A few ranches exude hospitality and hide rumors. Directions lay within, to the forests of Amare where bears, poisonous fruits, and the occasional dragon she welcomes for how normal they are. A trail carved out with near imperceptible traces of more signs guides her to a guard who turned the trunk of a tree into a cozy outpost of sorts, asking questions and casting detection spells to root out those contaminated with unusual magic. She'll be safe behind the leaves, he claims.
Homes jut out from carved oaks and conifers, reeking of nuts and mint. Disparate patches of fertile soil show themselves by their diverse farmers; even unicorns joined in the fray, magic meshing with the mush and the mud. Fanged ponies, too, with wings like gargoyles lurk with eyes that glow, blades and scythes hanging from their barrels, jealously guarding a map of other nearby refuges.
A wooden tooth sign catches her eye among the myriad of treehouses: local dentist. A knock at the door and a cheerful "Coming!" confirms her suspicion of a voice that never grew up. The door opens to her cheerful blue smile, one constantly rejected in those last days in Canterlot with her roving band of friends. I should've left you! Go away! You should've just stayed away from me!—
"Moon Dancer? Are you... I can't believe it! You're here! You're really here! Oh, I can't wait to have everypony else in... Lemon Dancer was supposed to be guarding, you know? And... how did you get here, anyway? Oh, and come in, come in! I want to hear all of it!"
The story demolishes all Minuette's mirth.
"I just... don't know," Moon says, blubbering over the round table and the fragrance of some basic tea, her throat clogged. "She was... she's fine! I... hope so. It's... she guided me through all this, I would've died if it weren't for her, and what do I get? She just... I don't know, she just—"
"Moon Dancer."
That arrests her. Minuette, that timely mare who knows how to put in a good word when being bubbly won't cut it.
"I know this is difficult. I... don't want to say this to discount her life, but we might have to accept that she's..."
"No!" She slams the table to half-stand over her host. "I know she's still alive, and you know it! If she's still alive, she can be saved! Do you understand that? Everything? This chaos pony thing and everything?"
Minuette shuffles to look out the window. Her magic gently nudges her friend's hooves away. Her teacup hasn't been touched. "I don't know everything there is to know about them. She told you some, no? Big different chaos sinks, right? Something like that?"
"But there has... there has to be a constant. N-no, there is a constant. Something about order... I was able to get out by going out of my way, becoming a stupid warrior of my own… no, wait, remember O&O?"
"Oh, Ogres and Oubliettes? I heard the Captain of the Guard played it in his spare time, though how do you know it'll be effective against the chaos?"
"It has some order, that's all I know... but it's enough." Snips abound among the grass-cutting and the tool-trading by the marketplace; shelters and makeshift bunkers aren't hard to see from here.. and this table can carry a battle plan, a mess of maps, a lifetime of adventures or cards or items. Enough heads and hooves can dissect this out. Somepony has to try it, ease that burden, anypony but her "I don't want to just sit here and do nothing while she's out there, suffering for who knows how long!"
"Moonie, you know how dangerous it is—"
"I know! It's... I... I made it out there alive, did the last leg of my trip alive. Maybe..."
Minuette pulls out of her chair. "No, Moon, please> Isn't that how Screwball went down?"
"If not me, who else?" A dozen ponies till the field outside, half a dozen staff the market, quite a few have donned the improvised armor of these refugee zones. "The soldiers can do something. Maybe we can bring some…?"
"Uh, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine signed up for it and they're pretty decent—"
"Then we can try. How far from Canterlot is this? I don't even know where this place is."
Minuette bites her lip. Her eyes scan the sky. "Not too far. There's a working train to the outskirts. It's a little dangerous, but not as bad as how Canterlot's gotten, if what I've heard's true..."
"That's something. That's good…"
Out from the shelves, Moon magically grabs a pen, a paper, and a spare board game. Dice tumble out onto her table and into her telekinesis.