It had been three weeks since 8-Bit and I had helped Starswirl the Bearded defeat Nightmare Moon and recover the Elements of Harmony for Princess Celestia. Upon arriving at Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle had greeted us by saying “Sorry” repeatedly. She informed us that she had gotten a letter from the princess claiming that we were heroes and deserved to be treated as such. Everypony welcomed us back gladly.
We agreed to join Twilight for tea at her library and tell her our tale. She was particularly impressed with us meeting and recruiting Starswirl. We were a little confused at first, but the lavender unicorn told us about Starswirl’s legacy he left behind. His defeat of the Ursa Major (despite my teammate and I having some part in helping him) didn’t go unnoticed and he went on to be one of the greatest pony wizards of all time. In his old age, he apparently donned the name “Starswirl the Bearded”. 8-Bit kind of giggled at that, but a look from Twilight told her she was dead serious.
The lives of Team Free Souls seemed to go back to normal. Our missions were still as dangerous as ever, that being the norm for a gold ranking rescue team. One mission required 8-Bit and I to head to Froggy Bottom Bog and rescue a rabbit named Angel for one of Twilight’s friends. Sounds simple, right? Oh horseapples no! We ended of fighting a hydra which, in the end decided to flee from because of all of the heads preventing us from engaging in any further combat. But that was the general gist of things for my companion and me. Sure, I still couldn’t remember anything, but I was mostly enjoying my life as a pony. I believe I had adjusted very well.
All of that changed when I heard of hoof beating on our door one day.
I assumed it was another request, seeing as how Free Souls had increasingly grown in popularity. I was surprised to see Twilight Sparkle again, but also a little nervous. The last time she came over to our base of operations, (A.K.A.: 8-Bit’s house) I had been banished for no reason whatsoever. Okay, maybe she had a good reason but it was still incorrect. She must have noticed the nervous look on my face because she quickly smiled and waved a hoof.
“Relax Silver Blade; I’m not going to cause you any trouble. In fact, I have good news!”
My ears perked at this. “Oh?”
“I just received a letter from the princess; she says she would like to speak with you as soon as possible, as well as all of my friends!” she exclaimed. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but we should head for Canterlot soon.”
I chuckled. “Well, I guess the princess missed me after a thousand years.” I looked over my shoulder at my green friend who was tinkering with the P.E.S. “Ya get all of that Eight Bit?”
Her response was to look at me with a huge grin. “Eeyup!”
I looked back to Twilight. “We’re ready to go when you are.”
* * * * *
Once we all boarded the train, we had plenty of time to relax. Surprisingly, I knew most of Twilight Sparkle’s friends. Rarity had fashioned (no pun intended) my sword, Pinkie Pie was always throwing parties at the heroics of Team Free Souls, and the butter colored pegasi with the pink mane whose pet bunny I’d rescued was named Fluttershy. There were only two ponies in the cabin that I didn’t know. The orange earth pony with the blonde mane, freckles, a cowpony hat and even a southern accent to boot, was named Applejack. The reason I hadn’t ever seen her was because of all of her time on the farm. The other pony…the cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane, Rainbow Dash was having problems on her home, which apparently was what this was about.
“C’mon Fluttershy, you’re a pegasus! You should care about cloudsdale!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she threw her hooves up in exasperation.
“Um…well, I do…it’s just that…um…the animals need lots of attention and I can’t leave them unattended…’
Rainbow Dash glared at her friend, causing her to “eep!” and look away nervously. Eventually, the more assertive of the two sighed.
“I know…it’s just that, this is home and I don’t want anything bad to happen to it. The griffins just waltzed in like they owned the place and claimed it was theirs! They’re pushing it higher up, making it harder for the younger pegasi to reach. It might not look like I care, but you have no idea how much that’s been killing Scootaloo.”
I felt a pang of sadness. I did know. If that was what is was about, I was ready to go to Cloudsdale and kick some serious flank. Of course, Equestria’s best would come with us. Or would we be going with Equestria’s best? A quick analysis showed me that in less than four weeks, 8-Bit and I had become quite the heroes. Perhaps we truly were joining the ranks of greatness.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes scanned the room, obviously she was bored, and landed on me. She smiled and trotted over, brushing her mane back as she did so. She came to a stop and gave me large grin and saw her eyes close halfway.
“Hellooooo handsome!” she whistled. “What’s your name?”
I was taken aback by such a bold movement. “S-Silver Blade.” I stammered.
