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Pound and Pumpkin Tales 2

by Never2muchpinkie

Chapter 28: 6-3: Flurry vs Mayhem

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The blank faces of the children slowly returned to normal, only to quickly be replaced with confusion.

“Where are we?” asked Peppermint.

Masky lifted a hoof, before glancing around at the other children. “What are we wearing?”

“What’s going on here?” asked Tree Leaf, before roughly shoving Pumpkin. “What do you know about this?”

Pound’s eyes narrowed before he socked Tree Leaf one. “Don’t put your hooves on my sister, jerk!”

The colt grabbed his cheek, growling. As he went to tackle Pound Flurry unfurled her wings and put them between the two, pushing them apart. “Knock it off!” After a few moments she blushed and quickly put her wings away as she realized what she had done. She gulped, trying to get her composure back. “T-this isn’t the time to be fighting.”

Pound glared at her. “Oh, who asked you to butt in with your mutant wings?”

Flurry flinched, her old shame returning.

Pumpkin put a hoof on Pound’s shoulder. “She’s right, Pound.”

“Hmph! Whatever.” As he continued staring at Flurry his annoyance was replaced with curiosity. “Wait a minute. Are you an alicorn?”

Flurry gave a timid nod.

“How’s that possible?” asked Pumpkin. “There are only four alicorns, and all of them are adults.”

“I’m the child of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor,” she replied with a bit of pride.

“We’ve met them before,” said Pound. “Our aunt is a friend of Twilight. But they’ve never mentioned you. Are you messing with us?”

Masky let out a little chuckle. “What would she have to gain from lying about her parentage? Even if she was it doesn’t change the fact that she’s an alicorn.” He let out a tsk. “Man, I wish I had my camera with me.”

Tree Leaf gave him a dirty look. “Don’t you think there are more important things right now? All of us have been kidnapped and forced into these stupid costumes.”

Pumpkin looked around. “This… sorta looks like Ponyville.”

“But it can’t be!” said Pound, unable to hide the worry in his voice. “This place looks like it’s been abandoned for like a thousand years.”

Peppermint gulped. “I sure hope my mom and dad are okay.” After a few seconds she reluctantly added, “And my little brother too.”

Flurry took in a deep breath. “Well, I can’t say I like this, but I am an alicorn, so I’ll watch over you while we try to figure out what’s going on.”

Masky asked, “So I’m guessing you have no idea how we got here either?”

Flurry shook her head. As she went to speak again she suddenly heard a chorus of screams of fear from several different directions, and all of the other children froze, recognizing it as belonging to their loved ones.

“Mom!” Pound called out, running off with Pumpkin right behind him.

“My parents!” Peppermint ran off too.

“Hold on!” said Flurry. “Where are you all going?”

“Where do you think?” asked Tree Leaf dismissively as he took off as well. “We’re going to check on our families.”

“Stop!” Flurry called out, pushing her wings out.

Masky scoffed. “Who put you in charge? Are you trying to be intimidating with those freakishly large wings?”

Flurry blushed deeply, putting them at her side as Masky left with the rest.

“Oh, my. Looks like you’ve been left all alone.”

Flurry heard a voice above her. She looked up and screamed, jumping back a step. “What in the world are you?”

Mayhem chuckled. “I’m the one that started this whole game.”

“Game?”

“I brought you to my world, and now you’ll have to fight to get out of it. However, if you want to get in my castle you’ll need to get the rest of your party.”

“You mean those children dressed up like superheroes?”

“Those would be the ones.”

“What do you want?”

“I just want to ‘play,’ that’s all.”

Flurry put on a braver face than she felt. “So kidnapping and hurting others is what you do for fun?”

Mayhem put a claw in his ear and rotated it. “Something like that.

“I’m a draconequus, one of the most powerful beings in the world.”

Flurry put the pieces together. “So you went after me because I’m an alicorn, right? Those other kids were just collateral victims.

"It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. An alicorn is a threat to anybody.”

Mayhem pulled his claw out his ear, flicking away a piece of earwax. “Maybe. Maybe not.

“Either way, if you can’t overpower me with the help of your friends you’ll be stuck here for the rest of your life.”

“Friends?” she asked, confused. “I don’t even know those other ponies.” Her horn began to glow. “I’m not going to get a bunch of children involved in this fight, and you shouldn’t either. If it’s me you want then let them go!”

Mayhem shook his head. “Sorry. That’s not going to happen.”

“Fine, then! I’m not going to go to your castle when I can just take you down right here.”

Mayhem’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Oooo! Sounds like fun! Pointless, but fun.”

“We’ll see how pointless it is when I beat you.”

Mayhem stretched his body to the side as Flurry shot a blast at him. “Big words, but is that a tremble I see going through your body?”

Flurry didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared. And now that the creature had pointed it out to her she could feel the way her body was shaking.

She chastised herself. This was what she had spent all her time studying for. She had been preparing for a situation in which her parents weren’t around to help her.

