Harmony Theory Recap Part 2a (Chapters 15- 25) · 7:33pm Nov 27th, 2016
The second part of the recap. SPOILERS for those who haven't read it.
Part 1 (Prologue - Chapter 14)
Part 2b (Chapters 26-34)
Part 2a (Chapters 15-25)
166,526 words
Applejack awakens half-buried. She calls out for help before managing to get herself free of the soil. Moments later Rainbow Dash appears and acts like she hasn’t seen Applejack in a long while. Dash explains that they are in the future, but any further explanation is cut off as Gamma arrives. Dash speaks to Gamma, and convinces them that Applejack is at least not hostile.
Star Fall wakes and checks on Astrid before being brought to where they have taken Dash and Applejack. As Star Fall is the only one other than Dash to speak Old Equestrian, she is needed to question the newly arrived mare. She quickly wins over Applejack’s trust and they settle in to acquaint her with the future.
Twinkle Shine, meanwhile, waits in the Palace with the King for news of Star Fall. She is aided in keeping the King moderated by Queen Aqua Regia, who is also taking an active interest in Star Fall. When news arrives, the twin revelations that Max Cash has an Element of Harmony and that Applejack has appeared send Umbra into such a rage that it knocks Twinkle Shine unconscious. She later awakes in the Queen’s chambers, where Aqua Regia voices concerns about her collapse, but Twinkle Shine is able to misdirect her.
Charisma, too is recovering from the battle the night before. Cash used his magic to heal her, but as he isn’t a Healing Talent, both she and he believe that he must have done something wrong, thus drastically shortening her lifespan. She takes this with equanimity, more interested in her fight with Rainbow Dash, and the tantalizing possibility of a no-holds-barred rematch. Cash demonstrates his control over the Element of Honesty (Deceit), and explains that he still needs more practice. Charisma tells him to start with that, and sets herself to finding their way back to civilization so he can continue his plan.
While on the way to a military base, Applejack is getting caught up on what’s happened so far and beginning to learn the Solar language, Dash visits Astrid. She admits to the Griffin that she now believes she would be willing to kill Max Cash. The two bond for a bit. Later Applejack and Dash talk, and Applejack says she’s willing to help stop Cash.
Calumn and Blaze arrive in the town of Precious Corners, where they set themselves up in a hotel to rest and plan their next move. That night Calumn starts coming to terms with his manipulation by Cash, and dedicates himself to being a better person. Unbeknownst to them, Charisma arrives in the same town that night, running across the pegasus Melody Drop, who works for the local lord, High Fashion. Charisma secures lodging with this lord for herself and Cash.
Blaze and Calumn find temporary work with Hefty Bigwig, hoping to gain some money for their journey to the Capital. After work, Calumn spots a colt who is clearly alone and lonely, and resolves to help him. Transforming into a filly, he befriends the colt and helps him become friends with the other children. Calumn leaves, promising to come again the next day.
In High Fashion’s mansion, Charisma and Cash are being treated as honored guests. Melody Drop is especially fascinated with Charisma after learning of her history in the Kingdom military. As they are out sending a message to Cash’s forces, Cash spots Calumn and Trail Blazer, and points them out to Charisma. She wants to confront them immediately, but Cash tells her to wait until the next day, as he clearly has something planned. Instead, Melody begs Charisma to help train her, and with some pushing from Cash, Charisma agrees.
The next day, Blaze and Calumn go back to work. Charisma finds Blaze and corners him in a secluded place. While she assaults him, they talk about Cash and his increasing instability. Calumn keeps his word to the colt he helped, returning to play. However, Max Cash shows up in the middle of their games, and Calumn is forced to speak with the criminal. They converse about several subjects, with Calumn growing increasingly agitated at not knowing why Cash wanted to talk. Eventually Cash reveals that he was just waiting for there to be more witnesses, then strips Calumn’s disguise away, revealing the Changeling to the watching ponies.
Calumn’s reveal causes the town to go into a panic, and he barely escapes from them. Charisma, hearing the commotion, leaves Blaze and finds Cash riling up the townsfolk even more. While she is concerned with escaping the potential mob, he orders her to kill them all. Unable and unwilling to refuse the order, she proceeds to massacre the gathered ponies. The only one she has difficulty with is Hefty Bigwig, who manages to escape. While she is doing this, Cash muddies the waters even more by using the Elements to convince a Communications Talent unicorn to send contradictory messages to the government. He then kills the unicorn, who attacked him once he realized what had happened.
Blaze finds Calumn, who was hiding, and the two attempt to leave the town. They run into Bigwig, who is prepared to fight them when Cash uses fireball spells to set fire to the school. Calumn rushes inside and manages to save the children, which convinces Bigwig to let them go. Bigwig then joins up with Melody, and the two of them go to High Fashion’s mansion to confront Charisma. In the ensuing fight, Bigwig is killed and Melody nearly dies, but is saved by Max Cash, who has corrupted High Fashion with the Element of Loyalty, and wants to try the same on her.
