At the Twilight of Harmony

by Rammy

The Push South

(48 days since the fall of Traxti City)

22 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder

2 days since Baltimare’s destruction

Late morning, Ponyville

---

“Finally! A bucking use for that mix-matched monstrosity!” Quartermaster mocked.

He of Hourglass smirked, showing off his fangs. Twilight suppressed a shudder at the toothy grin coming from He of Hourglass. Normally Twilight wouldn’t notice, as she grew up with a dragon, so fangs usually didn’t bother her, but He of Hourglass’s current expression did. She supposed it was because the dragon had lost all the warmth that he once had.

“Now.” He of Hourglass turned serious again. “How long will this take?”

“Uh…” Twilight was momentarily caught off guard, but managed to quickly get back on track before the dragons could become irritated. “At minimum, several days to well over a week… It depends on how ‘cooperative’ the Dark One will be. However, if you want the Equestrian military to back you up, it will take a good week longer, or more.”

“Figures…” He of Hourglass grumbled. He wanted the dragon dead in his claws now, but it still would take time for the dragons to gather, given the vast distances many would have to traverse. “Keep me informed of your progress every six to eight hours. Now, is there anything else? This will be the last face to face for some time, afterall.”

“Yes… I… that is…” Twilight inwardly groaned; she had practiced this conversation over and over, and yet, when it was time to speak, she found she she couldn't remember anything she had planned to say. What was worse, she knew from experience that speaking from the heart is required for these types of moments, so she couldn’t fall back to her trusty flash cards to help her.

“What is it, Ascended One?” He of Hourglass didn’t even attempt to hide his irritation.

“You're my friend, He of Hourglass… and... and…” Twilight starting to choke up as her tears began to overpower her. “I can’t stand seeing you… hurting like this... Is there anything, anything I can do, besides what we are doing, that will help ease your pain?”

He of Hourglass blinked for a moment, then walked up to Twilight and knelt down so they could see eye to eye. For just a flash, the old He of Hourglass was back. “Turn back time…” He sadly stated, before the new He of Hourglass returned. He then got back up and turned away from Twilight. “Hourglass out.”

The Hourglass Council disappeared from the Friendship Council. Twilight was silent for a few moments as she contemplated what she saw, and He of Hourglass’ final statement.

“What do you think Cadance?” She finally asked.

The air shimmered near the edge of the room. Soon, the form of Princess Cadance appeared. She then shook herself and sat next to Twilight. She never liked using that spell, as it always made her feel like some sick voyeur, even though it was helpful when it came to her duties as the Princess of Love.

With the Crystal Empire now restabilized after Starlight’s insurrection, Cadance was able to return to Equestria proper to ease some of Celestia’s and Luna’s burdens, so they could focus more fully on military matters. Plus, the Princess of Love would be able to keep the morale up amongst the civilian population in this, the worst crisis ever faced by the pony nation. Twilight had heard she would be dealing with the more mundane, but just as important, civilian matters for the foreseeable future. She took advantage of this and requested that Cadance come down for the final face-to-face meeting of Equestria and Hourglass, before the plan that He of Everfree, Discord, and herself had developed earlier was enacted.

“I’m at somewhat of a loss with him…” Cadance admitted, after taking a moment to finish collecting herself. “After all, there are some aspects of love that are universal, but there are others that aren’t. Without magically being able to see his aura, and knowing more about dragon biology and culture, I am left with only generalities...”

Twilight deflated at hearing this. When she had requested Cadance come to this meeting to assess He of Hourglass, she was hoping for something, anything actually, that could help rescue the clan. She didn’t want to lose He of Hourglass as he was, even if only in spirit, the only reminder she had of Spike.

Cadance was saddened to see Twilight clearly lose hope when she gave her opinion. She wished she could give more help, but she couldn’t. It frustrated her, as He of Hourglass had saved her empire, and she felt that she should be able to do more to repay that debt. “Will the death of the Dark One ease his pain? No. The most he will get is closure. The biggest hindrance to that, however, is blind vengeance, which never brings closure, but only more pain. And I can’t be entirely sure, but from what I was able to see...”

“Is there anything I can do?”

Cadance gave Twilight an encouraging hug. “You are already doing it… However, don’t push, just be whatever he needs… Without personally meeting with him, that is the only advice and help I can give.”

