My Little Pony Friendship is Chaos

Not since the re-appearance of the crystal empire and the magical duel between Trixie and Twilight had things actually toned downed for Chaos. Ever since his arrival, Twilight and her friends tried their best to include him in activities that they knew he could do. And since he hadn’t been invited to any special occasion in a while, Applejack decided to invite him to her family reunion.

At first Chaos declined but Applejack insisted that he join her so that he could meet new ponies and gain new friendships. In the end, Chaos accepted thinking there was no point in arguing.

Chaos arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and found Applejack and Granny Smith taking out family heirlooms from boxes.

“Hello anyone home?!” Chaos shouted into the house, “No? Ok. Bye!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Applejack yelled as she ran passed him and pushed him to her house, “You are staying right here and attending this here reunion of ours.”

"Fine.” Chaos mumbled, “What up Big Mac, Granny, and I can’t forget about you Apple Bloom. So, what’s everyone up to?”

“I’m looking over sorting through dozens of RSVPs for our upcoming family reunion.” Apple Bloom replied.

“By the way,” Granny smith interrupted, “Who's showin' their muzzle at the reunion?”

“Everypony!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Everypony? Are you sure?” Granny Smith asked not believing what she heard.

“Well, I got RSVPs from Apples from Yonder Hill, Hollow Shades, Galloping Gorge, Foal Mountain, Apples from Fillydelphia, Tall Tale Town, and all the Apples from Appleloosa!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“God damn!” Chaos cried, “Are you family or a whole country?”

“Oh! And how could I forget? Manehattan! Babs is comin'! I get to see my favorite cousin!” Apple Bloom said excitedly.

“I think we're gonna need a bigger cider trough.” Granny Smith replied.

“Oh I think you’re going to need double if that many ponies are coming here.” Chaos responded.

“Whooeee! Looks like the family's grown tenfold since the last reunion! I'm gonna be busier than a worm in a rotten tomater tryin' to get everything ready!” Granny Smith exclaimed.

“I have no idea what she just said.” Chaos replied sarcastically.

Applejack looked at him with a slight smile across her face then said to her grandmother, “I could always help out.”

“Me, too!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Eeyup.” Big McIntosh responded.

“Ehhh nope. See ya wouldn’t wanna be ya.” Chaos replied as he prepared to leave.

“Oh no you don’t!” Applejack responded almost gruffly, “You are going to help us whether you like it or not.”

“Do I have a choice?” He asked, knowing the answer.

“Nope.” Everyone replied.

“Figured.”

“Oh, I sure would appreciate that.” Granny Smith responded in gratitude, “Granny's a little rustier in the giddy-up since the last time the Apples all got together.”

“You may be a tad old, Granny,” Applejack began, “but you're as feisty and full of spark as ever–”

“Who you callin' old?!” Granny Smith asked somewhat angry.

“Uh... I just meant... Why don't you let me take over puttin' the reunion together this time 'round? Then all you need to worry about is enjoyin' yourself.” Applejack explained.

“Nice save.” Chaos told her, “If you hadn’t saved yourself you would’ve gotten yo ass whopped.”

Granny showed Applejack, Chaos and Apple Bloom a photo album with pictures of past reunions, where ponies worked on an old quilt, made apple fritters, ran seven-legged races, and took big family photos.

“Hey! That's you, Granny!” Apple Bloom asked excitedly.

“Sure is. Apple family's been workin' on that same old quilt since our first reunion.” Granny replied.

Apple Bloom tried to hide her laugh once she saw the picture. Instead she ended up giggling a little. However Chaos managed to keep silent his laughter and just smiled.

“Well, nopony told me you actually had to knot the end of the thread!” Granny Smith said in her defense.

“You've really been workin' on the same quilt since the first reunion?” Applejack asked curiously.

“Surely have. I don't think we're ever gonna finish that doggone thing!” Granny responded.

After a long time of looking at old photos and Granny Smith reminiscing about when she was young it had already gotten late. As everyone began to head off to bed, Chaos told Applejack that he was going to sleep in the barn for the night.

“You sure you wouldn’t like to sleep inside here?” Applejack asked. “Unless your bed is big enough to fit a 6’4 human, I think I’ll sleep in the barn.” Chaos replied. “Alright. If you say so.” Applejack said doubtingly as she handed him a pillow and a thin blanket. See ya in the morning.” He said as he left.

That night, Applejack couldn’t fall asleep because she was still anxious about the reunion, and Apple Bloom couldn’t fall asleep because she was excited about hanging out with Babs. Applejack got her second wind, realizing the responsibility that Granny Smith had entrusted her with, and continued brainstorming. Apple Bloom eventually fell asleep on the bed, and Applejack tucked her in, saying the reunion will be worth the wait.

