//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Celestial Chaos 
// by Audina Puzzle 
//------------------------------//

Celestial Chaos Chapter 5
It had been two days since the events within the Everfree forest, where the Royal Princesses battled the Great Ursa Major. Rumors were circulating around Equestria that Celestia had been taken to the medical wing of the Canterlot Castle, wounded by the great bear. Princess Luna had tasked the medical staff to quickly restore the Sun Goddess back to proper health, while she did her best to keep the general public from panicking. Assuring them that all will be well.
Truth was, things couldn’t get much worse.
The staff bustled themselves within the confines of the Medical Wing. Doctors, nurses, and some of the most prominent scholars in magic theory were being called in to assess and treat the beloved ruler.
Outside of the Princess’ hospital room was a small gathering of ponies as they impatiently waited for the Doctor’s to finish their examination of Celestia. Each of them mirrored concern and worry on their faces for her, especially after what they had witnessed in the Everfree Forest.
Twilight frowned as she looked back up at the clock and rubbed her eyes in frustration. She mentally ran through her checklist of known facts, knowing that they would lead her to the answer of what had befallen her Mentor. It was clear that she had somehow been corrupted. Zecora and Luna both shared with them all the warnings they had received about a growing corruption. Luna’s was more specific, directing the warnings around the Moon Goddess’ sister. Adding the bizarre behavior seen in the Everfree Forest only seemed to confirm that fact.
But the question that seemed to haunt the purple unicorn was how the corruption started and what did it mean. Solving these questions would lead them to getting closer to fixing the actual problem.
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and turned to her friends. “I don’t know what to do! I’ve never come across anything like this in my reading.”
"Cheer up, sugar cube,” replied Applejack with a confident smile. “Ya just workin yaself over, Twi. Celestia is a Princess, and Ah’m sure as apple pie that she’ll be fine.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rainbow Dash, but without her usual perkiness. “I mean, this is Princess Celestia we’re talking about. She’s been through loads of stuff. She’ll beat this thing.”
“I don’t know, girls,” said Twilight. “Corruption is completely different from facing things like Discord or Nightmare Moon. It affects the person’s mind, causing them to believe in things that they would normally be against.”
Rarity nodded in agreement with the purple alicorn. “Ponies are only as good as their leaders. If the Princess were to remain like this...”
“What about Luna or Discord?” quietly asked Fluttershy, causing everypony to jump. She hadn’t said a word since they had gotten to the castle. “Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, and Discord changed us. Maybe they can help.”
“We had the Elements then, sugar,” said Applejack. “If we had em back, the this whole darn mess would have been a pretty quick fix.”
Silence passed between the friends with that remark, all of them were all lost in their own thoughts. Losing the Elements had been a tremendous, but necessary sacrifice at the time. With Celestia being afflicted and the balance of power slowly shifting away, before them laid an unsteady future at best.
“Twi, where ya going?” asked Applejack as she noticed the alicorn trotting off. “The Doctor is almost done!”
“I’m going to find Princess Luna,” she replied. “Fluttershy might be onto something…”
***
“Princess, are you okay?” asked Spike as he watched the moody alicorn pace back and forth. He’d been taking “to-do” notes for her since they got here on what needs to be done while Celestia remained in her state. She’d been taking it well for a while at least, but the young dragon could see her mask start to break.
"Nay, Spike,” replied Luna as glanced over at him. “My sister just tried to kill me. Just like how… How I tried to all those years ago.”
“Princess, it isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it, Spike?” Luna replied, tears starting to form in her eyes. “We are responsible for those we care about. To make sure that they are safe, to extend a hoof when they are in need. I should have noticed something was amiss with her, but I chose not to.”
“You can’t blame yourself for things like that,” said Twilight as she trotted around the corner. “Nopony saw this coming.”
“And yet, I should have, Twilight Sparkle,” retorted Luna. “I’m her sister. I should have been there for her.”
“Regrets for the past aren’t going to solve anything,” she replied flatly. “We need to focus on the present. You need to stay strong, for all of us now.”
“All of us,” muttered the lunar princess. She felt then the crushing weight of her crown. She was no longer a simple Diarch of Equestria, but now bore the responsibility of caring for the nation as its monarch. Oh Tia, is this what you felt when I was banished?
“Thank you for your kind words, Twilight Sparkle,” replied Luna as she wiped a tear away. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “What can I help you with?”