She gathered up energy in her horn, shooting it at him.

Mayhem shook his head. “You’re just repeating the same move, and it’ll end the same way.”

Flurry smirked as she created what looked like a mirror behind Mayhem, and she reflected her spell back at him.

The draconequus heard a noise behind him, and dodged again.

Flurry gathered up a large concentration of energy, firing it right at him as she summoned more reflective surfaces.

Mayhem put his hands out, ready to catch her spell, when suddenly one of the mirrors objects moved in front of him, and her spell shattered into hundreds of different attacks as Flurry quickly drew all of them together into the shape of a heart.

“Crystal prison!” she called out. “You may be flexible, but even you can’t avoid an attack from all directions.

“Those attacks will reflect over and over. Even if you can dodge them in such a tight space you’ll eventually get tired. It’s only a matter of time.”

After a few minutes she dropped her spell, and the blackened body of the draconequus fell to the ground.

Flurry let out a breath. Keeping her spell active for that long had taken a toll on her reserves, but that was okay. She had won.

“I did it!” she said victoriously.

“Did you?” came the voice of the odd creature with a trace of amusement. He pushed up on his hands, flipping around until he landed standing up.

Even as Flurry watched his blackened skin returned to its normal color. “W-wha-” She blinked. “But how?”

Mayhem chuckled. “Oh, I just thought I’d have a little fun with you.” He smirked as her eyes narrowed. “Oh, come on! No need to make such a face.”

He floated into the air about twenty feet. “Well, I guess it’s my turn. Let’s play catch!” He lifted a finger into the air, energy forming into a small circle above it.

Flurry got into a ready stance, unsure what he was planning. Her eyes bugged out of her head as the magic sphere grew larger and larger, until it was about the size of a house. She shook, unsure if she could repel such a large amount of energy.

She forced herself to take a deep breath. ‘If he’s expending that much energy then he’ll surely be exhausted afterwards. If I can just avoid this then I’ll surely win.’

Mayhem lifted both arms, and the sphere changed shape a bit so it was more cylindrical than spherical. “Here we go!” He moved his arm backward, then threw it forward, yelling, “Catch!”

Flurry readied herself to teleport. She got a sour look on her face. If she did avoid it, then everything behind her would be totally wrecked. She couldn’t be sure this was really Ponyville, but there were likely other people around. At the very least, those other kids were all wandering about.

She had no plans to die to this thing, but she also couldn’t allow others to get hurt. She quickly skimmed her mind. Something came to her then. She had once read that the best ways to defeat an opponent is to turn their own force against them.

She closed her eyes for a few moments as she gathered energy into her horn. In front of her she created a circular space.

Mayhem laughed. “What’s that supposed to be? Hmm?” Even as he watched his spell disappeared into the circle. Another circle appeared near the ground underneath Mayhem. “Ah! I got it! A magic portal. You’re planning to launch my attack back at me.”

Flurry’s heart was beating fast. He hadn’t seemed to notice the second portal she had placed above him. “Take this!”

“Gladly!” said the draconequus, flipping upside down. “I knew what your plan would be from the start.”

Mayhem’s spell came out of the portal above him. He put his arms out. “There you are. Come to papa!”

Confusion came to the draconequus as his spell approached. It didn’t seem able to touch him.

His eyebrows went up as he noticed the reason: she had put another portal right above him, that funneled his spell into the portal beneath him, and he was too late to flip back around before his spell hit him in the back, sending him flying into the air.

“Gotcha,” she said quietly.

Up and up he went, his spell slowly getting smaller and smaller.

“This time… this time I got him for sure.” Her body tensed as his spell disappeared completely, leaving Mayhem floating there with his arms crossed with a cocky expression.

He rapidly dropped until he hit the ground. He began clapping. “Very good. I admit I fell for your little trick. Well done.”

Flurry was starting to feel afraid. “Are you immortal? Or do you have some kind of super-healing power?”

Mayhem shook his head. “Nope. Neither. That spell I used was just for show.” He created another gigantic sphere of energy, which he quickly sent at her.

She was a second too late to react, but when the sphere hit her all she felt was the equivalent of a static shock all across her body. Annoying, but not painful.

He put his hands to his mouth, giggling.

Flurry let out a quiet growl. “So you were just trying to get me to waste my energy?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me. You can’t beat me, anyway.”

Flurry had an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. Her parent’s faces passed in front of her, and she wished they were there with her. She’d even take Uncle Sunny and Aunt Starlight.

But… they weren’t there right now. It was only her, and she had to keep fighting. No one was going to save her, so the only direction she could go was forward.

She tried spell after spell, trying to remember all the different things she had practiced, but no matter what she did he always came out of it unharmed. He didn’t even bother attacking her again. He just let her do whatever came to mind.

The longer the battle went on the more scared she grew that she wouldn’t be able to prevail against him. And once she actually acknowledged those feelings she couldn’t get them out of her mind.