“Well Silver Blade, did you know you’re looking at the pony incarnation of awesomeness?” Her grin grew a smaller, turning into wry smile.
Was…was she hitting on me?
Suddenly I flash of green that made both me and the rainbow maned pegasus jump landed right in Rainbow Dash’s breast. It was 8-Bit giving the cyan pegasus an angry jab.
“Back off. He’s mine,” she growled fiercely. RD seemed to get the idea and stepped away cautiously. I, however, was confused. I was hers? I was her what?
After that small confrontation, and after 8-Bit had cooled down a bit, we both spent some time getting to Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends. I believe they recounted about fifty of their adventures a few of them even involving monsters I had fought. I was delighted to hear that Nightmare Moon was restored to Princess Luna, but was saddened to know that Starswirl never got to know of her fate.
A few hours had passed, but the train finally pulled into a stop. All eight of us got off and walked through the regal city of Canterlot. I can safely say that city was mostly filled with rich ponies and aristocrats, but the buildings looked clean and elegant. We approached Canterlot Castle and were let in by the royal guards. I entertained the thought of becoming a royal guard after my job as a rescue team member ended. It would have been the perfect way to use my expertise with a sword.
There was no waiting. The eight of us were let in to see the princess right away. Sure enough, there was the white, regal alicorn sitting on her rightful throne, smiling warmly at us. As her eyes landed on me, she nodded subtly. Somehow I knew my questions were about to be answered.
“Please, make yourselves comfortable my little ponies. We have a lot to talk about,” the princess invited. We did. “First, I’d like to start off by talking about Silver Blade’s…condition.”
Gulp. This couldn’t end well.
“Silver Blade, I wished you had told me you were a human sooner. You are tied to the disappearance of the Elements of Harmony, but they have been right in front of you all this time.” This caused some murmurs among us. I had no idea what she meant but I figured I was about to find out. “Let me tell you all a story that dates back to long before I was alive.
“At the dawn of ponykind, darkness incarnate threatened to enslave the majority of the ponies, which as you know would drastically change Equestria as we know it. Just when all seemed lost, a pony stood up to the darkness and defeated it. However, she claimed she wasn’t a pony, but that she was human.
“The human had come from her world, so after she saved ponykind and established harmony she had to go back. However, she left part of her soul behind that split into six different elements. We know these as the Elements of Harmony. That is how the Elements would choose their bearers.
“Silver Blade, you are the reincarnation of that human. That is why the Elements disappeared: They were reassembling into you.”
Everypony in the room gasped at that except me. I had stumbled and was completely breathless. What? Why? How? Confusion pulled a cloth over my mind and made my thinking foggy.
“It would explain why you can’t remember anything, why the Elements have gone, and why you traveled through time to protect your soul from being destroyed. You are the Elements of Harmony. This leads us to our next point…
“As you may or may not know, the brief disappearance of said Elements weakened Equestria. It wasn’t your fault, but it still happened. The spirit of disharmony, Discord, took full advantage of the weakening and broke free from his imprisonment in stone. He is the opposite of you Silver Blade, and only you can seal him away once more. He’s bent the griffins to his will and taken Cloudsdale, making it his chaos capital of the world. I need you to go there and stop him once and for all. Since the Elements of Harmony restore what was corrupted, you should be able to seal Discord away once more.”
“Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, hold the phone a second!” 8-Bit chimed in, waving her hooves in frenzy. “For starters, he’s an earth pony and can’t walk in the clouds. Two, could get seriously hurt! And three, why the in the hoof should we feel we need to help you out?!”
“Eight Bit…” Celestia said soothingly, “He has to do this. My student can cast a spell on him that should let him walk on the clouds. And…you’re welcome to go with him. You are part of the same rescue team after all.”
“But I…” 8-bit started to say, but her voice shrank away, making her resemble Fluttershy. I thought if my friend could use a motivational boost, now would be the time.
“It’s okay. We’ve taken down every other challenge before, how much more difficult can this one be?” I encouraged.
“Well…ok…” she finally relented.
I turned to Princess Celestia, ready for what could be my final mission.
“Alright, let’s go.”
* * * * *
“This canon here should fire you both to Second Cloudsdale. The clouds are soft, so you’ll have a safe landing.” Celestia was explaining. “As for getting back, my student has a device that will teleport you both back, but it only works once. 8-Bit can use her expertise in technology to activate it.”