In the morning, Cash explains some facts of the Elements to Charisma, and tells her that she is part of a special group of people that are ‘connected’, and thus somewhat more resilient to the Element’s side-effects, as is Melody Drop. He also indicates that his plans are actually in shambles, and that he’s just taking opportunities as he sees them while trying to stick to the general outline of what he’d prepared for. As Cash’s minions arrive, Charisma murders High Fashion, hoping that with his death Melody might be able to overcome what Cash did to her.
Meanwhile at the military base in Harrenhorn, Star Fall is trying in vain to find any mention of the Elements or Harmony Theory, hoping to discover Cash’s next move. Finally she realizes that she’s seen an Element before in Spike’s cave. She explains to Dash and Applejack that Spike is a prolific artist and one of the most powerful Dragons in the world, and that she lived with him for a year as he helped teach her. The three of them set off for Spike’s, while Gamma investigates what happened in Precious Corners and Astrid decides to brave the dangers of magical healing in order to get back on her feet faster. While in the nightlands Hard Boiled prepares to head south to find another of Cash’s goals, and is forced to take the Changeling Traduce along with him.
Twinkle Shine tells the King that she has to go to the Temple of Luna in order to research legends about Nightmare Moon, as they might help in figuring out how to defeat Umbra. In truth she plans to go to Spike’s cave and kill Rainbow Dash and Applejack, then return to the King with a ‘plan’ to defeat Umbra that will only further the Nightmare’s goals.
Dash, Applejack and Star Fall reach Spike, who is suspicious at first, but soon comes to see that his old friends have indeed been resurrected. He leads them deep into his cave, where there is a statue of Rarity wearing the Element of Generosity. He explains that he created a statue for each of them, and that the Elements are affixed to the statues with Twilight’s magic, and thus impossible to remove. Rarity’s statue itself is immoveable for some reason, though he doesn’t know exactly why. He tells them that in researching the Elements Twilight became severely depressed, and while he does know a few things about them, he never read Harmony Theory, so he has no idea what Cash is truly after.
Before more can be said, Cash himself arrives. He brings an adolescent Dragon named Boomer with him, and unleashes Boomer on Spike’s cave. Boomer grows to immense proportions as his hoarding instinct goes into overdrive, beating Spike. Just as he’s beginning to die from his own gargantuan weight, Cash directs him towards the Element of Generosity. Upon touching it, Boomer seems to gain strength, but it only lasts a moment before Cash brutally murders him. On Boomer’s death, the Element falls off the statue, to be claimed by Cash.
Cash leaves, but on the way south he runs into Nightmare Umbra, who proves she is resistant to the Elements’ influence. Cash uses his own forces as a distraction and gives the Element of Loyalty to Charisma, allowing her to gain the strength necessary to escape Umbra’s rage.
At Spike’s, they hold a funeral for Boomer. Umbra shows up when only Spike is present, revealing that the two know each other and, while not friendly, are not enemies. Umbra allows Twinkle Shine to speak to Spike, and the two discuss what has happened, as well as the fact that Applejack and Rainbow Dash are exactly who they seem to be. This surprises Twinkle Shine, but she accepts Spike’s word, and thus resolves not to kill them. Spike promises not to reveal what he knows of Umbra unless directly asked, and the Nightmare leaves.
In Spike’s cave, the statue of Rarity becomes the actual Rarity, to Rainbow Dash’s delight. She and Applejack fill Rarity in on some of what has happened before Spike appears. He shares a moment with Rarity before continuing the story of how this future came to be.
Meanwhile, Astrid is healed and regaining her strength. Gamma confronts her on her decisions, but it seems to be just a way of gauging if she’d been corrupted by the Elements. Gamma then leads Astrid to where Melody Drop is. The pegasus is standing guard over the body of High Fashion, monomaniacally unable to leave it. Astrid is horrified at this, especially as it’s a consequence of Cash’s influence. Gamma gives her the task of getting Melody away from the corpse and bringing her along, as they’re heading for Spike’s to pick up Star Fall and the others and bring them to the King.
In the nightlands, Hard Boiled and Traduce are in the city of Hoofprint, looking for a guide to the southern jungles. Their efforts are defeated by Cash’s forces, who, under the command of the assassin Lyssa, set an ambush for them. They escape the ambush and steal a boat, heading deep into the jungles while being pursued by Lyssa and her hired thugs. Hard Boiled, suffering because of his overuse of his truth-finding magic, is forced to accept Traduce’s offer of help. She uses her magic to create a mental connection between the two of them, allowing her to feed on his pain and thus lessen it. They come to the site of the fallen pegasus cloud-city, and discover that a garden had landed mostly intact. In the center of the garden is a temple-like structure, and within that is a statue of Fluttershy, wearing the Element of Kindness. The spells on the statue make it practically invisible, however, and it is only after they fight off Lyssa’s forces that HB is able to see through the spell and allow Traduce to do the same. This also allows him to remember where he had seen a similar statue: in Senator Birchfield’s mansion.
