//------------------------------// // 4. A Ville of Ponies. // Story: Orchestrated Chaos // by ReFro //------------------------------// How long have we been traveling for? An hour? Two? How much longer am I going to be on this pony’s back? I don’t know how much more of this I can take! Chloe was starting to get anxious and was feeling exhausted from the constant state of pain her body was in. I just want to go back to sleep and forget all about the pain... and the fact that I’m riding on a pastel green pony's back headed to god only knows where.  Chloe was about to open her mouth to try and communicate again when she suddenly let out a cry of pain. Her chest suddenly hit the mare’s back particularly hard causing her to slide forward and almost fall off. Quickly, she squeezed all four legs tightly around the body beneath her. The light green mare regained her hoofing and looked back to her small passenger to make sure she was alright. “I’m sorry ‘bout that there, sweetie,” Granita said, a look of embarrassment and worry shown on her face. “I ah... stumbled a bit on this here rock, seemed to come outta nowhere,” she said, almost in a whisper as her cheeks turned red, and she pointed a foreleg to the offending rock. Chloe glared back at her and inhaled, ready to give to give the clumsy mare a piece of her mind, only to start violently coughing. She covered her mouth with a hoof only to find a speckle of blood covering it when she pulled it away. Crap, this doesn’t seem good… Looking at her hoof for a moment before another cough came out, and with it, more blood. “I’m so sorry! I didn’ mean to hurt ya even more!” —Granita’s eyes started to water— “We gotta git ya to the doc’s place, an’ quick like!” She grabbed the washcloth from her saddlebag with her teeth, passing it to the filly. Chloe fumbled with the cloth for a second before she was able to wipe the blood off her other hoof. She was about to hand it back, but she started painfully coughing again, using the cloth to cover her mouth. Granita began trotting with a sense of urgency in her steps, wanting to move as quickly, but safely as possible, with the injured filly on her back. The river they had been following through the grassland continued on into the forest just ahead of them. Chloe’s coughing fit had slowed down to only a few coughs every minute as they entered the forest. Granita slowed her pace, being careful to not trip again or hit the filly, or herself, with any low hanging branches. “This here is tha last part of Whitetail Woods,” the mare proclaimed, stopping for a second to look back at her small passenger and to catch her breath. “Ah few more kilotrots and we will be in Ponyville where we can git ya some help from the doc.” There it is again, those sounds that are coming from this pony’s mouth. There is a certain rhythm to it and the different tones... It really sounds like it’s speaking to me... Chloe hadn’t given the mare’s actions much thought before due to the state of shock and seemingly endless pain that she has been in, but nonetheless, this thought had slowly crept into her mind, and now it was the one thing she could not get out of her head. God, this is so creepy... this creatu... no, pony...  a pony... she? I think this pony is female. Her voice, if that really is a voice, sounds feminine enough... I’ll just go with that for now. She, rescued me, cleaned me up, and I think, has been talking with me. Her brain was starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle that this world had presented to her, and she didn’t like the picture it was making. But ponies don’t do any of those things! None of those things at all! That’s just silly Chloe, get ahold of yourself! All this can’t be real… The colors, —God, the colors. I’ll never get used to that—this talking pony, light green pony no less, waking up in a strange forest. She looked back down at her forelegs. It just can’t be real… She moved her foreleg a bit and shuddered when it instantly followed her command. I can't be a pony! Chloe started to hyperventilate, clenching her eyes shut. She didn't want to see anymore of this world, she just wanted to wake up! As her breathing hastened, her chest began to protest her actions and voice its opinion loudly, sending back a jolt of pain with each breath. She had to force herself to take in long, slow breaths and equally long and slow exhales until she was calm again; or at least, calm enough to not involuntarily cause herself anymore pain. With the pain from her chest now greatly diminished, she felt a buildup of pressure in the front of her head. She groaned, laying her head back down onto the mare’s back as she rubbed her temple with a free hoof in an attempt to soothe the oncoming headache. She thought the light green pony had made a noise but she ignored it and continued to massage her head.  But are you a pony now... The hard, flat hoof that was against her head reminded her of that. She quickly stopped rubbing her temple, frowning at the thought as she looked at the hoof—her hoof—in front of her face. Beyond her hoof, she could see the mare staring at her with an almost puzzled look on her face. Why is she looking at me like that? And why did we stop here? Oh, right, she did make some noises, err speak to me... “Ya still with me, sweetie? Can ya breathe fine now?” She a looked concerned as the filly on her back merely stared blankly back at her. Is she waiting for me to respond back? Well, if she is talking to you, then yes. Her brain answered back. She waited a second before giving the light green mare a pained smile and a slight nod, hoping that was what the right thing to do, not knowing exactly what she had just agreed to—if anything. The mare smiled back, turning her head forward and started making her way through the forest. Chloe let out a soft groan as she laid her head back down, trying to get a little more comfortable. So creepy...  Scores of uncountable minutes passed as the trees grew further and further apart, letting more of the warm sunlight reach the two travelers. Soon they came around another bend in the river, and as they did, Chloe could now see that the forest was almost completely behind them and ahead was a sea of fields that covered the rolling landscape for what seemed like miles. Some of the fields even had wooden fences around them, partitioning the land into different sections. Chloe stared inquisitively at the fences before looking up ahead. She could see what looked like a very small town in the distance with only a few buildings. Columns of smoke could be seen rising up from a few of the chimneys, taking their place in the late morning sky before slowly dissipating into the wind. Chloe blinked at the sight before her. Wait... ponies couldn’t possibly have built these things; they don’t even have thumbs... Come to think of it, who made the saddlebags and washcloth that this pony has? Maybe they are just smarter than the horses from back home, and they are just someone’s pets. Yea, that’s gotta be it. Chloe sighed at how ridiculous that sounded as she tried to piece this world together. Yeah, right, pets that seem to talk and rescue people...ponies, whatever. She moaned, laying her head down back down, fighting back the headache that was starting to form again. