The Binding of Harmony

by Dreagknight-LostWriter

The Basement

"AAHHHH!" Fluttershy and Twilight screamed at the top of their lungs as they fell through the floor, plummeting into the dark depths.

Twilight quickly cast a bubble spell, encasing both her and Fluttershy as they hit the ground, bouncing a few times until coming to a gentle stop, with Twilight dispelling the bubble shortly after. After catching their breath and letting their hearts slow down to a steady beat, they started to look around.

"Is this Discord’s basement?" Fluttershy squeaked, eyes darting around the room.

They were inside a large rectangular room that was surprisingly well-lit. As they looked around, Twilight took note of the three dark doors in the sides of the room. Fluttershy shivered nervously, not because she didn't know where she was, but because she couldn't hear anything but her and Twilight trotting around.

"I-I don't understand, where are we?" Twilight asked, more to herself than to Fluttershy.

"I don't know," Fluttershy said, sticking close to Twilight.

Using her magic, Twilight pulled out the scroll Discord had given them. Opening it up, she activated the map part of the scroll.

"Ugg, this map is no help," she said, looking at it. The scroll showed a picture of a lit, square room with a small image of a butterfly and a sparkle. It also showed the doors in front of them, but they were blacked out. Annoyed, Twilight tossed the scroll back into her saddle bag and started to look around again.

"Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything here," Twilight said, seeing that the room was, indeed, very empty.

"And I can't see past these doors," she continued, standing next to one and peering in.

"Should we go in?" Fluttershy asked, hoping the answer would be a “no.”

"That seems to be our only option," Twilight said, casting a light orb spell and walking in.

She walked only a few steps before bumping into an invisible barrier. Twilight stepped back, confused. Not only was there a barrier preventing her from advancing forwards, her light-orb spell didn't seem to be working at all. Fluttershy walked into the room with her, and instantly the door behind them slammed shut.

Fluttershy squeaked. The lights in the room turned on to reveal five hoof-sized parasprites flying around.

"Parasprites?" Twilight said, now able to walk into the room. As if on cue, the five parasprites flew straight at her. Twilight jumped back as four of them whizzed by her, the fifth one hitting her in her side.

"Ow!" she yelled, rubbing her side in annoyance.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, rushing over to Twilight, but was stopped by two more parasprites coming at her.

"AHH!" screamed Fluttershy. Using her wings as a boost, she thrust herself backwards.

"These aren't normal parasprites," Twilight said, dodging three more that were trying to hit her.

"What do we do, then?" Fluttershy asked, trying to keep her distance from them.

Twilight thought for a second.

"Maybe I can stun them," she said, charging up a paralyzation spell.

Twilight had used her paralyzation spell before when she was learning it, but this time it felt different, it felt alien to her. Twilight didn't have time to think about what was wrong with the spell as two parasprites came her way. Releasing the spell, she shot a white, slow-moving sphere at it. The spell moved slowly but still hit. Upon impact, the parasprite glowed red and stopped moving for a split second.

"It’s not stunned?" Twilight said with disbelief.

After blasting four more spells at them, she found, to her surprise, that she didn't need to charge her spell while down here. The parasprite was hit by two spell-orbs before imploding. Without thinking, Twilight shot several more at the other parasprites in the room. After the last parasprite was gone, all the doors in the room reopened.

"Do we have to fight our way through every one of these rooms?" she asked herself.

“I hope not," Fluttershy said, coming back up next to her.

"And what did I do to those parasprites?" Twilight said, looking around for any sign or trace that they were still here. Taking the scroll back out, she opened the map part again.

"It seems the map updates itself whenever we make any progress," she hypothesized, the map now showing seven rooms instead of four, but only the one they was in was bright, and the room they were previously in now had a tinted glow. Pressing another glyph, Twilight opened the chart. It showed two and a half hearts and some other symbols Twilight hadn't asked Discord about. Closing the scroll and putting it away, Twilight looked at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, do you know what Discord did to you before we came here?"

"No," Fluttershy said, spreading her wings out and giving them a little flap.

"Then why not just ask me?" A voice from behind them said.

"Discord," Fluttershy said, looking at Twilight.

Twilight turning around to where she had heard the voice, but she didn't see him.

"Where is he?" Twilight asked, confused.

"I'm right up here." Discord said, tapping on Twilight's head.

