Twilight Sparkle, Bringer of Chaos

by Caligari87

Chapter 1

There’s something about a train ride. It gives a pony time to think. Not that I haven’t had a lot of that already.

I asked Discord for some time off my studies before returning to Ponyville, to get my head right. He agreed; it’s not every day a mare gets her entire life and perceptions turned upside down, even in our crazy world.

He probably knows I spent most of it staring at my ceiling. Try as I might, I can’t seem to wrap my mind around where to go from here. I’m glad he gave me a second chance, forgave

Twilight Sparkle raised a hoof to her head. Even magic as simple as levitating a quill was troublesome lately.

She set down the journal and slumped to her left. The brief shooting pain of hitting the window glass was a welcome distraction. Her stupid horn had been misbehaving all week long; it wasn’t cracked, or chipped, or overheated, just painful to use. No, it wasn’t a physical thing, probably more psychosomatic...

Writing was too difficult right now. She settled for staring blankly ahead, one eye filled with the vibrating psychedelic print of the seatback in front of her, the other a blur of blue and red grass gradually giving way to purple lakes under green/black checkerboard skies, as they raced across the ever-changing landscape.

The trains were one of the few things rarely subject to large random mix-ups. Even in a land given almost wholly to Chaos, Emperor Discord had finally been convinced that ponies needed a semi-reliable way to get from place to place quickly. It was one of very few concessions His Highness had agreed to, always citing a slippery slope back into the hateful grip of Order.

That was why Twilight enjoyed trains. Even lying in her bed, it was always a gamble if she’d be suddenly launched at the ceiling, tickled sick by pillow feathers, or trapped inside the mattress when it suddenly decided it wanted to be a Venus flytrap for a day... The last one was not very fun at all.

No, here she could just sit and think, with no chance of interruption -

“Excuse me, miss.”

Well, almost no chance. “Yes?”

“We’ve received notice it may be another several hours to Ponyville. There’s a herd of rabbits building a tree-dam across the main line, and we need to divert to the alternate route.”

Twilight tried to make a genuine smile at the assistant conductor, given his news was actually quite welcome. “Thank you, I’ll settle in then.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“A pillow would be nice.”

“Of course miss, be right back.”

The conductor left and Twilight leaned back on the cool window glass. The stallion seemed quite pleasant, even cheery. It was rare thing, for sure. She wondered if his demeanor stemmed from having a relatively stable, stress-free responsibility in a world where nothing was sure, or if he was one of those ponies who actually enjoyed constant Chaos for the fresh and new experiences it brought minute by minute. If it was the latter, she envied him.

He returned with her pillow and she gave another genuine smile of thanks. He tipped his hat and trotted off, whistling to himself.

Twilight laid across the bench seat and adjusted the pillow to support her head. She didn’t want to look out the window anymore. Ignoring the throb in her horn, she levitated the journal sideways in front of her and opened back to the marked page.

my indiscretions.

He was right. I wish I wanted other ponies to love me and accept me for who I am. And they did. They took me in from the goodness of their hearts even though I stood opposed to everything they hold dear. I started to let my guard down, to be myself again. But then I betrayed them, stepped all over everything they tried to teach me.

It hurts, but I have to let it go now. Friendship is a force of Harmony, and I can’t let a weakness like that corrupt my purpose again. I can no longer am not Twilight Sparkle the organized, secret harmonizer. I will be Twilight Sparkle, Agent of Chaos, Bringer of Discord, regardless of what anypony thinks of me. I will forsake petty desires in my quest to spread the will of our glorious Emperor. I will

Twilight noted with annoyance that her muzzle was damp. Cursing weak eyes and a sore horn, she flipped the pillow over to the dry side and returned to writing. Or at least tried to. The effort of holding things aloft was painful again, and it made her eyes blurry. She closed the journal and slid it into her saddlebag.

Sleep would be more welcome, she decided. She shifted to a more comfortable position, and closed her eyes against the pain. Yes, it was just her throbbing horn. Nothing at all to do with the rift in her soul.

---

Twilight slept most of the rest of the journey. Thankfully it was relatively uneventful, apart from a rather violent technicolor thunderstorm that threatened to blow out the train windows until they passed.

The extra rest was a boon to her mental state. She had trained the ability to get by on smaller, broken segments of napping instead of one long block like most ponies needed. It was highly efficient, but indulging in a few hours of uninterrupted sleep was divine. Now, she was awake, alert, and eager to get on with her task.

The sky was dark as they pulled in to Ponyville. Not from any natural process, but rather because the sun was throwing a fit and insisting on creeping in slow circles under the horizon. Twilight also noticed with amusement that the station was being attended by a great many townsponies, most of them engaged with trying to keep the ticket office from crawling away.

She was grateful for the dark. Her abrupt departure and letters had likely left sore feelings among many of the locals, and a confrontation was the last thing she wanted. This way, she could deftly slip off the train between the light of the lanterns and hopefully make it to the library without meeting anypony she knew.