Twilight Sparkle then trotted up to my companion and proudly strapped some sort of device to her left forehoof. She had already cast the spell on me, so I crawled into the barrel of the canon, shortly followed by 8-Bit. It was quite cramped; what with her legs jabbing into my stomach. I tried to reposition myself, but ended up in an even more uncomfortable position. I was lying on my back with my back legs facing out of the canon.
“You’re flank is right in my face!” 8-Bit complained.
“You probably like it there, don’t you?” I kid.
She didn’t respond to that, but quickly turned her head in an attempt to keep her blushing from my sight.
I heard a sizzle and then from the outside, Twilight’s voice begin to count down.
“Five!”
Oh boy, we were actually doing this.
“Four!”
Oh, just hurry up already!
“Three!”
Wait, what if it hurt? What if it really hurt?
“Two!”
I’m starting to have second thoughts about this!
“ONE!”
No more time to think. I felt a fiery heat on my back explode as wind ripped through my mane. Wait, when did I leave the canon? I tore through the sky as Second Cloudsdale became closer and closer. From what I saw at my distance, it was a huge floating city in the sky…made out of pink cotton candy and raining chocolate milk? I wanted a closer look, but suddenly I remembered an old phrase “Be careful what you wish for,” because a moment later I did get a close look at it, via a head lodged in cotton candy.
It took me a couple of tries, but I finally got my head out of the ground (?) and looked around. Pillars of cloud, floors and buildings made out of cloud… It was amazing! I was pulled out of my trance by the sticky feeling of cotton candy on my face. I got some of it off with my hooves, but there was just some that wouldn’t come off, no matter how hard I tried.
I looked over at my green pegasus friend who had softened her landing with a flap of her wings. The lucky pony passed through the chocolate rain and came out clean! Still, I found it unfair that I get messy.
“Hey, can I have a little help here?” I asked as I pointed to the cotton candy still stuck to my face.
“Sure!” 8-Bit responded and trotted over, giving the part of my face that held the cotton candy a lick. She continued walking like nothing happened. I, on the other hoof, suddenly flushed for reasons I wasn’t aware of. I shook the feeling off and followed my friend.
“You know…I didn’t see it before, but now I can’t help but thinking back to how much resemblance to the Elements of Harmony you bear. You’ve never told a lie since I’ve met you; you’ve never abandoned our clients, missions, and…me. You’re nice, which is hard to come by in colts these days, you’re always putting others before yourself, and you take everything with good humor.” She chuckled.
I thought on what she said and kept walking, suddenly noticing that she wasn’t next to me. I turned around to see her fixing me with a sad stare. Curiously, I trotted back over to her.
“Silver Blade…there’s one more thing you should know…” she started a little hesitantly. I nodded for her to go on. “The accident…wasn’t an accident. A griffin was bullying me constantly and when I finally decided to stand up to her, she slashed out at me in anger. Maybe it was an accident that she sore one of my feathers out, but she still wanted to hurt me…
“You remember me telling you how I wanted to join the Wonderbolts? Well, I didn’t think the lost feather would matter that much. I tried one of the flying courses and fell. It took a while to recover from that injury… After I finally did recover, I was convinced I would never fly again and discovered my love for technology and making ponies happy…
“But I didn’t know who I was trying to make happy. The people who had hurt or ignored me? I lost inspiration quickly. One day, I decided I didn’t want to try anymore. I walked into the Everfree Forrest and hoped a monster would find me and eat me. That’s what I was doing there when I met you, Silver Blade.
“At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of you, but you’ve been the best friend I’ve ever had. You’ve been the only friend I’ve ever had… You’re the reason I started working on the P.E.S. again. I was making it for you… You’ve…you’ve given me a reason to try again.”
8-Bit’s sad look turned into a soft smile as she wrapped her forlegs around me in a tight hug. I returned her hug. When I was lost without a clue of who I was or what to do, 8-Bit (figuratively) took me under her wing and was a friend I could always depend on. She was the only pony who stayed with me when I got banished…she was my only friend as well. We let go and continued walking. There was a task at hand.
In ten seconds flat, a griffin swooped down and landed in front of us with her talons pointed in our direction. I had never seen a griffin before, but this one looked like a lion fused with a bird.
“Stop right there, losers!” she yelled at us. “You punks think I’m just gonna let you pass?” She growled and swiped at 8-Bit, who suddenly locked up in fear. I jumped over and tackled her out of harm’s way. “You’re probably here to help that jerk who’s turned this place upside down by controlling the griffins, aren’t you?!” she squawked.