“Is there anything else?” Twilight pleaded again, hoping to pry something more out of her.

Cadance sighed, lowering her gaze in sadness. “No…”

---

Early Afternoon, North of Fillydelphia

---

“Are your ponies ready, Celestia? There is no telling the reaction of the Chaos Bringer…” Discord trailed off as a flood of all of the scenarios of what could go wrong invaded his mind once again.

“I wish we had the griffons here to help us…” Celestia grumbled, avoiding answering Discord’s question. She didn’t want to say yes. That meant sending her ponies into battle, and there was no such thing as a casualty free battle. To her, this was a living nightmare that she had not wanted to have again. To think that not long ago, the only danger she ran into was when she was happily sneaking a slice of cake from the palace kitchen, while trying to not be caught by the kitchen staff, Discord, or worse, Luna.

“It can’t be helped, sister, they need more time to mobilize.” Luna countered. “They are not as unified as we are, afterall.”

“How much longer?” Celestia knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it again, in hopes that it would somehow lessen since she asked last.

“A few days... But, if memory serves, it will most likely be twice that.”

Celestia let out a puff of breath in irritation. “It is to be expected, I suppose. Now, before we do this, let’s go over the plan one more time…”

“Geez, Sunbutt, you need to pay better attention,” Discord teased. He understood her reluctance. What they were about to do was essentially kicking the hornet's nest and running away while screaming like a little filly. He, himself, was not too thrilled about the plan, but, if they didn’t at least attempt something, the Chaos Bringer would soon bore of the west coast cities and make his way towards the heartland of Equestria. They just didn’t have time for anything other than a stupid, crazy plan, worthy of Sentinel.

Celestia growled at the ‘nickname’, then sighed heavily. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood as best he could. The tension was almost thick enough to be tangible. What they were about to do would either work, or fall apart in a massive massacre, and Equestria would be doomed to the same fate as Traxti City, or worse.

“Okay, so what we have figured out is that we will utilize my special talent of annoying dragons… wonder if I should get a cutiemark for this…” Discord gazed down at his own flank as he flashed several cutiemarks, each one more bizarre than the last, before he pulled off the last one like a bandaid or sticker. “Nah... Anyway… The amount of time to get him south to Hourglass, I can’t manage by myself, so we will use guerilla tactics when I need to rest, to mimic my charm. The griffons, once they join us, will act as support. The Elements of Harmony will be in the back, just incase I need help pushing him away from the army, if, for whatever the reason, he shifts his focus away from me, or whoever is currently poking the Goozim with a stick.”

“As for what we will do once we get to Hourglass, that has not yet been hashed out. The Dragon Keeper is being mum to me about the plans. It’s possible that he told Twilight more, but I doubt it. I’m sure he has a plan… I hope…”

“Okay, one final thing. How is the evacuation of everypony to the south going?”

“Nearly done. The last town to be evacuated is Appleloosa, and that is only as a precaution, as the plan is to march a good distance to the east of the town and through the Tacksworn Valley, given it will be the easiest place to enter the Badlands without going by sea.

“What of the buffalo tribes in the area?”

“That’s the biggest snag we have encountered. According to a local by the name of... “ The communication pony flipped through some pages of the report she was holding before landing on the page that had the information she needed. “Braeburn Apple, they have not been seen or heard from in two days. The afternoon of the destruction of Baltimare, to more exact. Normally, this is not out of the ordinary; however, according to the same local, this is highly unusual during winter.”

“That is odd…” Celestia muttered. She did understand the nomadic ways of the buffalo tribes, including the fact that they usually sheltered down to a single location during the winter months. She wondered what could have caused their disappearance. Maybe their Visionwalker had seen the Dark One during a vision quest, and they made haste to safer ground… but that was contrary to their warrior ways. That left a more probable, but still unlikely, scenario. The buffalo tribes had always been friendly to dragons, ever since a certain dragon with a smoking problem. Could it be that they were already making their way towards Hourglass? Nothing else made sense, but she knew that until they were found, she would be left with nothing but speculation.

“Have a squad of the fastest Pegasi continue to search for them. If they find them, let them know what is going on. If they wish to stand and fight, try to persuade them to reconsider, but don’t force them. They must choose their own fate. Above all though, the pegasi are to avoid the Dark One at all costs. I want to minimize casualties as much as possible.”

“Yes, Princess.” The pony saluted before heading off to relay her orders.

