//------------------------------//
// The Train Ride 
// Story: Two Roads Diverged In Heaven and Hell 
// by CookiesOnFridays 
//------------------------------//

(In this chapter you will have to vote between one of the two choices)
Chapter 2- The Train Ride
“Are we there yet Twilight?” Spike groaned as he dangled on Twilight’s back.
“We’re almost there Spike it should take a few more minutes.”
Spike grumbled and laid his head down on Twilight’s mane. The two were trotting on the empty streets of Ponyville, it was a cool and relaxing night with a soft wind blowing towards the east. The sky was dotted with millions of stars, portraying the objects and images such as the big dipper and the Milky Way which streaked through the sky. The moon was bright and glowing, pouring its soft gentle beams down upon the Equestrian earth. All around them the houses were silent and there were no rooms with lights ablaze. Even if it was only nine-o-clock, all of Ponyville was asleep, allowing Spike and Twilight to have silence on the stone paved ground. Crickets chirped and owls hooted as they continued along toward the train station. It was a eerie yet calm atmosphere.
For a while silence filled the air and the steady rhythm of Twilight continuing to tread echoed through the streets. 
“So,” Spike said as he tapped his claws together, “I heard you screaming when I was uh... When I was about to wake you up…”
Twilight let out a sigh, “It’s nothing Spike really it’s nothing.”
For a few seconds an awkward silence followed. Spike took a breath of air and exhaled, “You’ve been having nightmares ever since you and the rest of the girls beat Discord.”
Twilight stayed silent.
“Sometimes you wake up sweating and panting like you just ran a marathon…”
Twilight still didn’t speak.
“Just a week ago I came to check up on you, but when I did your breath was… It was really shallow, like you were about to-“
“About to die…” Twilight said stopping.
The mare used her magic to lift Spike off her back and gently place him on the ground.
“I know Spike, it’s just… It’s only a dream!” Twilight said continued to tread slowly on the stone paved road.
Spike followed, “But still! Having nightmares for a few months straight isn’t normal-“
“It’s only a dream!” Twilight yelled as she turned around and stomped her hooves. 
Spike stopped and avoided his eyes from the frustrated purple mare. It was a miracle that her yelled didn’t wake anypony up.
Twilight breathed heavily and let out a brief sigh, “L-Look I’m really sorry Spike, it’s just that…”
Spike looked up into Twilight’s eyes and nodded his head. It was a touchy subject and he knew it, but he just wanted to help.
“I’m sorry, I-I’m just…”
Twilight let the sentence hang in mid-air as she stopped herself. A cold shiver ran down her spine, the air became colder than usual and Twilight watched as the world around her became consumed in a deep black. 
“Twilight?” Spike said as he poked her leg.
Twilight didn’t listen as her eyes became wide and watched as a dark purple void appeared right behind Spike. A boney hand crawled and held the edges of the void. A head slowly popped out and like the hand, it was nothing but dry bones. It smiled and clacked its teeth playfully and its eye sockets deep as a black abyss. The pupils were nothing but small red dots that glowed, and it stared directly at Twilight. The skeleton hissed as it brought another boney hand out, pulling itself from the void. The skeleton took out a knife and aimed it at Spike.
“Kak, kak, kak…” The skeleton laughed rattling its’ teeth.
It raised the knife above its head and plunged it directly at the baby dragon…
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“Twilight wake up!” Spike yelled as he threw a bucket of water over the mare.
The freezing water snapped Twilight’s eyes open as she felt cold shivers run down her body.
Twilight gasped and bolted straight up, “W-Where am I!?” 
Twilight looked around and saw that she was in a small room that bobbled back and forth slowly. She looked outside of a small window with figures and shadows rushing past at a blur. 
“W-Well you uh…” Spike said getting on the bed, “You fainted… A-And I got really worried so I ran all the way to the train station and called the girls!”
Spike sat down on Twilight’s lap and looked up in concern, “So then we came for you and brought you here!”
Twilight stared at the baby dragon’s eyes and looked down.
“I’m sorry Spike...” Twilight said as she gently rubbed her hooves on Spikes smooth purple scaled head, “I’m sorry I yelled at you back there.”
Spike looked up with a sad smile, “It’s alright Twilight, I understand-“
“No, I think you deserve to know. You’re someone I can trust after all.”
“So uh… Will it be like the bed time stories you used to tell me?” Say’s Spike.
