//------------------------------// // Town meeting // Story: Friendship is absolute chaos: Part 2 // by Aether Spark //------------------------------// The town meeting stage had been set, and Twilight stood atop it, mentally preparing herself. Before her stood a crowd of scared ponies. Not surprising given the circumstances… “Ok… How do I start?” Twilight began but a pony cut her off. “Where’s Discord!?” one stallion yelled. “Yeah, he’s gone too far this time!” a mare followed up “My foals were nearly scared to death,” another mare said. “Please! Everypony calm down,” Twilight demanded. “Calm down?!” Another pony shouted, “My front and hind legs were swapped!”  “I was given hands!” another shouted. “My face turned purple!”  “I-” “SHUT UP!” Twilight shouted with a booming voice, startling the ponies into quiet. Twilight took a deep breath and took a bite from the sundae she brought with her that Pinkie had provided. “Listen, things are weird right now, I get it, but you have to understand we’re… dealing with something right now.”  “I’m sorry, but dealing with what?” Mayor Mare asked. “Discord isn’t behind any of this,” Twilight admitted “We are.”  The crowd gasped but before they could voice their anger Twilight continued. “Discord made a bargain with us to prove that chaos magic can be tamed, and so he granted us chaos magic by…. Making us like him basically…”  “‘Like him?” Mayor Mare asked. “Define please,”  “As in…. Like what he is, a draconequus or whatever he calls his species,” Twilight said. “We are doing our best to corral the urges we’re feeling, and so far you’ve seen our best efforts…” Mayor Mare took a long look around the town. “You are aware of the amount of chaos you have caused right? We care about you girls as our protectors and friends, but if things like what happened a few hours ago keep happening, we may need to quarantine you.”  “Trust me, that may make things a lot worse,” Twilight stated. “As long as we have ice cream and a non-stressful environment, nothing bad will happen,” “Ice cream?” Mayor Mare questioned  “It can help a draconeqqus calm down,” Twilight explained. Everypony seemed to be considering what they’ve been told. “We may be creatures of chaos but we’ll only be this way for a week, and once we win, Discord will give us all a break from his pranks.” Twilight said. That seemed to cheer the crowd up a little. “We also don’t want this to get out to Celestia, who knows what will happen, so we need to not let word get out,” Twilight said “Alright, Twilight we’ll consider this. I’ll need to talk to you privately after this,” Mayor Mare said. “Ok.” Twilight trotted away with the mayor while the other ponies dispersed. Rarity poked her eye out from behind the curtain. “Very good… the crowd is dispersing,” Rarity said, turning to her still Draconeqqus friends. “It’s not fair. You’re not a draconeqqus right now!” RD complained. “Don’t whine, Rainbow. We shant worry about such things, especially since the populace is now aware of our… affliction,” Rarity said. “This better not negatively impact the farm,” Applejack said “I doubt it will,” Fluttershy said. “Welp, I got to get moving, those clouds don’t clear themselves… well they could if I made them but I won’t!” Rainbow Dash said. “Now hold on there, need ah remind you that yer not a pegasus right now,” Applejack said. “Oh yeah… Pinkie, you're in tune with this chaos stuff, can you zap us back to normal?”  “Sorry Dashie, but a secondary opinion just informed me that’s not possible. I can show you how,” Pinkie said “Secondary- You know what I don’t even want to know, watcha got?” RD asked The next ten minutes was spent learning how to do so… It went as well as you could expect. It took thirty tries but RD was able to turn into a pegasus again as well as every-draconeqqus present turning back to normal. “Whew… glad I was able to turn back from a parasprite…” RD said recalling that particular attempt. “Alright, Ah’m heading home to get the chores runnin, remember girls, the townsfolk are a little spooked now that they know, so try to be understanding,” Applejack said. “We will,” The group said before they split off to do their own thing. --- Applejack trotted through town, and she wasn’t happy to see ponies glancing at her and nervously shuffling away, just like with Zecora. “Just fer a week… got six more days of this…” Applejack sighed. “Ah’m sure they're scared of somethin else,” Dishonesty said. “Just pipe down…” Applejack said. --- RD flew up to the clouds. Now that that headache of a town meeting was over she could get back to being awesome. “Oh look, it’s the loser patrol,” Disloyalty said. Rainbow sighed and ignored the annoying voice before turning to see her fellow weather patrol ponies. “Hey guys! Hope I won’t be too much of a problem, with the chaos magic and all,” RD said. Thunderlane glanced at the others before approaching. “Actually Dash, is it ok if you get the rest of the week off? We’ll cover your shifts,” Thunderlane said “Huh? What do you mean?” RD eyed him with a slight accusation. “I’m not saying you aren’t wanted here, we just… remember that surprise snowfall that happened? That was your doing right?” Thunderlane asked “Yeeeeah?” RD said a ball of anger growing in her gut. Thunderlane gulped. “We want to avoid any more weather catastrophes, and since this is gonna last all week, we were hoping you could take this week off, we’ll clear it up with the boss.” Thunderlane said “No offense,” Cloudchaser said “So let me get this straight, you guys are assuming I will cause chaotic problems so you're kicking me to the curb?” RD growled, her growl made the group inch back nervously as they knew she could easily make their wings vanish. “Not kicking you to the curb per-say, just offering you an early vacation,” Cloudchaser said. “Wow, and I thought I was disloyal…” Disloyalty said. “Shove it!” Rainbow shouted at the voice. The others present flinched, thinking she was going to hurt them. “Not you guys, just…. Fine… I’ll take a few hours off but I’m back later whether you like it or not,” RD said making sure the words stung. “Sorry…” they all said and RD flew home in a huff. --- Twilight and Mayor Mare sat down. “What did you want to talk about, Mayor Mare?” Twilight asked. “Can I be straight with you, Princess?” Mayor Mare asked. “Sure,” Twilight responded. “I’m worried.” “About what?” “Not just me, the citizens… we’re all worried that having seven draconequus in one town will bring disaster,” Mayor Mare said. “Actually Discord’s on vacation somewhere else,” Twilight corrected. “Regardless, six is too many.”  “What are you saying?” Twilight asked. “Is it possible for you girls to split into different towns or cities or perhaps… go elsewhere so that what happened today won’t repeat?” Mayor Mare asked. “No,” Twilight said with a bemused expression. “We, or at least I am determined to prove that Chaos magic can be mastered and restrained, just like normal magic. And besides, Discord will come up with some excuse that we can’t tweak the rules like that, so I’ll need you to trust us.” “Twilight, draconequus’s are ticking time bombs. If something happens, you best be ready to take responsibility for it,” Mayor Mare said. “I will, I perfectly understand your concern, but I’m the element of magic. If it’s magical in nature, I can master it, not to sound arrogant or anything,”  “Very well, I’ll trust your judgment, but please be careful,” Mayor Mare asked. “We will,” Twilight said. Meanwhile back at the Castle of Friendship, the single compacted sphere of chaos magic sat on a table. “You have nothing to worry about,” Twilight said The orb bulged and grew…