“Are the supply lines ready?”

“Yes.”

Celestia took a deep breath to steady her nerves. There was no point in delaying any longer. She looked over at her sister, Luna, and saw that she was ready. With a final glance, she steeled herself fully, and looked off towards the mass of ash and fire that was the Dark One. She then gave a slight nod to let Discord know it was time.

---

26 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder

Noon, Tacksworn Valley

---

The march south (and a bit to the west) had been surprisingly brisk. The Dark One had done exactly what they hoped. As soon as Discord had begun his usual ‘pestering’, the dragon had locked onto him, and went after him for a while, before stopping after sundown, apparently to rest. It made for long days for Discord, even with Luna and Celestia lending assistance in the afternoons and evenings, or whenever he needed help or rest. Both Luna and Celestia had strictly forbidden their ponies from interfering or assisting until ordered to do so, and so far, they followed those orders.

Celestia sighed, waiting for the dragon to begin to stir. These moments were the most tense. A less experienced pony would have attacked, thinking that the dragon would be vulnerable at that moment; however, she knew that was the worst time to attack a dragon, and the dragon was already in a fury because of Discord.

The past four days had been like that. With the rise of the sun, the pestering would begin, and would continue until evening, when it would stop. Then a night of watchful sleep. Right now, they were making their way through Tacksworn Valley.

“Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, I’m listening.” Celestia lied. She had lost focus as the communication pony relayed his report. If she hadn’t missed too much of it, then he was once again going on about the disappearance of the buffalo tribes.

“As I was explaining, even our best trackers can’t find a trace them. No tracks, no dust clouds, no smoke from a fire, no witnesses, no residue magic from a possible spell… Nothing! If it wasn’t for evidence of their winter encampments, it would be as if there never were any buffalo in the area.”

Where could they have gone? Celestia wondered.

I need a little help here. Discord magically called out.

I’m on my way. Celestia quickly lifted off and made her way to help Discord. That makes six times already, today! Only four days in and he’s beginning to tire!? I fear for when we pass beyond Equestria and into the Badlands...

---

29 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder

Early morning, At the border of Equestria and the Badlands

---

Celestia carefully lifted several of the boulders that comprised the border, giving the army standing behind her better passage. Suddenly, a noise behind her caught her attention. She turned around to see a disturbance in the ranks of the assembled ponies. Soon a unicorn stallion communication pony burst through, making his way to her. She sighed as she waited for the pony to get to her.

“Princess Celestia, the griffons have been spotted!”

“How many?”

“It's a bit difficult to say at this distance, but estimates from the spotters hold the number at between eight hundred and twelve hundred.”

That was a bit lower then she liked but, given that it was winter, the population size of the griffon eyries, and the continued influx of refugees, they were strained. She knew that to muster more would take more time… time that they did not have.

Of course, now that she thought about it, she wished her own forces were larger, but twelve thousand large, fairly evenly distributed between the three main pony tribes, would have to do. After such a long time of peace, the need for a large army did not make sense, and was counter productive. Though she could have brought more ponies, she faced similar issues to those of the griffons. Again, along with it being winter, there was the chaos caused by the destruction of Baltimare and the mass evacuation of the two largest cities in Equestria, namely Fillydelphia and Manehattan. She knew that Princess Cadance would have her work cut out for her. At least she had experience dealing with a panicky population.

Celestia looked longingly at her homeland; a small part of her felt that this would be the last time she would ever see it. For now, she had a task, and that was to get the Dark One to Hourglass. She ordered the march to continue. As she watched them march past her, she just hoped that they would make it there. Her ponies were doing their best to hide it, but she could see the effects on their bodies and worse, on their spirits, as they crossed from Equestria and into the Badlands.

I hope this wasn’t a mistake. Celesta thought as she turned south to march with her ponies. A roar of pain from the Dark One echoed, darkening her mood further.

---

33 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder

Early morning, Salt Flats

---

HALT. Came the magically projected orders. The bearers knew that they must have reached the most dangerous and difficult section of the Untamed Wilds.

“How are we going to cross the Salt Flats? It’s not like all of us can fly over.” Rainbow voiced the question that was on nearly all of the bearers minds.

“The Princess and I, along with several others, are going to use an earth hardening spell.” Twilight explained as she started the prep work for the spell that was about to be cast.

