Elements of Harmony

by Starscribe

Chapter 17: Equal

“I don’t like this,” Rarity said, for at least the hundredth time that day. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“I don’t get what the big deal is,” Rainbow countered. “They did what you wanted. Doesn’t that mean it’s okay?”

They hadn’t gone back to the castle, but straight to the little shipyard a short walk along the wall away. It was quite small—even her own peacetime Equestria had more ships than this, so she suspected it was just an emergency stockpile. Mostly tiny scout ships, like the one Rarity had requested on her behalf.

It was one of only two ships docked, an airship that looked nearly identical to those Twilight had seen in the fleet in her own world. A huge balloon connected by thick ropes to a tiny gondola below, which could be raised and lowered by releasing the heavy sandbags or by draining gas from the balloon.

I wonder why they never got any better. After all this fighting, you’d think they would’ve invented better airships than ours.

But it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be doing any fighting today. Twilight watched from the dock as Nightmare’s soldiers loaded the airship with supplies in a few wooden crates, moving up and down into the storage chamber then back to the surface.

“Nightmare Moon said I could use her resources to do this,” Twilight said. “She made me a Duchess. Borrowing a scout ship that was just sitting here doing nothing isn’t going to hurt the war.”

“I suppose not…” Rarity muttered. “I’d still be happier if we took the train.”

“We might,” Twilight replied, voice just as low. “But I know this pony. I know what she’s like, and I know how dangerous she’ll be when we get there. Speaking of which, did you get those extra supplies I asked for?”

“Coat-dye in all colors,” Rarity repeated, rolling her eyes. “Only critical wartime supplies here. Can’t imagine what we would do without them.”

“You will,” she answered. She fell silent as the soldiers approached again, saluting with bat wings.

“She’s prepared for takeoff, Duchess. Do you require any crew?”

“No,” Twilight responded. “I’m an experienced pilot. Thank you very much for your help.”

Twilight led the way across the dock, striding purposefully onto the ship without the slightest hesitation. She couldn’t show any doubt, anything to make these soldiers question whether or not she belonged here.

“You can fly?” Rainbow asked. “Why would an Alicorn learn to pilot an airship? You can do the real thing!”

“My brother…” she muttered, walking up to the helm and studying the wheel there. This airship used a simple crystal design thruster—once charged with magic, it would generate a gust of wind to push itself forward until the magic was gone. These controls were little more than a rudder wheel along with space for instruments. Altimeter, barometer, compass.

“I kinda learned on a hot air balloon. But it’s the same principle.”

“I hope so,” Rarity said. “Because if we crash this ship in drydock, I know Nightmare Moon is going to be unhappy. Not the worst thing we’ve done in the last few days…”

Twilight raised her voice, shouting to the dock-workers. “Release the mooring lines!” Then she looked back. “Everypony, stay away from the rails. We’re not going to crash on takeoff.”

She heard the instant the lines were loosed because of the whiz of ropes against wood. The ground lurched suddenly upward, making it difficult to stand. Twilight gritted her teeth, keeping one hoof on the wheel as they rose up into the air. The drive wasn’t charged, so at the moment all they did was ascend into the night sky.

The castle spread out below them, falling away as the clouds drew closer. The higher they went, the more the gasbag expanded, and the slower their ascent became.

The cold hit her like a physical force—cold enough that their breath came out in little puffs of snow rather than moisture. So cold that her joints wanted to stop moving, and ice condensed on her lashes.

“Thermocline,” Rainbow said, the only one who hadn’t dropped to shiver uselessly. “You gonna charge our heat shield, Alicorn?”

“Our…”

Rainbow pointed at something Twilight hadn’t noticed—a metal apparatus in the center of the ship, hanging down from the balloon above the way the heating element might on a hot-air craft. A sliver of red crystal hung in the center on metal joints, dark and lifeless.

Twilight pointed her horn, activating the enchantment. Steam rose from around their ship as ice boiled away from the wood, the balloon, and their own bodies. The icy cold that had sent her friends to near-instant hypothermia was lifted.

“Let’s hope the…” Rarity shook herself out, turning for the stairs. “Dock crew didn’t notice us nearly killing ourselves.” She left, hurrying away.

“I don’t understand why it’s—” She stopped abruptly. The answer was so obvious she didn’t really have to ask. Whatever strange magic stopped the world from freezing solid without the sun obviously did not extend very high above the surface of Equus. Flying above that limit would put them in air that no changeling could enter, and might make crystal ponies think twice as well.