She shot a large fireball at him, which he casually spiked into the air like a volleyball, then took to the air and spiked it back at her.

She let out a squeak, teleporting away.

He laughed gleefully. “That was cool! Let’s keep playing.” He started hopping toward her.

“AH! Get back!” She made a shield of energy around her, expanding it. Mayhem stuck out a single claw, allowing himself to be pushed back. Once it stopped expanding he gave it a hard poke and the shield shattered.

Flurry was panting hard, unable to stop herself from shaking. What was this thing? He was smaller than her, but his power was far beyond hers.

The draconequus began walking toward her, a nonchalant expression on his face. He was completely at ease, and Flurry feared she couldn’t stop his approach.

There was only one thing left that might work. She lit up her horn, but she could barely focus on casting a spell. She was terrified of this thing. If this really was Ponyville then it likely meant that he had killed or captured Twilight. If she lost here she’d probably be next.

Flurry lifted up large chunks of dirt from the surrounding area. “Earth barrage!”

As expected, he began dodging. After a few jumps she manipulated the ground beneath him, and his feet sunk in.

He looked unconcerned as she gathered all the earth into one big ball in front of her and slammed it down.

A few seconds later Mayhem jumped on top of the mound of earth. “So close, and yet so far.”

Flurry grinned. “Closer than you think.”

“Hmm?” He tilted his head. “What do you mean by tha-WAH!” He was suddenly hit hard from behind.

With that moment of distraction Flurry manipulated the earth, grabbing his four limbs and holding him in the air.

“How?” he asked. “I didn’t see your horn glowing.”

“Duplication spell!” Flurry said confidently as a second Flurry appeared next to her. “It doesn’t last long, but it gets the job done.”

Mayhem growled. “That last attack wasn’t meant to hit me, was it? You just wanted to hide yourself from view for a few moments so your double could hide, right?”

Flurry nodded. “It’s over!”

“You think so? I can get out of this.”

“Do you really think I’m that weak?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, let’s see what you think about this.”

“About what?” There was a rumble of thunder in the air, and his eyes went upward.

Flurry had quietly been gathering storm clouds while they talked, and she unleashed the payload upon him.

Mayhem screamed, then seemed to pass out.

Flurry let out a relieved sigh. “Got him.”

“You sure did!” came Mayhem’s voice right next to her.

Flurry went stiff as he put an arm around her. All her fear came rushing back. “H-how?” She looked up, and saw another Mayhem still held up.

“Pretty simple, actually. You’re not the only one with fancy duplication magic.” He extended his other arm, and the Mayhem in the air dissolved into a plaid blob that traveled to him as he absorbed it. “Tough luck, huh? Maybe you’ll do better next time.” He gave her a carefree smile. “Well, probably not, but the point is that you tried your best, and there’s no shame in that. Well done.”

Flurry began to gently pant, too scared to push him away. ‘I… I can’t win,’ she thought. ‘I can’t beat him.’ That knowledge hurt.

Mayhem rubbed her head. “You should really go look after your ‘friends.’ Hey, the more the merrier, right?” He floated up into the air. “I’ll be waiting at my castle, but I'll only let you in if there's six of you. See ya.” With that he disappeared.

She stared at the spot he used to be for about thirty seconds before tears began to come down her eyes. First one, then two, and it eventually grew to full-on sobbing as she sank to the ground, holding her stomach.

She had been completely useless. For all the different spells she had mastered none of them had done her any good. He was just too powerful.

He had taken over Ponyville, and her Aunt Twilight was nowhere in sight. He probably wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. Evil things like him never were. They always wanted more.

He would eventually make his way to the Crystal Empire. Would the Crystal Heart be able to keep him out? Somehow, she didn’t think so. If that happened, if he took over the Crystal Empire, what would happen to her baby sister? She wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything happened to Skyla.

She squeezed her stomach harder as it cramped up. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t have the skill or the power to defeat him.

Mayhem had told her to go after those other five ponies that had been by her, but what use would they be? None of them were alicorns. Three of the others were unicorns, but if she couldn’t defeat him there was no way the others could.

Although she dismissed them as not being of any use she still couldn’t help but dwell on them. She had no idea who they were, but there was just something about them...

The overwhelming fear that was threatening to engulf her no longer felt so terrifying. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow... thinking of them made her feel calmer.

She strained her brain, but to no avail. She was certain she had never met them before, so why couldn’t she let the idea of them go? Why did she have this strange sense of inner peace as she thought of their faces?

She slowly stood up, wiping her face. She looked at her hoof. She had stopped trembling.

It was a mystery for sure. If she didn’t know them then why did she feel like there was some kind of connection to them?

Ultimately, she knew that she didn’t want to be alone. It might just be as simple as that.

Author's Notes:

It looks like something of their old friendship remains, despite Mayhem's efforts.

Next Chapter: 6-4: Pound and Pumpkin Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours
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