“Uh... Ah am no magic expert buh there are several thous’ earth and unicorn ponies here…” Applejack countered.

“Four thousand, three hundred and fourteen earth ponies and three thousand, six hundred and seven unicorns, to be more precise. Though you are right, to a degree… I think harmony song magic should help… not only to get morale up but...”

“OOOH I got one!” Pinkie bounced happily, inadvertently interrupting Twilight.

“Pinkie, you have a song that can help?!” Twilight blinked in disbelief. She knew that Pinkie was extremely good at them, but she could not see her being able to get it to work here. Most of her songs dealt with some aspect of her element or friendship, not war. She was about to protest, when she realized it was probably best to just leave it alone and chalk it up to Pinkie being Pinkie.

“Yep-a-dep-a-rooni!” Pinkie exclaimed in excitement as she pulled a drum out of her mane.

The drums of war have soun-ded (hoo-)

Pinkie began to chant, with the army stomping in time. The rest of the bearers, even being around Pinkie and her antics for many years, still found their jaws dropping in shock.

The carrion birds are cir-cling (-rah)
Let clash of swords be-gin (hoo)
As the rivers turn to crimson blood (-rah)

“How ghastly.” Rarity whispered. She was appalled at the graphic nature of the song. To sing about blood and gore was just beastly.

“It’s typical for a war march song.” Twilight hissed back. “Now hush! We need all the magical power we have available to safely traverse the Salt Flats. Plus, we need to be careful to not let the Dark One know how vulnerable we are right now.”

Rarity huffed her indignity at a lady being subjected to the song, but complied. The Equestrian army slowly began to march into the Salt Flat unabated. A roar from the Dark One, from whatever Discord was doing, didn’t even phase them. The one problem was the fact that, even with the help of the Harmony Song, the three alicorn’s could feel the strain. They would need to get the other side, and quickly.

Hoorah! We march!
Hoorah! We fight!
Hoorah! We die!

For the glory of the Sun and Moon!

We hear our mistress cal-ling (hoo)
To the sweet embrace of bat-tle (-rah)
Iron on iron, steel on ste-el (hoo)
Let our lives, our fates be seal-ed (-rah)

Let us fly

And now, the griffons had started to join in, and the power of the harmony song gained more strength, easing some of the strain on those powering the hardening spell.

Let us march
Let us fight
Let us die

For tonight we shall dine in Tartarus!

Life pours...

---

35 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder

Early morning, Nearing Hourglass

---

“Something is troubling you, Luna… What is it?” Celestia questioned Luna, as they began that morning's march. Discord had already begun his now daily annoy the demon eldritch routine.

“This has been too easy…”

Celestia took a moment to try and figure out what that she could mean, before it dawned on her and her blood started to run cold, her white fur somehow paling. “You don’t mean...”

“He has been fooling us this whole time.” Luna kept staring towards the Dark One as she spoke, betraying no emotion, only pure logic. “Playing with us, like a mouse in the paws of a manticore. Amusing himself, and tiring us out at the same time, and we fell for it.”

“Buck.” Celestia muttered a curse. Luna was right. What was worse was that she let her fear of He of Hourglass’ rage cloud her judgement. Yes, He of Hourglass was on the edge of a rage growth, and would have most likely been more powerful than... “Damn it!” Celestia cursed again. “We were bucked no matter what we did…”

A demonic laugh boomed over the army. As one, every pony and griffon looked to see the Dark One’s glowing red eyes staring them down through his shroud of ash.

LIke MoTHs TO a flAME…

Author's Note:

You may have not noticed with the last chapter but I now have an editor who has been very very helpful (especially in the comma department) So a big round of hood stomps to Ryunaker!

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

Yeah... I figured acting out due to GDH's rage was gonna be bad. That kind of thing never goes well.

Maybe the mass death that ensues might actually snap GDH out of it?

[Rammy]

6710616 GAH! Sometimes I so want to blab but it would end up spoiling it! You'll just have to wait and see and I have to suffer....

[RadicalDishonesty]

6710635
That's... isn't it usually the other way around?

I, the reader, am begging for answers and you're drumming your fingers together saying "excellent"?

[Rammy]

6710701

I, the reader, am begging for answers and you're drumming your fingers together saying "excellent"?

Usually

It's just that I've been at this story now for over a year and a half now and we are sooooo close to the end that I'm going nuts!