Controlled Chaos

It took them both nearly an hour to find their way out of the Everfree forest, and when they did, Twilight was there to meet them.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” she yelled happily as she launched herself at them to embrace them both. “I was so worried about you! I would’ve gone in to look for you, but…”

“It’s okay, Twilight, we’re here now,” said Celestia, pulling away from Twilight.

Only then did Twilight notice Celestia’s missing horn. “H-he… he took your HORN?!” she screamed, stepping back. “No, no, this can’t be happening! He can’t take it away from BOTH of you!”

“Twilight, it’s alright,” Celestia replied, smiling weakly. “What’s happened has happened and we can’t change that. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Of course it matters, princess! Without your horn, you won’t be able to… I can’t do this on my own!”

“You may not have to, Twilight,” said Luna, smiling confidently. “Can you take us to Fluttershy’s home?”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Celestia put a shushing hoof over it. “Please don’t question it, Twilight,” she said calmly. “We’re hoping that luck is on our side, but luck may not wait for very long.”

“A-alright…” Twilight muttered, horn igniting. “Brace yourselves.”

With a flash of purple, they were suddenly standing outside Fluttershy’s cottage. Several little animals squeaked and ran away in fear, but other than that, there was no reaction.

The residual effects of the spell hadn’t even faded before Celestia eyes were darting all over for the box containing her sister’s wings and horn. Within seconds, she spotted it and lunged towards it. She spun it around to stare inside, and when she did, she grinned widely.

“I have them!” she yelled, spinning back to face the other two. “I don’t know how he forgot them but I have them!”

“That’s brilliant, Tia!” Luna replied, hurrying over. “Now the only question is if they can be put back as easily as he took them!”

“Hold on a second,” Twilight said quickly, snatching the box away with her magic. “I want to make sure they aren’t just a trick that he left behind.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself,” Celestia muttered, smile disappearing.

Twilight stared at the box as her horn flashed with magic pulsing through it. After a moment of using the spell, she smiled and levitated the box over to Luna.

“They’re real, alright,” she breathed, relieved to have discovered such a thing.

“Excellent!” Luna cheered quietly, as if too loudly would bring the wrath of the human down upon them. She took her horn out of the box and smiled widely. “And now…” She lifted it up to her head. “We just have to hope.”

As the horn moved closer to her head, there was a small zapping noise as it magnetised back to the correct position on her forehead. She remained still in awe for a moment, grin slowly growing even wider. Then, quicker than the eye could even register, she snatched her wings out of the box and jammed them onto her back. The same result happened again.

Celestia smiled again, but that quickly disappeared. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. The other two turned to face her, their own smiles disappearing. “Why did he make this so easy? It should’ve been a lot harder to get them back if he wanted to take my horn as well.”

“You’ve got a point there,” Twilight replied, glancing up at Luna. “The only reason I can think of that he’d want to your horn would be to stop the sun and the moon rising and lowering, but that can’t happen if Luna has her horn and wings back.”

“I can’t think of any other plan he could have either,” Luna added. “I can tell he’s a smart individual, so he can’t have forgotten them by accident.”

“Maybe he did…” Twilight reasoned. “If he didn’t want us to get them back, he would have confronted us about it already, and I can’t think of why he would want you to have that power.”

“If he has forgotten, then we should keep it from him,” Celestia suggested, nodding at her sister. “I don’t want him taking them again.”

“That makes sense I suppose,” Luna agreed, casting a spell on herself to hide her horn and wings. Now it looked as if she had never reattached them at all. “How long do I keep it up?”

“As long as it takes for us to create a spell that protects us from him taking them again.” Celestia said slowly. “Twilight, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but could you start working on that as soon as possible please? I feel you would fare much better than either of us would; you’re much more skilled with magic than we are.”

“That shouldn’t take too long,” Twilight answered, nodding. “I expect I should have one created by the end of this week, if I apply the right theories. What do we do until then?”

“We stay out of sight. Mine and Luna’s appearance would only spark panic amongst the populace. We need to avoid that as much as possible.”

“Very well,” Luna agreed. “I suppose we could just pretend that we both caught something and we’re feeling too under the weather to come out in public.”

“We can head back to the castle and you can take the chariot back,” said Twilight. “I’ll teleport us there too if you’d like. It would keep you out of the eye of the public too.”

“Please,” said Celestia, nodding.

Again, Twilight’s horn lit up and, with a flash of purple, they were back at Twilight’s castle. When they got there, the guards waiting for princess Celestia quickly jumped to attention and saluted. It took a moment for the first to notice that something was wrong.

“Princess, where’s your horn?” one asked, staring at Celestia in confusion.

“And Princess Luna, you’re missing your horn AND your wings!” another pointed out.

“That human took them,” Luna answered. She raised a hoof to quieten all the comments they had about that. “He’ll give them back in time though; this is just… a cruel joke he’s playing on us.”

“Princess, I mean no disrespect, but I really don’t think this is just a joke,” one of the guards commented.

“No, it's not, but I swear we will get them back soon,” Celestia explained darkly. “And, I beg you, do not speak of this to anyone. It will only cause panic.”

“Aww, what’s wrong with a little panic?” asked the human from right beside her. She spun to face him with her wings tucked in for fear he would take them too. “Panic is good for chaos, and chaos is good for me.” He smirked. “And I’m good for… well, just about everything, aren’t I?”

