Along the Road to Chaos

Twilight blinked, shaking her head as she tried to clear the spots out of her eyes. She had never tried teleporting that far before, and needed a moment to recover. Trying to clear the distance from Canterlot all the way to Ponyville in a single jump had been more tiring than she’d expected. Too much could have gone wrong, and she knew she would never jump that far again unless it was an emergency.

After several seconds, her head cleared and she was able to make out her surroundings. She stood in the center of a lush field of grass, the tiny plants bending and waving in the cool breeze. Twilight allowed herself a small smile as she took at look at her location, satisfied that no one had been hurt.

That was lucky, she thought to herself. If somepony had been standing here… Shaking off the thought, since it was why she had decided to teleport to the outskirts of town instead of right in the middle, she brushed at her mostly-purple coat. Several spots on her coat had been charred black by the teleport, including one area which was still smouldering. One hasty roll in the grass solved the smouldering problem.

Brushing the worst of the char off, Twilight glanced up at the sun to see how much time had passed since she had left Ponyville. Oh, look at that, she thought sardonically at herself as she realized why that wouldn’t help. It’s twilight. It was twilight when I left, and it’s still going to be twilight several hours from now. With Celestia buried under a large pile of boulders, and nopony else knowing the spells needed, the sun was going to remain resting in the sky until somepony figured out what to do with it.

Twilight's breathing started to run rough and ragged, and she felt like she was being crushed within a vise. Gradually, she realized that her pulse was racing, her heart beating at her ribcage like it was trying to escape out into the wild. “Oh no, oh no no no. What am I going to do?”

Her hooves began carving a path through the grass as she paced, quickly rubbing the soil bare. “I’ve got to do something. I’m the Princess’ personal student. Ponies will expect me to do something. Oh, but what can I do? The Princess is missing – she’s immortal, she can’t be dead, right? Princess Luna wouldn’t have allowed the changelings into Equestria, and Shining said Cadance was a prisoner and he wouldn’t leave her.”

Twilight fell to the ground, clutching her head in her hooves. Her stomach pressed painfully against an exposed rock, but she ignored it. “I just don’t know what to do! Who am I supposed to turn to?” An image of her mentor flashed before her eyes before the apparition was blown away by the evening breeze. Twilight felt the Princess’ feather braided into her tail flutter in the breeze, and she considered what her mentor would tell her to do.

Landing on an idea, Twilight excitedly bounced to her hooves. “I need to go talk to my friends!”

_________________________________________

Several minutes later, Twilight walked through the streets of Ponyville, making her way to the hospital. Ponies were running through the streets in a panic, no one taking charge or trying to calm the riots. Since ponies running around like crazy was a common occurrence in Ponyville, Twilight just ignored it. Living on the edge of the Everfree forest had made the inhabitants somewhat skittish. They’d be fine, though.

Fortunately for Twilight, all the ponies running around in a wild panic meant nobody tried to stop her so they could ask her questions. She wasn’t sure what she could have told them. Eventually, her path led her to the hospital standing tall and dispassionate against the chaos surrounding it. Trotting up to the doorway, she nudged the door open and entered inside.

As the door closed behind her, Twilight looked around the hospital lobby, struck by how normal it felt. She could barely hear the noises coming from outside, and the lights flickered and buzzed comfortingly above her.

The bored-looking pegasus sitting behind the receptionist’s desk glanced at her over the top of the magazine she was reading. “Hello, Miss Twilight,” she said, her nasally voice accentuating how disinterested she sounded. “Your friends are in wing 3, second floor, room 204. Same place as before. You know the way.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, walking past the receptionist. Hesitating before she went down the hallway, she looked back at the mare. “Pardon me for asking, but aren’t you worried? About the sun remaining in the sky, I mean.”

The receptionist snorted rudely, not bothering to look up. “Yeah, I’m worried my replacement’s not going to show up. That lazy mare’s always looking for an excuse to ditch work. If she thinks she can skip the night shift just because the sun’s not going down, I’m going to staple her ears to my wall.” The receptionist waved a stapler in Twilight’s general direction without looking, and the unicorn decided it was best to carry on her way.

Making her way through the clean and sterile hallways of the hospital, Twilight marvelled at how most of the staff seemed to be going through their work as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. One of the worst disasters in generations was going on outside, and these ponies simply refused to panic and abandon their charges. Seeing it shamed her, and Twilight knew she needed to learn from their example. Approaching the room where her friends rested, she heard them before she saw them.

“…so then Fancypants asked if I could design an entire row of dresses for Fleur. The idea was daunting, but I, naturally, agreed. After that we- Oh, hello, Twilight. I didn’t see you there.” Rarity waved to Twilight, the white unicorn lying back in her bed. Pinkie Pie sat perched on the corner of her bed, apparently listening with interest to every word the fashionista was saying. Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were playing some sort of card game on a table by the corner. Applejack was deep in conversation with Big Macintosh, telling the stallion not to overwork himself while she recovered. As for Rainbow Dash…

“Twilight!” the pegasus exclaimed, reaching out to the purple unicorn with a pleading expression, the cast on her wing preventing her from getting off the bed “Thank Celestia you showed up! Er, sorry,” she apologized at the look on Twilight’s face. “You gotta save me! Rarity won’t stop talking about her clothes!”

