The Call of Chaos

The white door kept a silent vigil over the tiny bedroom above the clock shop. It was a common door with no fancy designs or decor on it. On its right, a brass doorknob jutted out. The door stood as the only barrier between the room and the cold, dark house beyond. The door was locked and a dresser had been shoved in front of it.

The room itself was crowded with various pieces of furniture and pictures. The bed of the room lay in the center of the room, the head of the bed resting along the far wall. A bedside table was placed to the bed’s left, and a window to its right. The window had been shut and its curtains pulled, allowing no outside light to penetrate the room. The overhead light hung from the ceiling, black and empty. The room was cast in near total darkness.

All was quiet in the small bedroom save the hushed, rapid breathe of a single pony.

Time Tuner’s mind was still beside itself, gripped in fear. He had no idea how long he had been sitting on his bed, staring at the white door, nor did he care. All he knew was that door was the only way some pony could come in and take him back to that horrid stone altar. It was the only thing in the room that could betray him and allow those shadows to strap him down, sacrifice some more of those poor woodland creatures, and then ritualistically murder him upon that cold slab of rock.

So he had sat there on his bed, fearfully waiting for them to come, bash down his door, and take him away. What else could he do? Scream for help? Run away? Nothing seemed possible to his fear-struck brain, for he knew the moment he dared to look outside that door, they would take him. He was trapped in this cell, unable to escape the pale death that awaited him on the other side.

Then, from some far, dark corner of his mind, a single thought whispered, You are not alone. Time Tuner blinked, eyes finally straying from the door, looking around the room in confusion. Where had that thought, or voice, come from? Was some pony else in the room with him?

Then the gears in his mind slowly began to churn once more. How long have I been sitting here? he wondered, slowly rising to his hooves. It was difficult at first as the feeling rushed back into them. You’d think that those ponies would want to get rid of me quick sense I saw what they were doing.

Unless, he thought, placing a hoof to his check, did they even see me? There wasn’t anyone else in that hut, and I didn’t see a soul for miles going to and from there. Maybe they don’t even know I saw it. Oh wait, he remembered, fear gurgling up from his gut, I left the basement door wide open. Crud!

Tuner began pacing around the room. There has to be a way out of this, there has to be! No, no, hold on, he steadied himself, the fear slow subsiding again, I may have left that secret door open, but maybe they haven’t gotten back there yet. The place was completely deserted, and maybe that they haven’t gone back there yet.

Confidence boiled up in Tuner. Which means I’ve got a chance! I can get out of here, run off to someplace far, far away where they’ll never find me. Or better yet, he thought, the sage words that had lifted him up coming back, I can expose them! Yes, I’ll tell every pony. I’ll parade all of Ponyville to that shack and watch as the mob rains down on those evil ponies like fire!

Of course, he triumphantly thought, he wasn’t all alone against these abominations. They were all alone against him!

New purpose drove him as he marched over to the white bedroom door. He pushed the dresser blocking the door aside and unlocked the knob. He threw the door open and began making his way downstairs.

The entire house was dark, no lights were on and all the curtains were pulled. Tuner figured that in his panicked state he had closed them all in an attempt to hide himself in his own house. Despite the darkness, however, Tuner navigated himself around his home with ease. Having lived here for most of his adult life, he could move through his home effortlessly in pitch black.

He moved through his workshop, scooted around the store counter, and finally reached the front door. Try to kill me, will you, Tuner thought, righteous fury blazing in his mind. Well, wait until I tell the whole world about your dirty little secrets you stupid, moronic, psychopathic-

Time Tuner opened the door, and was greeted with the sight of the full moon shining down on the darkened streets of Ponyville. The stars in the sky shone brightly, and the call of far off crickets chirping was the only sound that broke the silence. All the houses were dark, and the peacefulness of night hung in the cool spring air.

“How long was I in my room?” Tuner wondered aloud.

“Long enough.”

Tuner’s body suddenly froze as felt his hooves leave the ground. Tuner felt weightless as though some pony had turned off the gravity. Suddenly he flew backwards into the shop. His body smashed into a rotating display in the middle of the shop before slamming into the glass counter. Glass shards cut deep gashes in his back as various watches clattered to the ground, most of them broken or cracked.

He felt light-headed and weak as he tried in vain to return to his hooves. As he squirmed, he could hear the crunch of glass that was now scattered everywhere around him. His vision slowly focused as he shook his head, trying to regain control over his limbs. Looking back toward the opened front door, he saw a pony-shaped shadow obscure the light of the moon. Black and horrible, the figure was an obsidian mass save for the dim crimson glow around its horn and its eyes, burning with vigor and hellfire.