At Spike’s, Star Fall contemplates her forced betrothal. She speaks with Applejack about it, and comes to the decision that she’s going to have to go through with it, if only to stay relevant in the whirlwind of events. Gamma arrives the next day, and questions Spike about the Elements. He doesn’t have much information, but impresses upon everyone the sheer scope of their incredible power. Astrid introduces Melody to the others, and they all head towards the Capital.
When they arrive, they are greeted by the King and Queen, who welcome them as honored guests. Star Fall is told that her betrothed is to be Prince Regal Stature, and she requests that she get to know him before they are married. Regal is an enthusiastic young stallion who is quite taken with Star Fall. Their meeting is somewhat awkward, but he eventually decides to show her a secret of his family. He takes her up to an observatory, and there reveals the Deep Power, which is a powerful magic that manifests occasionally in the royal line. This magic can grant them insights beyond what other ponies can know and visions of the future. With Regal, he can see into the Deep Power itself, and is also able to send Star Fall’s consciousness there to experience it.
In the Deep Power, Star Fall sees a vast universe of starlight and power. In the center of this place, she sees Celestia and Luna, in forms of primal light and dark, spinning about each other in a constant circular dance. In the center of them, she also finds Twilight Sparkle, seemingly unconscious but with scenes from the world playing out all around her. Regal informs her that when he first saw Twilight in the Deep Power, those scenes were all of Star Fall. Before he can say more, Twilight comes partially awake and gives Star Fall a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Star Fall comes back to the real world overflowing with power from that touch, she vents it into an aurora.
Elsewhere in the palace, Twinkle Shine and Gamma are talking with the King and Queen. They know that Cash is heading south, and that some of his people are digging up the Crystal Palace in the far north. They also have a picture of Charisma flying at supersonic speeds, which is incredibly worrying for them. After a discussion of politics in the Republics, Star Fall’s display of magic causes the Nightmare to freak out and knock Twinkle Shine unconscious again. When she awakes she is confronted by Gamma, who has realized her ‘plan’ to deal with Umbra, and is strenuously against it. Spike appears as Gamma leaves, and warns Umbra not to try to kill Regal.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity are discussing their own situations when they notice Star Fall’s aurora. They decide that Dash and Applejack will stay with Star Fall, while Rarity will go south with Spike, pursuing Cash. In the morning, Rarity decides to use the palace’s tailoring facilities to make her own outfits, but ends up terrifying the staff with her magic, and has to be talked to about it by the Queen. She also learns some disturbing facts about the way the Kingdom works.
Star Fall is having a minor crisis from her encounter in the Deep Power, but with Astrid’s encouragement she is able to overcome it and goes to see Dash, Applejack and Rarity. The three of them are quite upset at finding out the Kingdom uses indentured servants, and Star Fall promises to try and change the system to soothe them. They discuss what’s been happening for a bit, then reaffirm their friendship.
Some time later, the King holds a grand ceremony. There he recognizes Dash, Applejack and Rarity as heroes from the past. He also rewards Dash, Astrid and Star Fall for their heroic battle against Umbra. Dash he grants a knighthood, as well as property. This is a scandal for the nobility, as they are composed entirely of unicorns (minus Star Fall’s exceptional circumstances). The King raises Astrid to the rank of captain, a promotion that her fellow Griffins cheer. Then he officially betrothes Star Fall to Regal Stature, and declares Regal his heir. Star Fall displays her magical abilities publicly for the first time, and Dash shows off for the crowd.
While she’s showing off, Dash receives a new mental compulsion from Calumn, and resolves to head out that night to find him. At the reception after the ceremony, Star Fall gives Dash a way to leave the palace without being seen, then tells Gamma about Dash’s plans, thus ensuring that Dash will be followed and protected. Gamma then tells Star Fall that she is leaving, and that Star Fall will be taking her place as spymaster temporarily, and explicitly for the purposes of opposing Twinkle Shine in an upcoming meeting of the King’s advisors.
Star Fall leaves the party to send her birth parents away, which she must do to protect herself from enemies using them against her. While she’s doing that Astrid is confronted by Roan, a former lover, who thinks she’s doing a disservice to the Griffins. After, Star Fall goes to see Twinkle Shine, who is debating with Umbra what to do next. Twinkle Shine comforts Star Fall, and eventually gives Star Fall an idea of how to take advantage of her position. This conversation also gives Twinkle Shine an idea of how to easily move Umbra’s agenda forward.
Rainbow Dash heads out that night and finds Calumn. She is then able to remember who he is and what he did to her, and is very unhappy about it. Eventually she is convinced that he’s not a bad guy, and proceeds to tell him everything she knows about what’s going on, and he reciprocates. Calumn and Blaze then prepare to leave for the nightlands, but are intercepted by Gamma, who knows who they are and wants to travel with them, as she has a plan of her own.
Spike and Rarity say goodbye to the others, then board the train south. Onboard they are joined by Gamma, Blaze and Calumn. Together, they head for the Republics, hot on Cash’s trail.
Impressive recap.
Thank you for posting these. This one, in particular, was super helpful.