“Hold on! Stop attacking!” I shouted as I dodged just as her talons swooped over the area where I once stood. “We’re here to stop Discord, not help him! Where in Equestria did you get that idea?!”
Her talons stopped, inches from my face.
“Wait, so…you dweebs aren’t helping that loser?” she inquired.
Geez, what was with all of the name calling?
“No! Unless he...Oh pony, he’s trying to pit ponies and griffins against each other to create more chaos!” I said as the realization dawned on me. Suddenly the griffin looked abashed.
“Oh…Well…In that case, I’m gonna find him and make that dork pay for tricking me! Nobody tricks Gilda and gets away with it! Where is he?!” Gilda growled.
I already thought 8-Bit was kind of rough around the edges, but compared to Gilda; 8-Bit was a saint.
“Looking for me?” a booming, yet silky voice (how does that even work?) from above our heads called. As I looked up, I was surprised to see that he was actually coming from the floor! He stood 6 feet taller than we did, with an assortment of un-matching body parts. His red eyes scanned the three of us as if we were the specimen of his latest sadistic experiment.
“Discord.” I stared at him. He was the spirit of disharmony: The opposite of me. He was going to hurt not just everypony in Equestria, but the other races too. I had to stop him. I leapt through the air at him, unsheathing my sword as I did so. “Time to put you back where you belong!”
Discord snapped his fingers and my sword become flimsy and unusable, bouncing right off of him. I jumped back and the sword naturally went back to its regular shape. Did…I restore my own sword? His eyes narrowed upon seeing this, suddenly becoming dangerously serious.
“So you’re the incarnation of the Elements of Harmony…If I destroy you, chaos will last forever,” he mused as he took a step closer to me.
“I won’t let you hurt my Silver!” 8-Bit shouted as she bravely glided to where Discord stood. He snapped his fingers again and a wall appeared out of the clouds and my partner flew right into it. I cringed for her; it looked painful. Discord kept stepping forward, getting closer to me. Gilda flew over to 8-Bit and used her talons to slash through the wall that had been created. Suddenly, I was very glad I wasn’t hit by them.
“Get back up you weakling!” she shouted at my friend and flew at Discord, talons raised. I didn’t think any walls would be stopping her anytime soon, but that isn’t what the spirit of disharmony had in mind. Instead, a fireball was sent out of his claw at Gilda, giving her barely enough time to dodge it. She flapped her wings faster, but in the opposite direction of Discord. “Oh forget this! I am so out of here! You losers are on your own!” And just like that, she was gone. I tried to run to 8-Bit, but found myself frozen in place with my destruction getting closer and closer to me.
“I wish Starswirl were here…he would never abandon us…” I mumbled to myself, Discord now standing directly over me.
A flash of white flared behind him and he turned around, giving me room to see. It was as if there was someone listening to my prayers!
“Starswirl!”
He seemed…older. His beard was a faded grey, he was still scrawny but now his skin sagged, and he had massive bags under his eyes. Part of me wondered how much time he had spent perfecting the time travel spell.
“Silver Blade! Wait for a moment, I need to cast this spell to let me stand on these pink sticky clouds of the future and…there! Now, this spell only lasts for sixty seconds but I think that will be enough to inform each other of the things that have happened since our last meeting. Where is Eight Bit?”
“Good! Let me go first. This guy is attacking Eight Bit and me and we need your help to defeat him.”
Starswirl took one look at Discord and said, “Oh.”
His horn glow and a magic energy field enveloped Discord, but he refused to budge. Instead, he teleported over to 8-Bit and scooped her up.
“Hmm…I wonder how that green coat will look under a shade of grey?” he pondered with a chuckle.
Thankfully, Starswirl’s reaction was fast enough to teleport in front of Discord, grab 8-Bit, and teleport back to me. At that point, she regained consciousness and wobbled to her feet. She looked at Starswirl and almost fainted again, but I helped steady her.
“How do we defeat an enemy who does not follow the laws of physics?!” Starswirl wondered out loud in his frustration.
Discord looked slightly taken aback, but laughed. “There is no defeating chaos!” He launched several fireballs at all of us, and I noticed too late that we were on the edge of a cloud.
“Silver Blade, Eight Bit! My time travel spell is all used up! I’m sorry!” Starswirl cried as he disappeared in a flash of white, moments before the burning tore at 8-Bit and my coat and launched us both off of the cloud.
Realizing we were falling to our demise, any hope of survival rested on one final variable:
8-Bit.
“Eight Bit!” I cried, “You have to fly!”