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, lest she start hyperventilating again, and she definitely didn't want that to happen. She liked being relatively pain free. Granita smiled at the sight of Ponyville on the horizon, picking up her pace now that they were out of the forest and on a dirt path that lead directly into town. “We’re almost there, just hold on fer a few more minutes,” she said as they passed a barn alongside the road that was under construction, waving and smiling to one of the ponies who was working on the mostly finished barn. “That there is the Oranges’ new barn. They’re neighbors and good friends of ours. Ah’ll introduce ya to them when yer better.” Chloe looked over to where the mare was waving her hoof and gasped as the large, muscular orange colored pony waved back at them as they continued trotting down the path. Chloe watched the orange pony pick up a hammer with his mouth while somehow holding a nail steady against a board with his hoof. He drew his head to the side, hammer still in mouth, and quickly brought it back, hammering the nail into the board with one swing. He picked up another nail out of the pile and started to repeat the process. Chloe’s mouth hung open at this sight. That isn’t possible! It’s just not scientifically possible! Her head started pounding again. This was just too much for her to take in while in her current state. She gave out a soft whine, resting her head back down on the mare and closed her eyes, not daring to open them again until her headache receded. The combination of the constant, fatiguing pain, her difficulty breathing, not sleeping well the night before (sleeping halfway in a river will do that to you), the rhythmic motion coming from the mare that was carrying her, the warmth of the sun, and all the thoughts racing through her mind about this place was just too much for Chloe as her brain gave up and shut down on her. She was snoring in the matter of seconds. Her breath became unsteady and labored since she was no longer manually regulating it as her subconscious mind took over. The filly’s erratic breathing was starting to worry the mare. She seemed to be struggling more and more with each passing moment to get air into her lungs, and at one point she had almost stopped breathing altogether. A quick nuzzle brought the filly’s breathing back, and Granita sighed in relief. The buildings of Ponyville were quickly getting closer as Granita continued her way to the clinic near the center of the town almost in a full on gallop. Several ponies greeted her as she ran past but she ignored them. Her only goal was to get to the clinic as fast as possible before it was too late... “DOC!” Granita yelled, bursting through the clinic’s front door, startling the Unicorn nurse as she almost fell out of her chair, dropping the paper she had been reading. The cream colored mare swiftly readjusted herself on the chair as she looked to the pony that had almost given her a heart attack. “Granita?” she asked, recognizing the mare that had almost taken the door off its hinges, “What’s the matter?!” “Ah need to see teh doc right away! Ah have a’ injured filly that I found near Whitetail Woods,” she explained as she turned sideways, revealing the pained-breathing but still sleeping filly on her back. “She has a gash on her chest and it’s bruised pretty good too. Ah think she hurt her insides too, her breathing t’aint right.” “Oh my!” she gasped out, seeing the badly injured and absolutely filthy filly. “He stepped out for lunch, but let’s get her into a bed, and I’ll get her examined right away,” she said, walking to a doorway behind her. “Follow me please.” The two mares walked into the hallway that lead to the back of the clinic and into a small, white room with a bed and a few cabinets on the wall. Granita stopped next to the side of the bed as the nurse gently moved the filly off of her back and onto the bed, setting her on her side so she could begin her examination. She looked at the filly’s chest for a moment before her horn started glowing in a light blue aura. Chloe shuffled slightly in her sleep as the aura surrounded her. The Unicorn frowned as she turned to Granita, “Granita, Dr. Charts said he was going to try the new cafe that just opened down the street. I need you to go get him right now. This filly needs treatment immediately, her lung is about to collapse!”   Granita gasped and nodded as she galloped out of the clinic as fast as her hooves could carry her. <><><><><> Chloe took a deep bow as the thousands in attendance showered her with a multitude of roses and a thunderous applause. She had just finished playing the piece she had composed and practiced over the last year for the first time. Every note, every high, every low, every rest, it was all carefully woven together into the most beautiful, moving musical score, and they all loved it—they loved her music! It was a dream come true, she had finally done it! Tears of joy streamed down her face as she came up from her bow. Bowing one final time, the audience roared again. As she stood upright, she saw her hand, but it was not her hand. It was a grey fur covered hoof. She quickly looked over at her other hand and saw the same thing. The audience went deathly silent before she was hit with an uproar of laughter and people pointing fingers at her. “Don’t look at me!” she screamed, covering her face with her hooves, as her tears of joy turned into tears of humiliation and disgust. She tried to run off the stage but found she couldn’t move. Panic had set in as she tried desperately to move, but her limbs would not respond to her commands. She thought she heard a familiar noise coming from her left, but she couldn't see anything except complete darkness now; the audience, the stage, her cello, everything was gone, and she was now standing alone in complete darkness. The noise was a bit louder this time as it called out. She stared off to her left where she could see the outline of a... a... pony? Why... why does this noise and pony seem so familiar to me? Chloe’s eyes snapped open; she was staring up at a white ceiling that seemed to be shimmering in a light blue. What’s with this color...? She moved her head down to look at her side. There, standing below her, was the light green and now slightly bluer looking pony looking back up at her with a concerned look in her eyes. Wait, below me?! Looking down, she noticed that she was now hovering about two feet off the bed. Outside, several ponies covered their ears and cringed. The birds that were perched on the buildings surrounding the clinic, suddenly all took flight as the scream emanating from the clinic disrupted the, up till then, peaceful evening in the small town of Ponyville.