The black shadows from his dreams had found him.

Tuner felt like his body was trapped under ice. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his legs to work. His heart pounded in his chest as his breathe became forced and short. He could feel the cold sweat pour out of his body, mixing with the blood oozing out of his lacerations. He could feel the red eyes slowly burning his mind away, leaving only unbridled terror.

The shadow inched closer, eyes still burning with tainted magic. No matter how hard Tuner tried to turn his head or lift his body up, he could feel the eyes holding him down like the talons of a great bird upon a small field mouse. The figure was mere feet away when its horn began to burn stronger and stronger until it bathed the entire storefront in unholy red light.

As the figure lowered its head, pointing its horrid horn directly at Tuner, he mind screamed to move. But his body was locked, unable to function under the eternal watch of the crimson eyes. The light issuing forth from the horn concentrated, but instead of making the horn brighter, it caused it loose light, like a black hole sucking the final glimmers of light from a red dwarf sun.

This is it. His eyes watched the horn transfixed, waiting for the final strike to end his miserable life.

All of the sudden, the horn disappeared, replaced with only empty space. The red light surround the store was quickly doused, and darkness quickly fell over the store. He felt a great wind flow over him as the shadow pony flew over the counter. It was all happening so fast Time Tuner couldn’t keep up with the action. All he knew was that now he was freed from the eternal gaze of the demon’s eyes, and he needed to escape.

He tried his legs once more, but found his body still unresponsive. Looking down, he saw that the floor was slowly being covered with a thick, red substance. Confused, Tuner tried to move off of the broken countertop. Pushing with his front legs, he managed to dislodge himself from the counter. Hitting the ground hard with his front legs, he tried his hardest to get his hind legs to follow in suit, but they were numb and couldn’t move. His front legs started to shake and buckle under the weight of his heavy body, and he crashed onto the floor with a thud.

His vision became blurred and dark. He could barely hear the sound of a voice over him, trying to tell him something. His mind became murky and cloudy, unable to function under the growing numbing that was flowing through his body. As the voice began to yell at him, Time Tuner fell unconscious.

Muffled voices penetrated through the black veil that had covered Time Tuner’s mind. They dully communed with each other, unclear and muted. Over the voices, a constant beep kept rhythm, chiming in time with his own heart softly thumping in his chest.

As the voices slowly became louder and clearer, Tuner steady woke up. He strained to open his heavy eyelids. Cracking open slightly, they were met with a glorious fluorescent light, blinding his eyes and forcing them closed once more. Trying again, he caught his first glimmers of his surroundings.

At first, all he saw was blurred and cloudy objects surrounding him on all sides. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was located in a large white room, with a grid tile ceiling dotted with white fluorescent lights. The room was sparsely decorated. There were two chairs positioned on either side of the door directly in front of him. On his left hung both a mostly empty IV and a heart rate monitor, beeping in sync with his own heartbeat. Behind them was a green curtain, pulled halfway across the room and blocking most of Tuner’s vision of that side. On his right, a bedside table with a single lamp rested comfortable in leg’s-reach. The white drywall came after, with a single large window giving a clear view of Ponyville outside. The window was flanked on both sides by potted plants inside large clay vases. Above the door was a circular clock with a blue border. Its hands indicated that it was 9:17, and judging by the light coming in from the window, it was morning.

At the foot of his bed, two ponies stood watching as Time Tuner rejoined the waking world. The one of the left was a unicorn, dressed in the typical doctor’s uniform: a white coat with a green tie and a stethoscope hanging around his neck. The one on the left wore nothing save a white nurse cap with a red cross displayed boldly on the front.

The doctor pony spoke first, “Now don’t move too much, Mr. Tuner. You’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

Tuner’s hearing had finally come back, but his pain receptors had also returned. A dull pain covered his back and upper hind legs. Tuner let out a groan. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You’re at Ponyville General Hospital, safe and sound,” The doctor explained, levitating a chart hanging on the foot of the bed. “It’s seems that you collided with that glass counter at your shop. You have deep lacerations in both your back and hind legs, but luckily your ribcage and spine managed to protect your vital organs.” The causal manner that the doctor spoke about Tuner’s massive injuries did little to alleviate Tuner’s growing stress. The doctor quickly flipped through the final pages of the clipboard, continuing his frank summary. “You’ve suffered major arterial bleeding and you had a severe case of shock when you were brought in. It was a good thing you were brought here so quickly, otherwise you might not have made it.”

The memories came flooding back. The heartbeat monitor began to speed up as the horrors of last night returned to Tuner brain. He jerked up, ignoring the aching from his wounds. “What happened to the pony that attacked me? Did she escape?”