Twilight moved away from the window and donned her saddlebags. Journal, check. Quill, check. Winter coat, check. Extra bits, check. Seeds of Discord, check. Ticket…

Her brain screeched to a halt in time with the train. She was doing it again.

Mentally kicking herself, Twilight forsook the rest of her mental checklist and trotted toward the doors of the traincar. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought viciously. You know you can’t do that! No more lists! Of all the…

“...audacity! You should be ashamed of yourself, Wandering Eye! It’s positively despicable that a mare can’t even wait alone in a train station without an escort, my word…”

Twilight froze. The voice was unmistakable. Before she could react, a floating suitcase clobbered her in the face, as a pearly-white mare with a flowing purple mane and elegant hat stepped through the opening doors.

“...young stallions all thinking they’re Discord’s gift- OH! I’m so sorry dear, didn’t see you there! Are you quite all right? I must have been distra-”

The mare stopped cold, her mouth frozen in the middle of a word.

Twilight smiled nervously. “Uh… Hi, Rarity.”

One of Rarity’s suitcases dropped dramatically to the floor. Her eyes tightened to slits. “What are you doing here?!” she hissed.

“Well, I… um…” Twilight began backing toward the doors at the opposite end of the train car. “Just... you know… passing through, had to stop back for a couple things…”

“Do you have ANY IDEA the amount of heartache you’ve caused?!” Rarity’s voice was rising, indignation approaching rage. “How DARE you come back? How DARE you show your face?! Consider yourself fortunate that a proper mare doesn’t stuff ponies piecemeal into SUITCASES, but just you WAIT until Rainbow Dash…”

Twilight didn’t stick around to hear what would happen when Rainbow Dash learned of her arrival in town. Saying a tiny prayer that the local Chaos magic wouldn’t leave her trapped inside a wall, she teleported in the direction of the platform.

The whims of the universe smiled on her and she arrived intact at her destination a split-second later. Without pause Twilight galloped into the darkness toward the center of Ponyville, as Rarity’s angry shouts faded into the distance.

---

The library door locked behind her, and Twilight shuffled into the library. Try as she might, she couldn’t get Rarity’s face and voice out of her mind. She’d known that her letters would be unwelcome, maybe even hurtful, but she hadn’t conceived of anything approaching Rarity’s reaction.

She drew the curtains and lit only a couple candles to offset the darkness. Better to avoid drawing any more attention than necessary, considering she didn’t know how long she was going to be here. Truthfully, she wanted to complete her task and get out of town as quickly as possible, a desire only intensified by her encounter at the train station.

Unfortunately for Twilight, it would be insanity to trot off into Everfree now that the sun and moon had danced below the horizon and withheld their light. The forest was frighteningly dangerous even in the best of times, and only a complete foal would even consider going there in the near-pitch-black enveloping Ponyville.

Twilight gathered a few magically preserved foodstuffs from the kitchen pantry (thankfully, none had grown legs and run away), and made her way upstairs to the spartan bedroom. She considered journaling some more, but her horn ached in protest at the very thought.

Instead, she grabbed a couple options from a nearby shelf, patted down the bed to ensure no hidden surprises, and settled in for some very light reading. She wanted something cheap, consumable, not mentally engaging, and found the perfect unintentional candidate in Lulamoon’s Tricks and Secrets for the Magical Novice.

It was positively laughable for a highly-skilled unicorn like her, but more relaxing than indulging in a whole gallon of barley & chocolate chip ice cream. She lost track of time, and it was only after several chuckle-inducing chapters that Twilight’s brain finally caught up to her.

Why had Rarity been getting on a train leaving Ponyville?

Comments

[SageBrony07]

That is a good question. Did Twilight destroy harmony? Maybe?

[RustyKat]

Here's your cover image!! th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/093/4/7/pony_trek_5_by_herostrain-d60d40i.jpg

[Inthretis]

Sequel time!

[dancing mop]

Oof. Can't wait 'til Rainbow Dash finds out she's there.

And Applejack. And Pinkie.

And Fluttershy, come to think of it.

Oh, crap, Twilight's gonna be murdered.

[Ultra-the-HedgeToaster]

Haven't gotten around to actually read yet - but I just wanted to remark that I never got a sequel notification despite following the previous story.

In fact, I don't seem to have gotten any sequel notifications, since the big update a few months(?) ago.

Is this happening to others? Did something about the sequel notification feature change, and I'm supposed to change a setting somewhere in what used to be my "favourites" collection?

[Twilight Shine]

I just finished your first book. I really like the second one so far.

Hope to see more,

Twilight Shine

[AnAsianToaster]

It'd probably be a good idea to add a small extra chapter to the end of the previous fic telling people about this sequel, or edit the first stories description to link to this one.

[Caligari87]

5384814
Good idea, done :)

[Sharp Quill]

[Zuabug]

I... gotta agree with Twilight. I did not expect that either.