“Return her horn this instant!” Luna yelled, stepping threateningly towards him. “Equestria may be able to do without me, but without her, there will be no one to raise the sun and moon!”

The human let out a single laugh and flipped out of the relaxed stance he was in. “Oh, don’t worry about that, moony,” he said, leaning down to pat her on the head. She flinched away, fearing that he might brush her invisible horn. He didn’t seem to notice. “The moon doesn’t need to rise; ponies can sleep during the day and nobody cares about the night anyway.”

Twilight snarled and marched up to him, batting his hand away from Luna’s head. “You give it back right now!” she growled, horn igniting to reach into his pockets with her magic. “They’re not yours to take! How would you feel if someone came and took your power?”

“I’d welcome it, princess,” the human laughed cruelly, raising his arms to his sides. “I think you’re forgetting what I went through to get here.”

“Still, give them back right now! Equestria needs the sun and moon!”

“Needs; yes. Wants; not necessarily.” He looked over at Luna, spotting her fuming quietly. “Oh, sorry. Did that hit a nerve?”

There was suddenly a roar off in the distance, drawing the attention of all three princesses and the guards behind them. As its echoes faded, the human snapped his fingers and a bottle appeared in his hand.

“What was that?” Twilight asked as the human uncapped the bottle. “That sounded close!”

“Oh it was,” the human said calmly, waving a rag out of thin air. “Just on the edge of Ponyville, to be precise.”

“What was it then?” Celestia asked furiously. “It sounded dangerous!”

“It is,” the human said, remaining calm as he poured some of the bottle’s contents onto the rag. “Ursa Major, in fact. An angry one too. You’ve been through something kind of like this before, haven’t you, princess?”

“Oh no,” Twilight breathed, shaking her head. “No no no no no. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? Bringing an Ursa Major HERE?!”

“Of course I do,” he replied, folding the rag neatly. “That’s why I did it. Chaos is a very crazy thing, after all.”

“Guards, get the citizens of Ponyville to safety!” Celestia barked, galloping towards the noise’s source. “If it gets to close, try to keep it away from them!” They gave a quick salute before taking off and flying off towards Ponyville’s centre. “Twilight, you’ve dealt with something like this before as a normal pony! Now that you’re a princess, it should be just as easy!”

“Now hold on a minute,” said the human, appearing in front of her before she could get anywhere. “Before you go, I just have one thing to say.”

“Make it fast!” Celestia growled, flexing her wings aggressively. “Ponies’ lives could be in danger!”

“She’s not going with you,” he said with a cruel smirk.

Before Celestia could argue, he teleported to just behind Twilight and pressed the rag over her muzzle. She let out a muffled scream, but was powerless to do anything else. Within a few seconds, she passed out and collapsed onto the ground.

“What did you do?!” Luna yelled, rushing to Twilight’s side.

“Gave her some good, clean chloroform,” he answered, taking a swig from the bottle. He savoured the flavour for a moment before downing the rest of it. “Hmm, doesn’t seem to have the same effect on me. Strange, that!”

“What are you doing?!” yelled Celestia, spinning back to him. “Nopony else can help Ponyville now!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he chuckled gravely. “There are two other princesses here, aren’t there?”

“Without their abilities as princess!” she shot back. “You took them when you took our horns and wings!”

“Then I guess you’ll just have to think of something, won’t you?” he replied, reappearing in front of her. “You girls have fun now!”

He tapped her nose lightly and vanished, leaving Celestia and Luna alone with Twilight’s unconscious body. They shared a hurried glance, and both came to the same idea.

“Luna, you can’t!” Celestia stated quickly. “He’ll take them back off you!”

“It’s either that or let the whole town be at the mercy of an angry Ursa!” Luna replied. “I know which I’d prefer!”

“Luna, think of the bigger picture! If you do anything, he’ll take them away again! What happens then?”

Screams of ponies could be heard all of a sudden, snapping their attention back to the lumbering giant in the distance, slowly approaching Ponyville from the Everfree forest.

“Look, I’d rather regret it now than regret it later!” Luna yelled, letting the spell hiding her horn and wings flicker and die. “If I don’t help save Ponyville, what then will Equestria think of us?!”

She took flight and soared towards the approaching Ursa, leaving her sister in the dust.

“She’s really determined, isn’t she?” asked the human, appearing beside Celestia again. “I mean, I know she’s trying to hide it from me, but that’s determination to save the town right there.”

“You knew about this?” Celestia breathed, turning to glare at him. “How? How did you know about her having them back?!”

“I left them there on purpose, sunshine,” he replied. “I’ve just got to say that I’ve got plans. Big ones. Especially ones that involve her.”

“What plans? What are you talking about?!”

“Oh, but that would be telling.” He grabbed the top of her head and his eyes flashed for a second. “But, of course, you won’t remember that now. Too much information.”

“Remember what?!” she roared, shaking his hand off of her head. “What did you do?!”

“Oh, wouldn’t THAT be telling,” he replied, smirking. “Don’t forget to take her inside.” He motioned at Twilight. “You’ve certainly proven that you can forget things easily.”

“What do you mean?!” He vanished yet again. “Come back! You have a lot to answer for!”

With no luck, she scowled and turned back to face the Ursa that Luna had no doubt charged to intercept. She sighed in defeat and hurried over to Twilight, then slowly started dragging her into the castle.

Even with everything else going on, there seemed to be something else that the human did that she couldn't quite grasp.

Maybe it would come to her in time.