lights focus on you, and the screen turns on. Eris’ face pops up on it. “Okay then! Is our contestant ready?” Here we go… You sheepishly nod and smile.
“Y-Yeah! Sure!”
>”LET THE GAME-” The screen disappears entirely. Wait! Don’t you need that to play? “-BEGIN!” The machine in front of you starts to make clunking sounds, and out pops- WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THAT?!
>You try to move back, but an invisible wall pushes you forward to your spot. The thing that popped out of the machine looked like… A weird mishmosh of different creatures and animals. Then again, it had the shape of a pony.
“I don’t think this is part of the game!”
>Eris voice echoes from the speakers. “Of course it’s part of the game! Just follow the color of the tiles on the ground, and when it says “HIT!”, you better use your powers to hit that nasty beast! Oooor eeeelse!”
“Or e-else what?”

>”Youuu’ll seeeeee! Trust me, you won’t get tossed up that badly if you follow the rhythm.” OH JEEZ! What are you supposed to do? Eris has gone bonkers, you repeat, Eris has gone bonkers! You couldn’t even tell what the monster is made out of. It’s like looking at your Dad or Eris, but with more animals, teeth, claws, spikes… It’s just a mess!
>It snarls and slowly gets closer and closer. “HEY KID! YA WANNA DANCE?! I’LL SHOW YOU A FEW TRICKS IF YA PAY ATTENTION...” Your pupils dilate. Please nooooooooooooooooooooo!

>How do you play?! What is that thing?! WHY IS ERIS DOING THIS!?
“HEEEELP! EEEEERISSSSS!”
>You notice a booth appear with your friend in it. She still has her suit on, and is sitting on a desk. On it is a microphone, which she speaks into so the audience can hear her commentary. “Sorry, Anon! Helping contestants is against the rules! But rules are lame…
>Eris rolls her wrist, trying to come up with some reasoning. “Then again, ruining the fun is lame, too. Guess you’ll just have to do your best by yourself.”
>Out of nowhere, really funky and rhythmic music starts to play. Heeeey! That sounds pretty cool! Makes you wanna dance- Wait what? The monster’s dancing!
>”BETTER KEEP UP! OR-” All you see is the beast’s forehead knock you aaaaalll the way back against the invisible barrier, knocking the wind out of you.
“OOF! Ooooggghh…”
>Owww… You roll over and push against the floor to get up. Whoooaaaa.... Gatta get your… Oh jeez... Balance back.
> “OUCH! Seems like our disco dynamo is winning against the green groover! C’mon, Anon! We know you’ve got this! Then again, Reggie over there has been dancing for years!”
“Huh… Y-You know this guy?!”
You shake your head and gain your focus back.
>”Uhhhh…” Eris hesitates for a moment. “Actually, I just gave him that name and backstory. Our contestant is just a random creature from the Void! And it wants your head on a silver platter!”
>Okay, Anon! Be brave! The last time you got scared, you let all your Crystal friends down. Not this time! Big stallions aren’t afraid of dance contests! And besides, this is supposed to be fun? Right?

>Reggie twirls around and strikes a groovy pose. “I’M REALLY DIGGIN’ YOUR MANE STYLE! MIND IF I… TAKE IT?”
“Thanks- WAIT! NO!”
>Reggie starts to groove across the floor, dancing to the music, and moving so smoothly, it’s as if he were gliding across the air. Huh, that’s weird… It’s moving with the color of the tiles!
>Each tile had a picture of a hoof, and four different combinations of letters. FR, FL, BR, BL… Each having a color assigned. What could that mean? Uh oh!
>Reggie is getting closer and closer,and he’s shimmying his way towards you. “I’LL KNOCK YOU OFF THE STAGE, BUD! THIS IS MY SHOW!” You try to run away, but the more steps you take, you begin to feel really groggy. As if something is slowing you down.
“I feel so sluggish. Like a reeaaally slow snail… YIKES!”
>IT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU AGAIN! Uh, uh! You frantically put one of your hooves on a tile that lights up, and right as you do, the monster tries to ram you again. But it fails miserably, tripping and flying over your left shoulder.
“WHOA!”
>Eris chirps in again. “Whoa ho ho! Green Groover slidin’ right outta that one! Let’s see that in slow-mo on the recap screen!” The crowd goes wild, screaming your name as the screen reappears. It replays the moment Reggie trips right over you.
>You lift up your right hoof from the tile you put it on, and notice it says FR. Ooooooh! You get it now! Front right, front left, back right, back left!
“I get it now! ALRIGHT! I got this!”