At least the crystal ponies Twilight remembered. She’d never seen any of Sombra’s military ships.

“I don’t think I’m a fan of flying,” Applejack muttered. “That was awful.”

“You get used to it,” Rainbow said. “I’ve known pegasi who could make it over the thermocline for an hour at a time. So long as you have enough food in your system, the moving keeps you warm.”

“No thanks,” Pinkie said. “I’m going inside. I don’t want to be out here if that happens again.”

The wood won’t protect you if the heating spell wears off, Twilight thought. But there was no reason to confront them about it. “Anypony left up here want to help me fly?”

They flew for several hours. Twilight had requisitioned the best map she could, but that still required navigation by compass and sextant and a constant charge for both the heating and drive spells.

Fortunately for them, Twilight was an Alicorn, so she had enough magical energy to keep the airship moving on her own. Unfortunately for her, flying meant she had to see Equestria from above.

What was left of Equestria, anyway. What she’d suspected from her trip on the train was doubly confirmed as she saw it from the sky. Tiny islands of life around cities and their farms, then vast wastelands. Even in areas too warm for snow, the ground was bare of anything but dead trees and an occasional scavenger.

How can Nightmare Moon look at this every evening and still think she’s doing a good job as ruler of Equestria? Even worse, what about Equestria’s allies? Did Griffinstone have the magic necessary to keep themselves alive in this? What about the yaks, or the dragons?

Most of the animals have probably gone extinct. Maybe that’s why they don’t have the wood to build new airships. All the forests are dead.

Applejack settled down beside her on the edge of the deck without warning, looking out at the blackness below. “It isn’t pretty, is it?”

She shook her head. “How did Nightmare Moon let this happen? The planet is dying. Some of the most important cycles don’t even happen on land, they’re in the ocean. We might already be past the point of no return.”

Applejack didn’t answer for a long time. “I think we might be able to make things right. If we could bring the sun back. We’ve got lots of magic to spare, lots of ponies who want to fix things. But there just aren’t enough crystals to go around.”

“We’re still going to fix this,” Twilight promised. “I know things didn’t go… quite the way I imagined. But I just had one variable wrong in my equation, that’s all.” Two. Don’t forget about Fluttershy. “Once we get your Twilight wearing her Element, we’ll be able to cast the spell again. I can still fix this.”

“I hope so,” Applejack said. “You don’t think that maybe the changeling queen was right? Maybe we should be working with them to take down Sombra? If this doesn’t go the way we hope…”

“It will,” Twilight promised. “I’ve seen it work before, Applejack. I can cast it. If Starlight Glimmer can change the past, then I can change it too. Back to the way it should be.”

Applejack left her there on the deck, returning to the helm. Twilight let her go without objection. Whatever solace she’d been hoping to find alone up here was elusive.

A few days of slow travel later, and they were narrowing in on their destination. Twilight waited for the drive crystal to run out of magic, then gathered everypony together belowdecks.

There was little privacy here, only two real rooms. A storage area, and a living space with bunks on the outside and a range off in one corner. But at least there were enough seats at the table for each of her friends.

“So that’s what we have to look out for,” Twilight said. “This isn’t a new political system, not really. It’s just new for ponies to try it. From the look outside, Starlight’s system has had some success.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about hindering the war effort,” Rarity muttered, sipping at her lukewarm tea. “She takes in huge shipments of food and other supplies in exchange for taking political prisoners.”

“So it’s a penal colony?” Rainbow asked. “That means we’ll… just get arrested as soon as we go down there, right? For not doing our work details or whatever.”

“Not exactly,” Rarity said. “It’s a city, even if its method of organization is… unorthodox. Its ponies are free to do many things, just not leave. Our biggest difficulty will be getting out.”

“I’ll teleport us past the border once we get her,” Twilight answered. “Here on the topographical map, you can see there are some large formations… right here. We’ll come in during the transition between night and Eventide, when the moon is about to set in the west. From there, we can sneak in and find Twilight.”

“Do we, uh…” Fluttershy whispered. “I mean, do we all have to go? It shouldn’t take six ponies to find just one, right?”

“We have to,” Twilight answered. “Because Starlight Glimmer is in there. She’s a powerful sorceress, more powerful than me in some areas. She’s had decades to study forbidden magic. The last time we beat her, it took all our friendship, and we only barely managed. Even if I’m not your Twilight for real, I… I still need you girls.”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie said. “We’re with you, Twilight. After what I saw… I’m going to work in that bakery. I’m going to throw parties every day. There’s not a pony in the world who can stop me now.”