The offended unicorn huffed indignantly. “I listened to you when you were nattering on about the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash. The least you could do is listen to my stories.”

“Yeah, but the Wonderbolts are interesting,” Dash said, as if that explained everything in the world. “But that’s not important now. How’d it go, Twi? When can we expect some help?”

Twilight looked over the room, seeing that she had everypony’s (and one dragon’s) full attention. But somepony seemed to be missing. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Oh! Oh! I know! I know! Pick me! Me! Me!”

“Alright, Pinkie. Go ahead.”

The pink mare leaned forward, the bandages on her flank shifting as she moved. “She said she was going to take of the animals at her house. They needed to be fed, and she was too worried to leave them alone.”

“Alright, I’ll go to her place later.” Twilight licked her lips, trying to get her thoughts in order. “First, we can’t expect any help from the palace. You all remember the changelings?” She paused for a moment, while her friends nodded. “They invaded the palace again. From what Shining said, they pretty much marched in unopposed.”

“What? No way,” Dash frowned. “Spitfire would never allow something like that.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry Dash, but the Wonderbolts were all captured as well.”

“So then what’s the plan?” Applejack asked as the sporty pegasus fell back, her mouth agape in horror. “Sounds like we got bigger problems then just some creature of Discord’s loose in the forest.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “I was hoping one of you might have an idea.” There was a great silence as everypony considered their next move, and Twilight felt her heart sink as no new ideas were suggested.

“Maybe y’all should think on it some tomorrow.” All heads turned to the speaker, eyes widening in surprise as they realized who had spoken. Big Macintosh shifted the sprig of wheat clenched between his teeth, his expression clearly stating he had no intention of saying anything else.

“Big Mac’s got a point,” Applejack pointed out, her casts and bandages shifting as she tried to look at the others past her oversized brother. “We’ve all gone and had a rough day. Can’t think on an empty brain, just like ya can’t work on an empty stomach. Let’s have a night of sleep, then think about it some more in the mornin’. Well, you know what I mean,” she nodded at the unmoving sun outside.

“I agree,” Rarity said. “I need my beauty sleep, and this day has been just so dreadful. Twilight, would you be a dear and bring Fluttershy here tomorrow? Well, in the morn- After daw- oh, this is going to take some getting used to.”

“We’re going to have a sleepover?” Pinkie positively flew off of her bed in excitement. “Oh, I haven’t had a sleepover in such a long time! We can tell stories, and eat sweets, and play games, and-“

“I don’t think she really knows what’s going on,” Spike’s dry voice floated out of the corner he sat in. Twilight shot him a glare, which he just shrugged at.

“Can I stay here tonight, too?” The query came from Apple Bloom, the young filly looking like she was about to cry.

“That’s right, you was…” Applejack’s voice trailed off as she thought about the events earlier that day, when Apple Bloom had been foalnapped out of her own room. After several seconds of awkward silence, she looked over at Twilight. “Sorry Twi, but I doubt they’d be willin’ to let Apple Bloom stay the night. Could ya let her crash at your place? It’s in town, and I would feel a lot better knowin’ she’s nearby.”

“Sure, Applejack, it’s no problem.” They’d need to clean out the guest room, but it shouldn’t take long. And one filly couldn’t be too much trouble, right?

“Actually, dear, could you take care of Sweetie Belle as well?” Rarity asked. “Pinkie and I need to stay the night so that the doctors can observe us, but our parents are out of town”

“We would love to.” Spike answered before Twilight could say anything. Twilight, on the other hand, had to hide her frown. One filly would be easy, but two was a little harder. It was too late to turn them away, though. Just so long as they weren’t too noisy.

“Could I-”

“Fine.” And Scootaloo made three. Twilight wouldn’t be getting any sleep this night.

As the three fillies and Spike filed past Twilight, making their way out the door, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I don’t understand why we can’t just blast those changelings with the Elements of Harmony. Those bugs won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Twilight flatly noted.

“Yeah.”

“The ones stored in Canterlot.”

“Yeah.”

“Which the changelings have overrun.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow, waiting for the pegasus to put the pieces together.

“Oh.”

There we go. Twilight shook her head, her mane whipping out and nearly hitting Spike. “We’d have to get past the changelings. Which we can’t do without the Elements.”

“Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.” Dash sighed as she leaned back against her pillow, her eyes staring despondently up at the ceiling. “The Wonderbolts, huh,” she murmured to herself.

“Ah’m gonna head back to the farm. Take care of my sis.” Big Mac nodded at Twilight as he left the hospital room, and she stepped aside and allowed him to pass. His hoofsteps echoed loudly, eventually disappearing down the hallway.

“We should go too,” Twilight chivvied the three fillies and one young dragon out, quietly closing the door behind her. As she walked down the hallway, she heard her friends’ voices filtering through the thin wooden door.

“So who knows a good story? Oh, I know a good one! A long long long long long time ago, there was an eeeeeeevil witch who wanted to destroy the world, and-”

“Good night, Pinkie,” three voices firmly cut her off.