Before Twilight had the chance to open her mouth and ask about Nightmare Moon, a stallion in a white lab coat rounded the corner and gave a polite cough. “Your Majesty? I’ve finished with my examination of Princess Celestia and well… It’s pretty serious. We’ve done what we can to slow the corrupting influence, but her condition is worsening.”
“Show me,” ordered the Princess of the Night. 
The doctor bowed his head and took off in a trot, followed closely by the two princesses. He opens the door to Celestia’s room and motioned them in. The two alicorns stop once they come within sight of the Solar Princess. Her usually beautiful white coat was a tarnished grey, and there were odd purple markings that stretched up her legs.  
Twilight glanced up at Luna to gauge her reaction. The Lunar Princess’ face might as well have been chiseled out of stone as not a flicker of emotion passed over the carefully controlled face.
“Is she okay?” asked the purple alicorn after a few minutes of silence.  
The Doctor nodded his head. “We’ve been able to prolong the sleeping spell, but we don’t know if this will help or hinder her body’s ability to fight off the corruption.”
“What can we do?” asked Twilight
“Medically, we’ve done all we can do.” grimaced the Doctor. The three ponies returned their attention to the fallen Sun Goddess, each of them full with their own thoughts and regrets.
A small knock at the door broke them out of their stupor. They turned to see Zecora waving them to follower her."Come quick! I have a friend from a different time. He is here to help protect you from the expected crime."
Twilight and Luna trotted out of the room, sparing one last glance at the princess. Outside of the room, the rest of Twilight’s friends stood gathered around Zecora and a very old looking stallion. 
“My name is Iadoa,” greeted the stallion as the Princesses moved into their circle. His voice, strong and firm, betrayed his wizened appearance. He reminded Twilight of the descriptions of Starswirl the Bearded. “I am a Guardian and I am your only hope to fighting off this evil. The Elements of Harmony as you know are some of the strongest mystical forces known to ponydom. Only they have the power that can destroy the corruption in the Sun Goddess."
“We don’t have the Elements anymore, Iadoa,” replied Twilight. “We lost them to save Equestria.”
“While their physical presence is no longer here, the power still is,” replied the stallion. “You need to open the box that came from the Tree of Harmony. From there you can get the power needed to save your Princess and this world. You just need the keys.”
"But Iadoa we haven't found any and we don't know where they are"
"Which is why I am here.” Iadoa pulled out a scroll and placed it on the floor.
Everypony gathered around as Iadoa opened the scroll to reveal an ancient of Equestria, to which he explains that he is traveled through the time stream of this realm while avoiding the eyes of chaos and has created a map leading to the location of the six keys. 
Iadoa tells six of the ponies that they must gather supplies that get their town and that Twilight should bring the box with this will be a difficult quest given that the villain named Darkath will know that they are after the cure.
"Darkath is a champion of chaos from his realm and he is the one responsible for the corruption of Celestia."
Applejack gave a frown. “Why would he want to corrupt the princess."
Iadoa pointed to the crimson star in the sky then states, "The star’s ruler is named The Devourer.  This monster has only one goal to travel the cosmos and eliminate corruption from existing on planets. He does a test if they pass the test the creature will leave, however should they fail then whole planet is erased from existence. That's Darkaths plan to lure the Devourer to Equestria to remove the power from the Tree of Harmony effectively preventing a threat from ever challenging his rule."
After finally explaining the situation to the ponies, the time sage placed his hoof on his wrist hourglass causing them to glow into a bright golden color. Iadoa slowly vanishes as he says that he cannot stay in this realm for too long. As the time sage vanished Luna quickly told the six ponies, You need to heed Iadoas warning and travel back to ponyville to grab supplies because you not only need to save my sister, but Equestria as well. 

Meanwhile in a dark cave Darkath hears of the Time sage and his plan to save Celestia.  “That freaking sage why does he always interfere with my plans.  No matter he is not important as of now I must concentrate my attacks on stopping those dang ponies from interfering and I know what to do.  They need to get those 6 keys now I can’t summon creatures to do the attack and kill them because The Devourer will know I am here and I will cease to exist, so instead I will make sure to test their abilities I mean they are pastel colored ponies how can they defeat me a ruler of chaos.  I will make sure they fail and once they have The Devour will erase this world and everything on it with one vail swoop and it will end one of the greatest threats to my galactic domination.”