Even Rarity nodded her agreement. “We’ve come this far. Might as well finish what we started.”

“Then we’ll need this.” Twilight levitated the makeup out of the box and onto the table in front of them. “If she’s anything like she was in my Equestria, Starlight Glimmer runs a society without cutie marks. She takes them away, along with most of your magic, replacing them with these symbols. We’ll need new haircuts too. They’re awful. But hopefully with so many ponies living with her, we’ll be able to blend into the crowd. And… now that the past has changed, Starlight shouldn’t recognize me either. At least something good came of being forgotten.”

“Then let’s do it,” Rainbow said. “One more pony rescued, and we can save Equestria.”

---

Twilight crested the large rock formation at the lead, keeping her head low as she squinted down at the city below.

The origin of the architecture was familiar, even if the city she saw was distinct from the one she had briefly visited. Instead of tiny houses, the city was built in identical sections of brick building, repeated over and over. In each section there were many identical apartments, and a few utility and shop buildings.

And in the exact center was the palace, lording over the village around it. Not elegant as Celestia’s structures, or secure as Nightmare Moon had rebuilt her castle. Starlight Glimmer’s fortress had a simple walled courtyard, then a massive building that imitated the housing buildings all around.

Rainbow emerged from the hill beside her, hacking and coughing. None of them wore more than simple traveling clothes and a stray saddlebag or two. They’d hidden the Elements under a large rock beside where they’d parked, where they wouldn’t be discovered even in the worst-case scenario that Starlight somehow found their airship.

“This is almost as bad as the Empire,” she said, brushing bits of black dust away from her face. “The buck is that?”

“Coal,” Rarity answered a second later. “Equestria couldn’t afford the spellcraft to put another city here. No heat crystals.”

Twilight watched the thick black smoke from identical buildings rise up into the air, where it struck against an invisible barrier high in the sky and began to drift along the outside. That explained the ridge of white sand around the edge of the city. Ash, from thousands of coal fires.

“Starlight is one of cleverest spellcrafters I ever met,” Twilight said. “Looks like she has her whole city in some kind of… bubble. I’m guessing that keeps the heat in, and filters the ash out. That’s why it’s so bad out here.”

“I don’t like the look of the ponies down there,” Applejack said, from Twilight’s other side. “How are they all so happy?”

“Magic,” Rarity answered. “Not even the princess understood how she does it. But we know that the ponies we sent here don’t cause trouble for the Crown again. And nopony gets hurt, so… the princess left her to her own devices.”

“Brainwashing,” Twilight whispered. “Those ponies have no cutie marks. That means their inner magic is crippled too. Unicorns can barely cast spells, pegasi can barely fly, earth ponies can barely grow.”

“Then what do they eat?” Pinkie asked. “I thought earth pony magic was part of how to grow food without sunlight. Are crystals enough?”

“No,” Applejack answered. “They aren’t. All my assistants had to be earth ponies if they were tending to the trees.”

“Well…” Rarity hesitated. “The Crown pays this place to take difficult ponies mostly in grain, and they buy more food by sending war supplies out. See those train-tracks running into the center there? Last time I looked; the route runs twice a day. It can’t be enough to feed all of them though, so they must grow something. And just about everything else you see in there they made themselves. They don’t do bits… no I don’t understand it myself… something about collective ownership or whatever.” She waved a dismissive hoof. “They built all this on their own. They have their own factories, their own mines, their own water and power and everything else.”

“We don’t need to understand how it works,” Twilight said, glancing at the edge of the city one last time, then setting off at a trot down the mountain. There were no spotlights, no security measures of any kind. Almost as though Starlight Glimmer wanted ponies to break in. “We just need to find your Twilight. Come on.”

They hurried towards the city, slowing only when they reached the wall of ash outside it. The mountain spilled out away from the shield, twice the height of a pony and growing slowly. Twilight had concealed her wings with a simple illusion this time, rather than proper transformation. Even if Starlight Glimmer didn’t know who she was, an Alicorn walking through the streets of her city would stand out.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked from just behind her. “It’s freezing out here. Can’t we go in?”