Twilight used her magic to dry the wet bed and nodded, giving the dragon a smile.
“Sure Spike, sure…”
Twilight told Spike about her dreams and how they affected her in a way, from the point of crawling from the cave entrance to the point of her death. Twilight also explained how she saw Discord and how he cried as he held her in his hands. She told Spike the details of the fire roaring outside of the cave were like the sun’s surface almost like the fire in hell itself. As she told Spike how the skies turned a shade of brown the dragon looked out the window, it seemed almost impossible for the sky to turn into such color. 
“Then I said, ‘Love and tolerate this new world’” 
Both Spike and Twilight stayed silent as the sound of the train chugging along the railroad continued to clank behind them. Spike looked up at Twilight and gave her a hug, embracing her with his small baby dragon arms. Twilight returned the gesture and embraced his head gently.
“So you see Spike?” Twilight said pulling away, “It’s just a dream… Or a nightmare actually…”
“I didn’t know Twilight I think I’m going to get nightmares too.”
“Wait, that’s it!?”
Both Spike and Twilight looked at the door, the voice was whispering loudly, or rather the voices were whispering loudly.
“Ey Pinkie, quiet down now won’t ya?”
“But Applejack, that story was way to short-“
“Why don’t both of you hush!?”
“Oh shucks Rainbow just cut off it now why don’t ya? You’re making a huge ruckus!” 
“I say we all just calm down and talking like civilized ponies! This tense atmosphere is getting my mane all frizzled-“
“I say we have a party!”
All at once the four voices started to roar in volume; Twilight rolled her eyes as she and Spike got out of the bed.
“Well you’re louder than me!” Applejack hollered pointing at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow shook her head and eyed at Pinkie Pie, “Well I can think of somepony who is as loud as a cannon!”
“Now Rainbow Dash,” Rarity started, “you know exactly how Pinkie acts-“
Pinkie cut Rarity in mid-sentence as she took out her cannon, “Did somepony say cannon!?”
“No,” Twilight said opening the door, “I said to be QUIET!” she yelled.
All the four mares stopped arguing and took a step back from the door, retreating to the windows of the dark corridor in the train. Spike hid behind Twilight as he shyly grabbed her leg.
“Look girls, I appreciate your concerns but you don’t need to eaves drop on me.”
“We’re sorry Twi.” Applejack said looking at the angry mare in the eyes, “We just came here to let you know we’re almost there.”
“You’re supposed to wear your dress now dear.” Rarity said holding Twilight’s hoof and rubbing it like a jewel, “I’ve worked really hard on it dear! You should come see it!”
The marshmallow coated mare bent down and smiled at Spike, “And I have something special for my Spikey wikey to wear!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked at Spike who blushed faintly.
“Alright then,” Twilight said exiting the door with Spike, “Let’s go.”
The girls walked down the corridor in silence. 
The train clattered, wobbling back and forth at a steady pace. Moon light shimmered through the window creating a pattern of light, and a block of darkness. In the shadows a pony with a red bow in its mane breathed lightly. The pony lied low and proceeded forward, going toward another block of black as it hurriedly avoided the light. 
“Come on!” The pony whispered.
In the shadows, two other ponies appeared out of the dark, hurriedly rushing past the light. One of the ponies had wings like a Pegasus and a skateboard on its back. The other had curly hair and tripped landing face first into the rugged floor, but quickly got back up to reach the rest of the group. 
“Oh Sweetie Belle not again, I think this is why we always get caught.” The filly with the red bow said. 
Sweetie Belle quivered, “But… But… Sorry Applebloom, I-I’ll try better next time I swear!”
“Can we worry about Sweetie Belle later? We got to get our Cutie Marks remember?” The Pegasus with the skateboard whispered.
“Yeah well, I still don’t think sneaking in the train while the other mares were gone was a good idea Scootaloo.” Applebloom replied as she was strapping toilet plungers onto her hooves.
“Do you want to get your Cutie Marks or not?” whispered Scootaloo, “We just need to sneak around and not be detected, that way we might earn our special talent in spying!”
Applebloom looked at the toilet plungers and shook her head, “I don’t think this is going to work Scootaloo-“
“Trust me it’ll work!” Scootaloo said handing her a radio, “You take information while walking on the walls like a spider, and I’ll hide in the dark, trying to sneak into the dressing room where your sis and friends are changing!”