“Easy there, Hon, don’t want you mess up your back again,” the nurse gently commanded.

Time Tuner took a few deep breaths and leaned back on the soft hospital pillow. “I assume you mean the pony that was found in your home,” The doctor said, eyes only rising briefly before returning to the clipboard. “No, she didn’t ‘escape’, and she certainly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Trust us, sugar, she’s in a lot worse shape than you are,” the nurse said, shaking her head.

“What happened to her?” Tuner asked the two. His memory was still very fuzzy about last night. He remembered those horrible red eyes, and the black magic aimed directly at him. He remembered the whoosh of air whizzing by him as the dark pony flew over him. He had gotten up, walked toward the door and then… he couldn’t remember.

“Poor thing got hit by something going mighty fast,” the nurse told Tuner.

The doctor replaced the chart to the edge of the bed, elaborating on the nurse’s diagnosis. “She’s currently comatose with several broken bones, including her skull, and severe internal trauma. Whatever, or whoever, hit her certainly hit her pretty hard. Did you know her?”

“Uh, no, she att-“

Before Tuner could explain, another nurse popped her head in the door. “Doctor Good, we’ve got a problem with Ms. Ball over in the rehabilitation ward.”

The doctor let out a frustrated groan. “Oh for Pete’s sake, this is the third time this week.” He turned back to Tuner. “I’m sorry, Mr. Tuner, but I’ll have to go over your treatment at another time. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” And with that, the doctor quickly followed the new nurse out of the room.

The old nurse stepped over to the IV, checking it with indifferent professionalism. Time Tuner still found it hard to believe that he was laying here cut and bruised in a hospital bed. Finding the stone altar from his dreams in that basement was horrifying enough, but now the monsters from his dreams were real, too? What was he going to do?

“You feeling alright, Hon?” Tuner jumped, turning to see the nurse giving him a funny look. “You’re shakin’ like a leaf on a tree.”

“What? Oh, uh, yes, yes I’m fine,” Tuner quickly stammered out. “I’m just ah- a little cold.”

“Ok, if you say so,” the nurse shrugged, returning to her work at the IV. “I’ll turn the heat up on my way out.”

“Thanks,” Tuner said, looking down at the blue comforter. It’s soft, gentle color and the warmth it provided did wonders to sooth Tuner’s restless mind. He looked back up. “Do you know who brought me here?”

“Who brought you here?” the nurse repeated the question, tapping her hoof on her chin. “Don’t rightly know, Mr. Tuner. If you can believe it, some pony just dropped you off right at our doorstep. Whoever it was, they saved your life.”

The nurse finished her work at the IV and made for the door. “Just try to relax, Hon. You’re in good hooves here.”

“Thank you,” Tuner called as the nurse left the room. Despite the nurse’s encouragement, Tuner couldn’t help but feel helpless as he sat up in his bed. The bright sunlight flooding the room from the pristine window couldn’t seem to eliminate the creeping darkness Tuner could feel crawling in. His feeling of safety and comfort had been shattered by recent events. His eyes kept gravitating toward the open door, fearful that at any moment the dark horse from last night would slink in and finish what it had started.

Tuner shifted in the bed, trying to ignore the fears that whispered doom in his ears. Readjusting the covers, Tuner caught movement in the doorframe. His eyes shot up, expecting to see the horrible silhouette from last night. Instead, his fears were alleviated at the sight of a cyan pegasus with a familiar rainbow mane.
With every passing event, Tuner was having more and more difficulty believing he wasn’t just dreaming. What was Rainbow Dash doing here?

“Hey there, Tuner!” Rainbow Dash cheerfully said, inviting herself in. “I heard about last night, and I thought I’d check up on you.”

Time Tuner was skeptical that this was just a friendly visit. Sure, Tuner was overjoyed to no longer be alone, but out of all the ponies that knew him, why was she the first one to show up? How did she know he was here, and what did she want?

“So, are you feeling ok?”

Tuner had to get to the bottom of this. “Oh, I’m fine, all things considered.” Tuner raised an eyebrow. “Why, exactly, are you here?”

Rainbow Dash gracefully landed near the right side of Tuner’s bed, throwing her mane back with her trademark air of arrogance. “I was just checking up on my favorite watch maker. Like I said, I heard about what happened last night and wanted to make sure you were all right.”

Tuner frowned. Sure, every pony had heard of Rainbow Dash, but he doubted that Rainbow Dash had heard of every pony. “You’re just checking up on me, a pony you met two days ago?” Tuner didn’t buy it. Rainbow Dash didn’t seem like the type to randomly visit ponies in the hospital.