>Then you notice the tiles are lighting up depending on the beat and rhythm of the music. So follow with the music and the tiles, and you’ll be fine. Hoookay. You try one more time, now knowing how to play the game.
>Front left! Now back right! Move to the right… Like this! Yeah! You’re getting it! With the crowd on your side, you concentrate, sticking out your tongue and furrowing your brows. The music was pretty slow at first, so it was easy to move from tile to tile, and it gave you enough time to read them.
>Though, as you’re dancing on the disco floor, something taps your shoulder. You do a spin and smile, turning towards- Oh hey! It’s the monster!
>........
>DANCE AWAY! DANCE AWAY! The tiles aren’t lighting up fast enough! Every time you moved, so did the weirdo, so you couldn’t actually get away. Wait, are you suppose to fight him? You stay in one spot, letting him get closer while you move your hooves to the beat.
>”THOUGHT YOU COULD OUT DANCE ME? I THREW MYSELF OVER YOU ON PURPOSE! HAH!” It spins on its back, then does laid back pose with a very fangy and mangley tooth grin.
>A-Alright, it’s right in front of you. Maybe if you ram into it… Before you could even react, the word “DODGE!” flashes in the air.
“Wha- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
>Reggie flings you across the room with a dancing spin kick, causing you to skid across the floor. The crowd lets out an “Ooooh…” A lone Eris saying “That’s gatta hurt…” The monster does a handstand and flips into the air, landing perfectly.
>”IF YOU CAN’T DANCE, YOU GOT NO CHANCE, KID! HAH!”
>That’s it… You quickly recover and start following the rhythm again, making sure not to miss a beat. Shortly, you and the monster are face to face. This time, you wait, narrowing your eyes. DODGE!

>You roll the the side just as the beast takes a swing, causing it to whiff. “HUH?! WHERE’D YOU GET MOVES LIKE THAT? BAH! DOESN’T MATTER! SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE… THIS!” Reggie gets on his two hind legs and moonwalks. Pausing, he gets back on all fours, then tries to buck you. DODGE!
>You slide to the left. HIT IT! As if it were instinct, you use your powers to summon a baseball bat. You smack the bat right against its jaw, sending the creep flying! YEAH!
“HIGH SCORE!”
>”WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Reggie crashes against the ceiling, getting stuck to it. He peels off and falls flat onto the dance floor. That’s what you get, meanie!
>The crowd goes wild once more, Eris definitely having to give her input on your home run. “Anon really put the snap, crackle, and pop into those rusty joints! Like I said, don’t let his size fool you!”
>You dance near the creature and stick out your tongue.
“Mleh! Doesn’t feel nice, huh?”
>You feel so pumped! A huh! Yeah! Go you, a huh! Victory dance! You try to do that spinning breakdance the monster did earlier, but end up getting dizzy.
“Mmmaaaaybe I’ll… Stiiicck to the tiles…”
>Shake it off! Phew! The creepy crawler gets struggles to get up, but once it does, it’s eyes start to glow red. “OH! YOU LIL’ DEVIL, YOU! GOT MOVES AFTER ALL, HUH? GUESS I’LL HAVE TO… SPICE THINGS UP A BIT!”
>OH DANG! His mess of a mane and tail are on fire! “TIME TO SPEED UP THE TEMPO!” He stomps his hooves twice, causing the music to speed up. Oh gosh oh jeez oh pony feathers! You’re not even sure if you can keep up.

>No! You can! C’mon, you got this! Slide to the left, step to the right… Back up… Just a little closer! But it’s too fast, and you start to fumble. That slow, groggy feeling starts to come back.
“C’mon legs! Keep up!”
>Eris chimes in once more, this time with a more surprised tone in her voice. “Huh, that’s strange. Then again, stranger is better! But I could have swore that wasn’t supposed to happen… BUT THE CROWD LOVES IT! Keep on goin’, lil’ dude!”
>Reggie doesn’t look happy, and he’s angrily working his way towards you! Kinda looks silly. Looking all serious but doing a funky dance- M-Maybe you should work on your moves, instead.
>One more time, you both meet face to face. Again, you follow what the words says, and because the music is faster, so are the appearance of the words. Eventually, you get so into it, that you don’t even have to look at the floating comic book like warnings.
>”KEEP UP, LIL’ GUY, OR I’LL STOMP YA LIKE A FRENCH FRY!”
“I really like your rhymes!”
>The creature stops for a moment and grins. “You really do? Wow! Thanks- AGH” HIT IT! Another smack, this time with a rubber chicken!
>It’s just like… Real fighting! He headbutts, you shimmy out of the way! He tries to buck you, you can jump over and stomp on his head. All while keeping to the rhythm and music. The tempo isn’t even a problem anymore. You’re moving with the flow, like Eris said!
>”Wow! Just look at the lil’ dude go! That’s a super star right there! Let’s rev it up!” The music gets louder, and you feel a sudden jolt of energy kick your moves up a notch.