“What?!” she screamed as she looked at me incredulously, “Are you crazy?! I can’t!”
“You have to!” I pleaded, as the ground got ever closer, “Or we’re both done for!”
She paused, but suddenly I saw a look of determination set in her eyes. She looked at me and nodded. “Okay! I’ll try!”
I glanced at her wings as they trembled and unfolded. Being that she was a few feet above me, 8-Bit nosedived to get to me. I felt a wave of panic surge through me as the ground got dangerously close. She wrapped her forehooves around my waist and held tightly, flapping her wings furiously as she tried to slow our descents. We were slowed a little bit, but we were still falling quickly. From the the expression on my partner’s face, I could tell she was being strained from the effort.
The ground came quickly and…I blacked out.
When I woke up, it was dark and thundering, but it wasn’t raining. My body was sore all over, but nothing was broken. 8-Bit had done it! She had saved both of us! I looked around for her. I let a sigh of relief as I saw her nearby, simply unconscious and not hurt. My attention was drawn to Discord, who was standing only a few feet away from the both of us. Another crack of thunder rang.
“Discord.”
“Harmony.”
Yet more thunder ran through the sky.
How was I supposed to defeat an opponent who had control over reality? It was then I figured out what I was supposed to do by thinking back to Celestia’s words.
…However, she left part of her soul behind that split into six different elements. We know these as the Elements of Harmony. That is how the Elements would choose their bearers.
Since the Elements of Harmony restore what was corrupted, you should be able to seal Discord away once more.
I knew what I had to do.
From behind me, I heard 8-Bit groaning as she woke up. I looked back at her sadly. I had to do this but…I feared what it would do to her.
“I’m so sorry Eight Bit…”
“Huh? Silver Blade? What are you…?”
I turned to face Discord as my sword illuminated with every color in the rainbow, all swirling around the blade in a double helix. I drew it from its leather sheath and pointed it at the god of chaos. It was pretty hard to talk with my mouth full, but I managed to get my line out.
“This! Ends! HERE!”
I charged him and the rainbow licked around my body like flames, covering me in the hues of the spectrum. I leapt through the air and slashed at the mid section of disharmony and landed gracefully.
“Wait did you…NO!” Discord shouted as his body began to stiffen, the solid rock replacing his form. He squirmed and struggled, but his efforts were in vain. Soon, Discord was nothing more than a statue as he hit the floor with a load thump. I hobbled over to 8-Bit as my joints started to stiffen.
“Wow! You did it Silver Blade! You actually did it!” the green pegasus cheered. I smiled sadly at her, knowing her life was about to be flipped upside down. “C’mon let’s celebrate!” She pasused, then stared at my hooves encased in stone. “Silver…what’s wrong with your legs…?”
I sighed. Now was the time to tell her. “Eight Bit…The Elements of Harmony have defeated Discord in the past, but only as a temporary fix. Since I am Harmony, I had to make this fix permanent. I had to tie part of my soul to him. The physical and magical properties of the Elements of harmony will remain intact but…Well, if he’s in stone…something has to give.”
Now I could see tears start to well in my friend’s eyes as well as some in my own.
“Wh-what are you saying?” she stammered. “You can’t be stone! I need you! Silver Blade, don’t do this!” she pleaded as the first tears fell from her cheeks.
Thunder cracked again and rain started to fall.
“This is the only way to keep Discord sealed away permanently. Eight Bit, I just wanted you to know that you were the best friend a pony, or human,” I added with a half-hearted chuckle, “could ever have. I’m proud to have been on your rescue team…”
“No…no, no! Please Silver, please don’t go…!” By now 8-Bit had her forelegs wrapped around me and was sobbing uncontrollably. The stone crept along my flanks and I lost all feeling in my hindquarters. I wished I could’ve hugged her back, but my forelegs were already numb. The steady downpour didn’t help brighten the mood of the occasion either.
“What the hoof am I gonna do without you…?” My friend asked me between sobs.
“I don’t know…I’m so sorry Eight Bit!” By now, I was crying as much as she was. I thought back to all of the times we spent together, and how now it was all going to end. This was goodbye.
“Silver Blade, I…” She paused, chocking on her own sobs, then looked at me with those adorable, terrified eyes, “I…I love you!”
The stone was up to my neck, but my body still flushed with emotion.
“I love you too Eight Bit!”
And as the stone encased me fully, and as I heard 8-Bit scream the name she had given me in a final act of despair, I blacked out one final time.