“Yeah, what, are we not friends or something?” Rainbow Dash said defensively, a scowl spreading across her face.

Tuner began to feel anxious. Just what is this crazy pegasus after? “No, I’m just a little surprised to see you here. We only met two days ago and it just seems a little strange that you would come to check up on me.”

“Well, that brown mare really beat you up last night, and I just wanted to make sure you were ok,” Rainbow Dash said, the friendly smile returning.

Tuner was taken aback. It was one thing for Rainbow Dash to know that he was hospitalized. It was quite the other to know more about what happened last night than the doctor that was treating him. There was no way that Rainbow Dash could know about that unless she was there. Was she the one that took him to the hospital? Moreover, was she the one that knocked out that crazy pony?

“Well, good to see that you’re good, so I think I’ll be on my way.” The Pegasus flicked her wings out and prepared to zoom out of the room. Tuner had to think fast, ask her question, bring up a topic, do something to find out what she was up to.

“Were… you there last night?”

Rainbow Dash’s wings locked back to her sides. “Wh-Why do you do ask?” Rainbow’s eyes wandered, unable to meet with Tuner’s. It didn’t take a detective to tell the pegasus was hiding something.

Tuner frowned. “I was just wondering how you knew I was in a fight last night. I just spoke with the doctor and he didn’t even know what happened last night to me, just that I hit my glass counter.” Tuner leaned forward, sending a slight pain through the cuts in his back. “Were you the one that tackled that pony?”

The cyan mare’s face looked like it had just been slapped. Recovering, Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves and took a quick look out the open door. Satisfied that no pony was listening in, she sighed. “Yeah, it was me. But listen,” she said, her voice going low and threatening, “keep this a secret. I don’t want any pony to know about it, got it?”

Tuner was a little surprised to see the showboat of Ponyville acting so secretive about such an act of heroism. Tuner expected her to be trumpeting this newest act of daring bravery to every pony, not try to hide it from every pony. “Why?” Tuner asked.

“Because no pony is going to believe me when I try to tell them that brown unicorn tried to murder you!” Rainbow Dash whispered in a harsh tone. “The police are trying to find out who knocked both you and that other pony out. They think that it was just a robbery gone bad. And guess who the prime suspect is going to be when I say that I saved you from some pony that was using freaky magic!”

Rainbow Dash gave one of the bedposts a swift buck before plopping down on her hindquarters, a frustrated grimace scrawled across her face. But Tuner could sense the fear and anxiety behind her angry exterior.

Tuner attempted to cheer her up. “Come on, why wouldn’t they believe you? You didn’t take anything and I can vouch for you. Besides, weren’t you one of the ponies that saved our town countless times?”

The cyan mare scoffed. “Please, most ponies don’t even care about all that. And who would believe that any pony would want to kill some pony? That hasn’t happened in, like, forever! Besides, with the way I’ve been handling the weather lately, they’ll just think I’m going crazy.” She hung her head as she stared at the white ceramic tiles. “Maybe I am.”

Better change the subject, Tuner decided. “So, how did you know that I was in trouble?” he asked.

Rainbow Dash looked up and out the window longingly. After a brief pause, she returned her gaze to Tuner. “I saw it in dream.”

“A… dream?” Tuner mind reeled. Ever since the nightmares had started, he thought he was the only pony suffering from them. Was she suffering from them, too?

Rainbow Dash looked back out the window. “More like a nightmare, actually. At first they only came at night, so I took more naps during the day. But then they started happening every time I went to sleep.

“They were all the same. I would be flying away from some freaky looking ponies dressed in black cloaks, and just when I almost escaped from them, some huge black monster would come out of nowhere and…” The pegasus shivered in the warm room. “Every time it was just about to squash me, I would wake up.”

Tuner listened intently. She was having the exact same dreams he was having. This can’t be a coincidence, Tuner concluded.

Rainbow continued, “That was until three nights ago. I dreamt that the ponies that had been chasing me came to your home in the middle of the night, drug you out, and- ugh.” The memories clearly pained the cyan Pegasus, but she fought through it. “They killed you, murdered in some weird cave or something on a stone table. And all I could do was watch. That’s why I kept coming by your shop. I had to make sure you were ok because, I mean, the visions were so real and- shoot, I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash’s voice trailed off, her gaze once again returning to the clear blue skies outside.

Well, that explains why she suddenly took such an interest in watches, Tuner thought, she was keeping tabs on me. But what does all this mean? What’s causing us to have these dreams, and just who are these shadow ponies? Tuner’s mind was soon flooded with questions, each one compounding on the next.