“Rise and shine Chaos!” Applejack exclaimed, “We don't have much time!”

“Not today mom! Can’t I just sleep until till tomorrow or even next week?”

“Chaos!” Applejack yelled.

“Hmm, what?! Oh. Is it morning already?” he asked still drossy.

Once he finally got up, he joined Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big McIntosh to harvest apples by bucking trees. He then followed Applejack around helping her collect rolls of fabric from Rarity, jars of honey and glitter from Pinkie Pie, and buckets of rainwater with assistance from Rainbow Dash. He then helped Big McIntosh with chopping logs for firewood while she light a fire under a row of cauldrons of cooking oil with the help of Spike. Chaos managed to put the last of the decorations just as the family arrived on foot and in pony-drawn wagons, carriages, coaches, and zeppelins.

“Well holy shit!” Chaos exclaimed, “Now that is a huge extended family. I don’t recall ever meeting my extended family. Oh well.”

As the Apple Family began giving each other warm welcomes they all noticed Chaos somewhat hiding from them. Immediately they all began to murmur amongst themselves about who he was and what he was. Moments later, Applejack arrived with a megaphone and said, “My name's Applejack, and I just want to let y'all know that I got a real big day planned for ya! We're gonna start off with an obstacle course for the young'uns, and some fritter makin' and quiltin' for the not-so-young'uns. And there's lots more to come after that! Hope y'all enjoy it! Oh! And this is Chaos. He’s not part of the family but I wanted him to celebrate one with us since he doesn’t have his family here. So I want y’all to treat him well now.” After her little speech, the events she had planned began.

Everypony, even Chaos became aware that very little fun was being had at this reunion, except Applejack. Noticing that everyone was exhausted he suggested to Applejack that they take break so that her family actually gets to socialize with each other. Applejack agreed and finally calls for a break. Once she does, Chaos notices that the quilt is practically an acre long, enough fritters have been made to feed all of Ponyville, and everypony is utterly exhausted as he witnessed.

“Didn’t you say that you the whole family had a nice relaxing hayride around the farm or something?” He asked her.

“You’re right!” Applejack exclaimed, “Alright, everypony! Step right up, take a seat, and leave the drivin' to these stallions! Now, I know y'all've been workin' real hard makin' some awesome memories. And in all of our past reunions, we always had a nice and relaxin' hayride around the farm. Which is why I decided to change things up a bit, and try somethin' just a wee bit more excitin'. So let's get this show on the road! Giddy-up!” Applejack yelled as the stallions started running.

“This isn’t what I had in mind!” Chaos exclaimed, “I thought this was supposed to be relaxing? Well so much for that.”

“Where in the world does that girl have us headed? The west orchard?” Granny asked.

“Eeyup.”  Big McIntosh replied.

“It would appear so Granny Smith.” Chaos responded.

“What?!” She shouted, “I was jokin'! Why, we haven't tended those fields since all the trees went and got filled up with...” As they got closer to the orchard, Applejack was hiding behind one of them and once the wagon got close enough she bucked one of the trees waking up the various fruit bats living there.  The fruit bats fly over the wagon and form a rainbow across the sky that impressing the family members, even Chaos. But disaster quickly struck when the fruit bats noticed the apples in Auntie Applesauce's hat. They swoop down and cause the wagon to swerve off the road.

“Everypony! Jump out!!” Apple Bloom screamed. Luckily everypony managed to get out of the wagon, except for Chaos since he stayed back making sure everypony got off safely. Unfortunately for him, the wagon crashed right into the barn, destroying it.

Moments later, Chaos emerged from the ruble relatively uninjured, with only couple of buries and scrapes. Applejack arrived at the scene and realizing what a mess she made, hid her face in teary shame.

“Ruined. Everythin' is ruined.” Applejack said crying, “Oh, Granny. I'm so, so sorry.”

“Oh, it's alright, child.” Granny responded in a mellow tone.

“But it's not alright. Just look at this! The barn and all my plans for the perfect family reunion are completely destroyed!”

“Maybe that's a good thing.” Apple Bloom interrupted.

“How can that possibly be a good thing?” Apple jack asked somewhat angered.

“Applejack,” Granny Smith answered softly, “you had us so caught up in all the doin', we haven't had a second to enjoy the company of the folks we've been doin' it with!”