>”THAT’S IT!” Mr. Getting-His-Butt-Kicked lifts up his front forelegs, then smashes them into the ground. Flames start to erupt from the tiles, blocking you off from different directions. The entire disco floor is now a maze of flames.
“WHOA!”
>The audience, including Eris, put on shades, letting out “Ooooh’s” and “Aaaaah’s”. “The competition is firing up! And don’t worry, Anon, we have the best fire department on stand-by, just in case.” You look over, and notice a small puppy with a hose in its mouth wearing shutter shades.
>Don’t stop dancing! If you keep dancing, you’ll be fine. Slide over here, do a jig over there-
>Flames erupt in front of you, covering your entire face in black soot. You cough some soot up. Shaking the black dust off, you backstep and notice a conga line FULL of creatures that look like Reggie.
“Whaaaaa?! That’s not fair! It’s… One two three four five six… SEVEN AGAINST ME?!”
>Eris sits up from the desk and takes off her shades with a worried look. “Okay, now this is getting out of hoof. Who’s doing this?” She looks over behind the stage. She spots the dog flipping some switches backstage. “WHOA! I didn’t put you in charge of those!”
>Meanwhile, you’re in a tango with 7 creepy pony animal monster thing, and Reggie being angry and slowly getting bigger isn’t helping!
“C-Can we just do that cha cha slide and be friends?”
>You squee and give a friendly, but half scared smile. The conga line starts to sing to the music while beginning to surround you. Trying to dance away, they lock you into a circle. Reggie somersaults into the ring and snarls.
>”C’MON! YOU, ME, DANCE OFF! I’M THE BEST DANCIN’ MARE IN THE VOID!” Wuh? O-Oh, Reggie’s a girl. Ahrm… Whatever! That doesn’t matter! You’ll show her who’s the real dance king- or queen.

“Only if you promise to teach me some of your moves afterwards, okay?”
>”DEAL!”
>The ring of creatures chant louder, their chaos magic forming a giant disco ball above you both. The lights dim, and only the disco ball’s shining light shows the way. “FOLLOW THE BEAT, OR YOU’RE FRIED MEAT! HAH!”
>Reggie starts stomping around, causing you to lose your pacing.
“H-Hey! That’s no fair!”
>She smashes the ground, causing more flames to pop out from beneath the tiles. DODGE! You roll to the left, avoiding the sudden burst of fire. JUMP! Out of the pillar of flames, you see a claw barely scratch you as you leap into the air.
>NOW FIRE! With the help of your powers, you summon a pirate cannon and shoot it through the flames. The cannonball catches on fire, knocking Reggie with more power.
>While you showdown with Reggie, Eris is trying her hardest to catch the rogue dog. “C’mere you mutt! How’d you even get backstage?! Wait, I don’t remember summoning a dog?! Where’s Eris number 251?” She spots Eris 251 asleep at her post.
>”HEY! You don’t need beauty sleep, you’re hot enough already! Who let this dog in?”
>Eris 251 snaps awake and grins. ”Don’t you mean…”  She snaps her talons, putting on some shades, a backwards baseball cap, and some saggy jeans with a saggy t-shirt.
>”Please don’t…”
>And then she takes out a boombox, and puts it on her shoulder and turns it on. ”WHO LET THE DOG OUT?! WHO, WHO WHO WHO-!”
>The real Eris facepalms. “I sometimes can’t even put up with myself… Oh wait! I don’t have to!” She zaps Eris 251 out of existence. She teleports into the audience and grabs two more Eris clones, teleporting them back to the dog.