“You believe me, don’t you?”

Tuner was quickly snapped out of his musing. “What? Oh, yes, yes I do.” Tuner leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Because I’ve been having the same dreams myself.” The cyan pegasus gave him a quizzical, incredulous look. Tuner continued in a hushed voice, “Dreams of black cloaked ponies with red eyes and a dark horror with a single, draconic blood-red eye.”

The cyan pegasus took a step back in surprise. “You have… But then, what does that mean?”

Tuner frowned and shrugged his shoulders, sending another wave of dull pain down his spine. “I don’t know. Horseshoes, all I know is that some pony, somewhere, doesn’t like me, you, or any pony else here in Ponyville.” Frustration built up inside of Tuner. “For that matter, who in the world are we supposed to go to for help? Who’d believe us, let alone be able to explain what in Equestria is going on?”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “I think I know some pony that can help us.”

Time Tuner always enjoyed visiting Ponyville’s library. There was something so comforting in a public institution that embodied quiet, introspective reflection and learning, two qualities that he enjoyed so much. Tuner would usually visit the library when he found the time to get himself lost in the selection of books it offered. His cutie mark might be an hourglass, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy a good book every once and a while, right?

Of course, this time Tuner wasn’t at the library to find the next novel to occupy his spare time for another week. Instead, he and Rainbow Dash were here to talk to its caretaker, Twilight Sparkle. While Tuner didn’t have extended conversations with the purple unicorn due to her studies and various adventures, the few times he did have a chat with her had been nice. She was definitely the scholarly type, but Twilight still had a charm about her that made her far better than some of the other stick-in-the-mud librarians he had the displeasure to deal with.

“And that’s pretty much the situation, Twilight,” Tuner finished. During their visit, Tuner had been monitoring Twilight’s facial expressions. It had started off as a friendly, happy smile as she invited to two in. Then it had change to curiosity at Tuner’s various bandages, stitches, and fresh scars, only to then be replaced with shock as he described last night’s attack. Concern mixed with interest as Rainbow Dash elaborated on the tale and explained the strange dreams that had been haunt both her and Tuner. By the end, all that was left was an expression of dumbstruck disbelief.

“Good heavens, you two,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “That’s quite the story.”

“You believe us, don’t you Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash. Tuner silently prayed that she wasn’t about to have them both committed.

“Well, yes,” she said hesitantly. “But I’m not sure what I can do for you. I’m not familiar with dream analysis, and I’m sure there isn’t anything detailed enough to help you in the library.” She furrowed her brow, lost in deep thought. She turned to Tuner, “You said that the magic you were attacked with last night seemed weird. How so?”

“I don’t know,” Tuner said, reaching back into his memory. “It just… didn’t feel right. I mean, I’ve never seen a unicorn weld that kind of magic before. It was more sinister somehow.”

“Do you think that maybe our dreams are being caused by that stuff, Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Possibly,” Twilight said. “I can’t know for certain unless we either talk to the pony that attacked you or we investigate somewhere she cast a spell like the one she tried to cast on you.”

“Uh, I wouldn’t bother with talking to that pony,” Rainbow said, scratching the back of her mane, “at least not for a couple of days.”

Tuner gulped. Tuner knew exactly where that evil pony had been practicing such magic, and he sure didn’t want to go back. The images of the shack’s basement were still fresh in his mind, as well as the horrible vision of what could have happened to him there. The mere thought made his skin crawl. The further he could keep himself from that stone altar, the better. But how else could they find out what that psychotic pony was up to, or what was causing their nightmarish visions?

“Well, there’s this shack outside of Ponyville,” Tuner suggested despite his mind’s protests. “The pony that attacked me last night was a customer of mine. She asked me to make and deliver an hourglass to this shack the day before the attack. When I was delivering it, I saw that inside it she had set up some kind of magic workshop. Maybe we can find some answers there.”

“Hey, yeah! The place has got to be deserted since that crazy pony is still in the hospital. We could swoop in, take a look around, find some clues, and be gone before any pony even knows we were there.” Rainbow Dash was clearly on board.
“It is the only lead we’ve got, but,” Twilight turned to Tuner, “are you sure you’re fine with going back there. You seem pretty shaken up about this ‘shack’.”

No way am I going back there! Tuner’s mind screamed, but he held his qualms back. “It’s the only way we can solve whatever is happening. I’m ok with going back.”

“Alright, well, let me get a few things and then we can go,” Twilight said, ascending the back staircase and calling for her assistant.

What have I gotten myself into? Tuner lamented.