Both the fillies high hooved together and smiled, Sweetie Belle on the other hand awkwardly rubbed her hooves against the rug.
“But… But what about me?” Sweetie Belle said looking down.
Both Scootaloo and Applebloom turned toward Sweetie Belle and started to whisper to each other.
“What should we give her? She’s bad at spying, let alone being quiet!” Applebloom said dejectedly. 
“Yeah well, we need to give her something to do! Or else she’ll cry like a baby girl!” Scootaloo said a bit too loudly.
Sweetie Belle flinched, and bowed her head slowly. The fillies didn’t notice as the filly retreated deeper in the corridor. As the train rattled back and forth, both fillies continued to argue.
Sweetie Belle felt a tear run down her cheeks as she withdrew herself into the darkness, “I… I don’t cry like a baby…” she said entering a dark room.
Sweetie Belle sat in a corner and allowed the tears to drip, “I only want to have fun…”
Sweetie Belle tried to remember how her friends have changed, all she could come up with was lately the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been stricter about their adventures. The once free and careless adventurer group has become a social selection where only Scootaloo and Applebloom accepted each other. Both of them knew that Sweetie Belle didn’t have the same stamina as them. And as time went on, the connection of being friends have depleted, causing Sweetie Belle to become nothing but an extra pony in the background. They would always give Sweetie Belle odd jobs such as inspect the floor or confront a rock if it knew anything about their Cutie Marks and as she did that, she could always hear the sounds of Scootaloo and Applebloom laughing. 
The marshmallow coated filly sobbed quietly, muffling her gasps. Tears streamed down her hooves as she desperately tried to hold them back. She didn’t want them to hear her, let alone see her at this state.
Sweetie Belle sniffed and pushed her pink and purple shaded mane way from her puffy eyes, “Well… Maybe their wondering where I am?”
Sweetie Belle waited, and waited, and waited. But there were no hoof steps that marched toward her direction.
The filly lost hope, and raised her legs toward her chest.
“I wish,” Sweetie Belle quivered as she sniffed, “I wish I have somepony to talk to…” 
“Oh yes… But you do have somepony Sweetie Belle…” 
Sweetie Belle’s eyes grew wide open and looked around the dark room.
“H-Hello?” Sweetie Belle said darting her head back and forth, “Is anypony there?”
The voice hissed like a snake, laughing playfully, “Why I’m everywhere Sweetie Belle, you silly crusader!”
A dark purple shimmer appeared on the wall, and for the first time Sweetie Belle was able to see where she was. The room was covered with rolled up rugs in wooden boxes. There were chairs stacked nearly together in a corner of the room accompanied by boxes of filled with bubble wrap.
A figure with a lean snake like body, its right hand the shape of a lions paw with its left hand being the shape of an eagles claw. Its legs weren’t the same either. Its left taking shape of a horse’s leg, its right resembled the leg of a dragon and its tail looking like one of a dragon. Finally its horns taking shape of an antelope and a goat horn. 
Sweetie Belle hugged the wall as she recognized the familiar shape of the monster that almost took over all of Equestria.
“Disco-“
The shadow came alive and covered Sweetie Belle’s mouth with its shimmering hand, “Shush now Sweetie Belle, can’t you see I’m not here to taking over the world or anything? I just want to have a nice talk with you!”
Sweetie Belle shook her head and resisted, trying to take the shimmering paw out of her mouth.
The figure snapped its fingers and a small table with glowing bowls filled with cookies and punch appeared before the small filly. 
“I promise you Sweetie Belle, I just want to have a nice conversation with you.”
The figure removed its paw and sat down on the floor, and picked up a cookie, “Why not join me?”
At first Sweetie Belle was hesitant and looked toward the door, but thought of Applebloom and Scootaloo. 
Sweetie Belle looked down and felt her eyes become filled with tears again.
“Oh don’t cry Sweetie Belle!” The figure hissed getting up and sitting Sweetie Belle in front of the table, “Have a cookie.”
Sweetie Belle took a cookie from one of the bowls and chewed on it slowly.
The shimmering figure looked at the filly and watched as she ate the sweets. Sweetie Belle poured herself a cup of punch and took a sip, then placed it down.
“What happened my dear friend?” The figure said as it cocked its head, “You look so down!”