>She takes a deep breath and points to the two clones. ”Okay you two, I need you to find this cute puppy that’s ruining my show- I mean, Anon’s tournament. Got it Eris number 32 and Eris number 107?”
>”Only because you’re really awesome, and we’re really awesome.”
>”Yeah, don’t worry. We got thiiiisss…”
>Eris wipes her forehead and gives a thumbs up with her paw. “That’s more like it! Gatta go help Anon, be right back!”
>Reggie nearly smashes your head in, but you slide underneath her just in time. HIT IT- Right before you could hit her one more time, she swipes her tail, breaking the floating words.
“How the- YAOOOOoooooowwwww…!”
>She hits you in the sweep, sending you flying into the ring of monsters. One of the creatures picks you up, spins you above their head with both it’s hoof claw thingies, and throws you back into the center. You land face flat and groan. You pick up your head as it spins around.
“Erisss… Heeeeelp…”
 >And just like that, Eris poofs right to your side. “Sorry, lil’ dude! Uh, things kinda got out of hoof backstage. I have no idea what the hay happened.” Oh darn… It has to be…
“I… I think it’s my powers…”
>Your friend raises an eyebrow and looks at the two clones chasing the dog around on the spotlight catwalk. “Your powers…? Again?! Dangit! I’ll see what I can do. Um… Just… Keep dancing!”
“Kaaaaaay...”
>Eris picks you up and shakes you a bit before setting you back on your hooves. You sway back and forth for a bit until you regain balance. “Okay! I’ll be right back!”
>Reggie tap dances near you with a menacing glare. “TIPPITY TAP! MAKE YOUR JOINTS SNAP!” She raises her hoof claws, and smashes you into bits. “HAH! I WIN THE CONTEST! DO I GET A PRIZE?”
“Hey!”
>”HUH?!” She turns and notices you behind her, sticking out your tongue.
“Ya missed me!”

>”WHAT?! I’LL SHIMMY OVER AND BREAKDANCE THAT ADORABLE FACE!” But little did she know, the thing she smashed to bits was a cotton candy clone of yourself! Now she’s stuck to the dance floor!
“Nah nah nah nah nah! You can’t get me!”
>You blow a raspberry as Reggie starts to panic, trying to unstick herself from the ground. “NO! NO! I CAN’T LOSE LIKE THIS!” The ring starts to close in, the monsters snarling and starting to gang up on you.
>But you’re not gunna let those baddies win! One of them charges at you. You step to the side and smack it across the room with a baseball bat. Two try to tackle you, but you jump up, causing them to crash into each other.
>And the next three, you just take out the trash. They try to attack you from different angles, but you move and groove past all their punches, claws, and bucks like it’s nothing. Using a little bit of chaos magic, you make the floor slippery around you, causing them to slip and slide all over the place.
>That’s how you win! Ahuh! Go Anon! You did it! And just like that, the crowd goes crazy once more, chanting your name.
>”ANON! ANON!”
>”Oh my goodness, he’s so adorable!”
>”That’s my friend down there! I know him! Yeah, you have to be as cool as me to know a colt as cool as him.”
“That was fun! Again! Agaaaaain! I wanna do it again!”
>Eris poofs besides you, her mane all over the place and an happy puppy hugged underneath her arm. “Hoookay… I… Phew… I got the dog. Now get rid of it!” She holds out the dog towards you.

>The puppy whimpers and its lower lip wobbles.
“Daaaaawww… But whyyyy? It’s so cute!”
>Eris simply points to the two clones tied up by a firehose.
“Oh… Let’s see if I can…”
>Right before you do, the puppy lowers its shades and talks in a really deep, smooth voice. “Yo Anonymous. You is righteous. You’re in control, got that?” You nod once.
“Gotcha bro!”
>”Pound it.”
>You hoofbump, and just like that, you only had to think about the puppy being gone, and poof! It was gone. But you made sure that it went to a happy meadow with other disco puppies. It’ll be happier dancing there.
>”Anon, you alright- Whoa, what happened here?” Eris watches as Reggie struggles to get herself out of the cotton candy, while the other goons are dizzy or knocked out all over the place. “Wow, you made light work of those guys.”
>The entire room shuts off, and flickers back on. The dance floor is gone, the crowd is gone, and the weirdos are gone, too. Your room is now back to the way it was.
>“I think training… Is over!” You hop around Eris and beam a smile.
“Can we do that again?! I don’t care how dangerous it was! You were right Eris! If I’m brave, and go with the flow, I can do it! Did you see me?! Did you, did you?!”
>Eris scoops you up and gives you a noogie. “Oh I saw you alright! You put the moves on those dudes! I’m proud of you, Anon. Well, more proud of my teaching skills. But still, proud of you.”
>Your tummy grumbles in the middle of your celebration. You hold your gut.
“It’s been awhile since I had foodles… Can we get something to eat before we go?”
>”Sure! I got plenty of things and places we can go for some grub.”
“Actually! I know this really great recipe on Hay Sandwich Ice Cream…”