“In a sec.” Her horn glowed, and she surveyed the complex barrier spell. “I need to… hah.” It was everything she’d thought, an insulation spell that would also filter out the ash. But there was an alarm in here too, traveling to a point of resonance deep in the spell’s interior. It was meant to catch teleportation spells, but Starlight hadn’t accounted for long range teleports, the space-bridging that only ponies like Star Swirl and Alicorns could cast.

“Everypony stand close together,” Twilight instructed. “I’m going to get us past the protection spells.”

They did. Twilight concentrated, and with a few seconds of effort, they appeared on the other side of the shield. The air went from icy cold to merely sweater weather, but the snow of ash was gone at least. More importantly, she could see no sign of the alarm being tripped. Starlight’s silent barrier was unbroken.

The ground out here was flat, with cobblestone roads already laid-out to form another dozen identical copies of the city section repeated inside. One near the edge of the buildings was under construction, with ponies mixing concrete and depositing bricks.

Stealth wouldn’t be possible for much longer. While these empty blocks were dark and empty, the city center had gigantic streetlights on every corner, shining down with a painfully bright white against the constant night. Also a voice, one she hadn’t been able to hear from the other side of the air shield.

Starlight Glimmer’s voice. Familiar, but like everything else in this shell of a world, also somehow worn down. “Everything for the front! Everything for the victory! Every day you fight as equals you break the chains of your inequality! Collective farmers will crush the enemies of Equestria with a flash flood of mighty tanks!”

She got bigger megaphones. Fantastic. Twilight hoped for her citizens’ sake that those things shut up long enough for everypony to sleep at some point. It was only now becoming Eventide, but she could see no sign of the rest they’d hoped to use to smuggle themselves in. Ponies were just now emerging from their identical buildings, wearing threadbare scarves or caps or nothing at all.

“Ditch those jackets,” Twilight whispered, pointing to a pile of rubble that had probably been recently leveled to make room for more buildings to come. “Nopony has them.”

“It’s a wonder nopony freezes,” Rarity muttered unhappily. “If that Starlight is such a good spellcaster, why couldn’t she just make her own heating spells?”

“There’s a way in,” Rainbow said, pointing along the length of a large apartment block. “Look, Twi. Hole in the fence.”

“Perfect.” Twilight gestured, and they all hurried over. There were no guards on the outside of the city, no soldiers at all so far as Twilight could see. Just workers, equally forlorn and equally unarmed.

They slipped through the gap in the fence, emerging into a city right out of Twilight’s nightmares. This was exactly what she had imagined Starlight would have created if she was unchecked. What she had been afraid would happen to all Equestria.

The crowds of ponies were so thick that they had no trouble blending in, letting the flow of traffic take them between buildings and drab marketplaces and factories. There were dozens of food stalls, but all seemed to sell the same things. Flatbread wraps, lopsided muffins, wheat gruel, and a foul-smelling barley beer that made her eyes water even from a distance.

Well, “selling” was generous. When Pinkie walked up to one, the mare behind the metal counter just gestured at her wares.

“This fight is ours together,” she said, grinning as uncomfortably wide as Twilight remembered. “What do you need to continue yours?”

“Uh…” Pinkie pointed at the muffin. She took it in her hoof, walking back to join them. She took a bite, then nearly convulsed. “This is food?”

Their identical hairstyles and cutie marks had been enough for them to blend in before. But now ponies stared, mostly at Pinkie. Shock, surprise, and a little anger. “The war begins on your plate, cousin,” said a stallion from just beside them. He was one of the few with clothing, though it was only an off-brown scarf. Felt, looking horrifyingly like it was made from pony fur. “You should win this battle before moving on to the next.”

Pinkie gulped, then took a huge bite. She chewed slowly, shuddering, then swallowed. “I… won.”

“Of course you did, cousin. We’ll win every fight together as equals.” He clasped her on the shoulder, then walked meaningfully away into the crowd.

“We should… probably be more careful,” Rarity whispered from behind them. “We’re already standing out. How are we going to find our pony in all this?”

Twilight hesitated, looking around the city. She could conceive of no spells to locate herself, but that didn’t mean she would need magic. She knew how Twilight would think. So I’m me, she thought, looking around at the identical buildings. I’ve just been banished here by Nightmare Moon for resisting her. I don’t have my friends, so I can’t resist her brainwashing forever. Once I give in, where do I work?

The answer appeared before them as they emerged from the inner-district street to the gigantic central road that ran between sections, wide enough for fifty ponies to walk across at a time. It was already full of carts, as ponies wheeled their industrial production back and forth through the city.