Using her magic, Twilight picked up the Discord plushie off of her head and sat it down on the floor.

"Aww, and I had such a great view," Discord said, getting up and walking around.

"Discord, how are you here, what did you do to Fluttershy, why isn't my spell working properly, and why were we being attack by parasprites?"

Discord flew up and sat down on Fluttershy’s back.

"Hmm, let’s see now," Discord said, putting a talon to his chin and laying down, "All your spells have been reverted to shot spells. And Fluttershy, I gave her the ability to fight alongside you."

"How?" Twilight asked, wanting to know how all her spells were being tampered with.

"Fight? I don't want to hurt anypony," Fluttershy said, wide-eyed.

"All you have to do is flap your wings to the side of your opponent," Discord said, giving a little demonstration and then flying back over towards Twilight, sitting down inside her saddle bag, "Oh, Fluttershy, remember what I said. You can’t hurt anything or be hurt down here."
The plushie then changed back to normal and went limp inside the bag.

"That wasn't much help," Twilight said, rolling her eyes and walking to the next room.

Fluttershy didn't say anything, she just flew next to Twilight. Her mind was on the fact that she would have to fight to save her friends. She didn't like fighting, but she didn't like the idea of her friends being unconscious or worse. No, she had to do this to help her friends. If she was the one out there like that, they would do everything they could to help her. Fluttershy looked at Twilight, wondering if she was going through the same type of guilt right now.

Just like last time, she was once again blocked by a barrier as she trotted into the room, and as Fluttershy came up behind her the door closed and the lights flew on in the room. But to Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s surprise there was an item floating on a rock in the middle of the room. Cautiously trotting towards it, Twilight looked at the item from all sides before reaching out a hoof to touch it. The item disappeared on touch, and both Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s scrolls started to vibrate. Taking out their scrolls, it read: Sad Bombs-Tear blasts, +5 bombs.

"Bombs?" said Twilight, opening her saddlebag and seeing five small bombs inside of it. Not wanting to use or even touch them yet, she placed the scroll back inside.

"Fluttershy, did you get any ‘bombs?’" Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded, placing her own scroll back inside.

"Okay then, on to the next room." Twilight said, glancing around nervously. Going into the next room, Twilight and Fluttershy both went
through the door together. As the door close behind them and the lights came on, they saw even more parasprites they had to fight.

*****

After clearing the room out, they saw a few bits on the floor. Walking over to them and collecting them, Twilight figured they might be needed later on. Twilight had picked up two bits while Fluttershy grab one. Looking back into the bag, Twilight noticed she had three bits inside.

"Fluttershy, how many bits did you pick up?"

"Oh, umm, one." Fluttershy said, looking back into her bag to see she also had three, "Umm, it seems I have three."

"I see. It seems we might be sharing the same items as we pick them up, I think," Twilight said, wondering if that was true or not, and if so, whether they were sharing the same amount used as well.

As Twilight was looking back at the scroll to see if there was something about the items they would be picking up, Fluttershy was dead silent, looking at the door in front of her. The door horrified her. The door itself was a bit larger than the others, and this one had three skulls on top of the frame. Whatever was through this door, Fluttershy did not want to go through and find out.

"This map is pointless," Twilight said in anger, tossing the scroll back into her bag, "It doesn't even tell us where to go."

Twilight looked over to Fluttershy, seeing her looking at the door in front of them. Looking at it herself, Twilight could see why her friend looked so horrified.

"Fluttershy, there’s nothing to worry about. I'm sure it’s just a door design, nothing more." She said, trying to convince both her friend and herself.

Walking into the barrier space, Twilight turned around and motioned Fluttershy to follow. Slowly, Fluttershy got up and followed behind her. Stopping just mere inches from the doorway, Fluttershy braced herself for the horror on the other side. Stepping through, both of their scrolls started to vibrate again. Confused as to why, since they hadn't picked up anything, they took out the scrolls. The scrolls both showed a picture with of what looked like an overstuffed, living pillow with parasprites around it. The scroll title: The Duke of Parasprites.

Author's Note:

So the next chapter they face the Duke of Parasprites, sounds easy enough for them, but how will the fair on the next floor. Remember these 2 things first, they can die, but they won't stay dead they'll just "respawn". And second, the first floor is always the easiest.