“She has a very valid point there Apple.” Chaos responded, “Almost nobody has had to time to talk, relax, and just be around family. And believe me, I’m all about family. I know I’ve somewhat been a pain for you, because, this is your family not mine and I’ve been trying to not overstep my boundaries. And if there is one thing I know about family is that we all need time to relax and just talk among ourselves. Because just like Granny said you don’t know if the next reunion everyone will be able to come again. And you don’t know what’s going to happen between tomorrow and the next family reuion when everyone will be able to come back. You have to take this opportunity to make memories with your family Applejack.”

“The family photo! Guess we can't take it in front of the barn this year... unless... Everypony! I have one more activity!” Applejack yelled.

“Applejack...” Granny responded suspicious.

“Let her be.” Chaos interrupted, “Trust me when I tell you that this little activity will be remembered for all the right reasons.”

Immediately they began working on rebuilding the barn from the ground up. Unlike the previous activities, however, everypony was having fun working and laughing together. Even Chaos was caught smiling and laughing along with the relatives of Applejack. Within no time they successfully managed to finish building the barn, just in time to take the family photo thus ending the reunion on a high note.

Soon after, all Applejack’s relatives began saying their goodbyes and heading their way.

“Oh, you did it, Applejack! You put on a reunion that everypony will remember!” Granny Smith Said excited.

“Just had a couple minor hiccups along the way.” Applejack responded happily.

“Yeah, just a couple.” Granny replied with a smile.

“One too many.” Chaos said in between coughs.

That night, Applejack wrote her friendship report to Princess Celestia. “Dear Princess Celestia, Today I learned a great lesson about family, which, if you think about it, is really the first group of friends you ever make. Turns out that when you're with folks you care about, you don't have to do much to make that time memorable. Even the simplest of activities can take on a whole lotta meanin'! And you'll find that you'll remember the "who" long after you've forgotten the "what". Your humble subject, Applejack. Also, Chaos seems to be opening up more as today I saw him smiling and laughing. Something that he hadn’t done for a while now. He may not be a pony like us but he sure can socialize like one of us. He may be from a different world but even then he still acts as if his home were here.”

Once she finished, she began to think about what Chaos had told her earlier and decided to ask him about his own family.

“Chaos.” She asked nervously.

“Yeah.” He replied.

“Do you have a family?”

“I don’t get the question?”

“What I mean is do you have family from the world you came from? I was just remembering about what you told me earlier about how much you care about family and I just wanted to know.”

“Uhhh…I… did. Not anymore. They… passed away long before I became stranded here. Not that I mind, but if I were to go back now, nobody would be waiting for me on the other side. At least not the ones I want.”

“I’m… I’m so sorry Chaos. I didn’t know.”

“How could you? I never told anyone until today. Honestly Applejack, attending your family reunion actually reminded me on how my family used to be. Somewhat dysfunctional, different and yet all related, yearning to accomplish one thing: be a family. My mom and dad trying to find the “limitations” of my powers, me trying to control them, my 2 brothers and 2 sisters trying to live with a brother with abilities only dreamed of before. Granted, they did take advantage of those abilities whenever they could but honestly, who wouldn’t right. At the end of the day, we all ended up at the same place, eating dinner as a family talking and laughing about our day. I miss it… But at the same time I feel responsible.”

“I’m so sorry for what happened to you. I can’t imagine what that must’ve felt like.”

“To a point I think you do Applejack. As far as I could see, I never saw your parents at the reunion which makes me think the worst. However I could be wrong and wasn’t paying attention but I’m usually very observant. I also don’t know what you’ve went through but I know that you’ve gone through something similar as me. Probably not as traumatic as mine but yet similar. I wish I were as strong as you, having gone through hardship and still have a positive attitude.”

“What did you meant by that you felt responsible?”

“When I was still young and barely learning to control my powers, some bad people broke into our home. My parents hid me away but got captured in the process as well as my brothers and sisters. They were killed right in front of me and I all I could do was cower in the corner praying not to be caught. Luckily I wasn’t captured and killed but at the price of losing my entire family. I will cherish the few moments I had with my family but at the same I can’t just put on a smile when I know that I’m not alright. I’m sorry that I’ve been melancholy for the past few, but I’ll work on it. Thank you for listening AppleJack. Telling someone about this makes it feel somewhat better.”

“No Problem Chaos. If you ever fell like that again, come talk to us. We’ll listen and work on helping you. You’re a part of us now. Nobody gets left behind.”

“Good to know. Until the next time.”

Chaos flew back to his home to rest for the night. However, before he went to sleep he checked on his secret possession: the Alicorn Amulet. “Soon, my precious. Soon.” He then hid it once more and went to sleep.