Sweetie Belle looked down at the table and felt her eyes droop being filled with tears again, “It’s just… My friends…”
The shimmering shadow looked at Sweetie Belle and nodded its head, “I know how it feels like my sweet Sweetie Belle, I was always ignored…”
The filly looked up at stared at the shimmering shadow, “What? But why, you’re the monster of chaos!”
“Ouch,” The figure chuckled with its hissing voice, “Monster is a strong word my dear friend. A model may be more suited.”
The filly nodded her head.
“Well you see, nobody likes chaos, but chaos is always somewhere. A world is never right with only love and harmony in its path. Without chaos the world can never be alive, there are no challenges. And with no challenges result to no drama! I bet your sister likes that now doesn’t she?”
Sweetie Belle smiled and took a sip of punch, “Oh you don’t know the half of it! Sometimes she just takes too much of it! Just last week I overheard a conversation about how Prince Blue Blood was going to get married! I thought Rarity got over him but it seems like she wasn’t. After that things got real nasty.”
“Oh really?” 
“Yeah! Then Rarity went to Canterlot to meet the Prince, it turned out that he wasn’t going to get married and Rarity had a scene in the middle of the streets! It was kind of humiliating since I got dragged into that mess.”
The figure hissed with laughter, “Oh yes, that must’ve been my work… But what about your friends?”
Sweetie Belle’s smile quickly faded and she shook her head.
The shimmering figure got up and turned to Sweetie Belle, “You now you can trust me…” 
Sweetie Belle looked away from the shadow, “I don’t know… You seem like a really good pony- no you seem like a really good… I don’t really know what you seem really nice.”
“But I am nice…” The figure hissed.
It rose up from the table and offered Sweetie Belle its hand, “Sweetie Belle I need you to trust me… I know it’s a little hard to believe but the world… It’s going to change forever.”
The little filly just laughed and shook her head, “That’s what Snail said the other day, he screamed that it was the end of the world. But we waited and waited, but nothing came! So his little tale was a baloney-”
The figure placed a paw close to Sweetie’s mouth and the filly shushed.
“Trust me Sweetie… I’m the monster of chaos, and I know what is going to happen. Yes it will partially include me in the changing of the world… But I’m not the only one who is going to change it.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head lightly back and forth, “I still don’t believe you-“
With a snap of the shimmering claws the walls of the train started to collapse. All around her the world was on fire and the raging sun burned with its heat. The sky turned light brown and thunder roared across the clouds. Screams filled Sweetie Belle’s ears, the screams of agony and death. Skeletons rose from the ground and clawed at the frantically running ponies, some grabbing their hooves and dragging them into the ground. As more of the dry bag of bones came alive they leaped in front of the remaining living ponies, stabbing their sharp boney hands into their sides making them fall. Gutting them, cutting off their heads, and ripping out their intestines with the addition of their soft beating hearts. 
The shadow snapped its figures again, and in a split second everything went back to normal.
“Do you believe me now?” The shimmering shadow hissed.
Sweetie Belle shivered in horror and disgust.
The figure sighed, “I’ve sent Twilight Sparkle visions of what is to come… And I’m afraid only the ending of the chaos was able to breach her mind. Her will is strong, but just today I was able to send her another fragment of what is to come…”
The filly looked up and stared at the figure.
“But  chaos leads to a certain path…” 
“So...” Sweetie Belle said as she started to draw herself toward the figure, “Every choice, every decision somepony or… Or anyone makes creates that…?”
The shimmering shadow nodded, “Just know that any choice may lead to the same fate… The order of events can change, but the ending could be the same but in a different way.”
Sweetie Belle met the figures eyes as they materialized in a blob of bright yellow.
“Join me Sweetie Belle… You and I can change the world together! I will protect you when the end comes… I swear, trust me…”
The filly drew deep into the eyes of chaos, she saw images of rich, fame, fortune, and all the good things that will come after the chaos subdued. She saw pictures of her friends being together with her as she protects them through thick and thin, and saw the original Cutie Mark Crusaders becoming one again, all becoming friends again…
“The choice is yours Sweetie Belle…”
Sweetie Belle drew her breath and closed her eyes, and thought to herself what to decide. After a few seconds the filly looked at the shimmering shadow with unfocused eyes, showing fear, trust, and confusion.
“What should I do…?” Sweetie Belle thought to herself.
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-Choices-
-Reject Discord’s Offer (The Way of Light)
-Accept Discord’s Offer (The Way of Chaos)