And at the center, not far from the palace, she saw it. The area around the palace looked distinct from the rest of the city—the buildings there were cleaner, and larger. Each had a gigantic stone figure on the front, illustrating what was inside. A hammer on one, a brush on the next, a sickle on the third. And on the fourth, a huge stone book.

“There,” Twilight said confidently, pointing. “I’m in there. Promise you.” She might not understand why an oppressive regime like this would even want to have libraries, but that didn’t matter. There was nowhere else a frightened and alone Twilight Sparkle would be hiding.

They merged into the flow of ponies moving up and down the city, occasionally having to step aside as a huge cargo-rail rolled back and forth. Its open sides were packed full of coal, more than Twilight had ever seen in one place in her life.

“How do you know?” Rainbow asked. “It’s a spell, isn’t it?”

If it was, it would’ve made her stand out like a broken feather on a Wonderbolt wing, because not a unicorn in sight was using magic. Not even basic levitation. She shook her head. “I know me. And I’m going to say in advance, I’m not mad at you for banishing me here, Rarity. I know you had to do whatever the princess told you. You didn’t even know my name. I was probably just a statistic. Do rebels even get a trial?”

“Uh…” Rarity seemed more confused than abashed. “There’s a hearing, and a court-martial if they hurt anypony…” Her eyebrows went up. “I can’t recall ever seeing your name on any of the prisoner manifests. But they were quite large, particularly in the early years. That was when Starlight took in so many prisoners that she didn’t have to make anything to buy food.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said. “I’m just saying I’m not mad. We’re getting her out of here.”

The city’s profound regularity and flatness made distances a bit deceptive. The walk into the center of the city took nearly twenty minutes, with everypony moving so slowly that they barely lifted their hooves with each step.

Eventually they passed into an inner courtyard, with ponies moving purposefully between the large buildings, or past it to the palace structure beyond. Here Twilight saw her first soldiers. They didn’t have armor, but instead wore cloth uniforms with metal helmets, and strange mechanical weapons of wood and steel. Whatever those were, she didn’t want one pointed at her.

They weren’t—no soldiers stopped them from entering the courtyard, or striding purposefully up to the library. “Let me do the talking,” she whispered, as they walked up to the door. “I’ve got some idea how they think here. They should let us in.”

But talking to whom? There was no one to stop them from walking right in, not even a circulation desk. The building was as unpleasant as everything else in Starlight’s city, two stories tall and with the same brown covers on every book. They had different titles, but other than that, they’d been as equalized as everything else.

Twilight almost gave up hope, before she saw a pony pushing a metal cart on the floor above, reshelving books. A pony with a lavender coat and short purple mane.

“Alright, you ponies spread out. Signal me if something goes wrong.”

She left them behind, striding meaningfully towards the stairs. It was time to end this nightmare for good.

Comments

[Lithl]

If Starlight Glimmer can change the past, then I can change it too. Back to the way it should be.

I'm looking forward to a scene at the end like this:

[JMP]

Our Town in canon was creepy enough. This...is ridiculous. Good luck, Twilight. You haven't made it this far by bluffing.

[Zeprto678]

I bet Starlight Glimmer has the time spell but can't use it since the Friendship Map is gone and she doesn't know where it is.

[NebulaNyx]

Oh this is going to go so terribly wrong and im scared.

[djthomp]

Twilight pointed her horn, activating the enchantment. Steam rose from around their ship as ice boiled away from the wood, the balloon, and their own bodies. The icy cold that had sent her friends to near-instant hypothermia was lifted.

Oops.

Ahh, since this is every bad future simultaneously I was wondering how and where we were going to get the dust wasteland from the last future. Looks like we just found it.

“ There,” Twilight said confidently, pointing. “I’m in there. Promise you.” She might not understand why an oppressive regime like this would even want to have libraries, but that didn’t matter. There was nowhere else a frightened and alone Twilight Sparkle would be hiding.

Seems likely.

She left them behind, striding meaningfully towards the stairs. It was time to end this nightmare for good.

Now we just discover the next thing that goes wrong, I bet.

[Antonyourknee]

Makes me wonder if the Starlight glimmer from her Celestia Equestria will show up,will she be happy that she has made her "utopian" city or will her presence be problmatic and have her in gulag?

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

“It’s okay,” Twilight said. “I’m just saying I’m not mad. We’re getting her out of here.”

You're assuming that she WANTS to be rescued. Possibly a tad overoptimistic.