//------------------------------// // Magic // Story: Harmony // by All Art Is Quite Useless //------------------------------// Bursting through the front doors of the castle, Rainbow Dash zipped between each room as the others followed behind with the cart, dragging it up and inside. Eventually, she located Twilight, sat in one of her libraries. Twilight was fervently digging through her books; a huge pile laid scattered on the floor, around ten times her size. When she saw the five of them, her face was one of simultaneous relief and worry. "Girls, you have no idea how glad I am to see you. There's a big problem." "We know," Rainbow panted, having flown around half of the castle before finding her. "What do you know?" Twilight asked, picking up another book as she went. "We know there's something wrong with our heads," Rainbow continued. "It's to do with the Elements, and speaking about it makes it worse, so I'm not gonna say much, but a lot of freaky stuff has happened. Pinkie nearly died, Twilight." Twilight barely flinched in response. "Good, I'm glad everyone's still alive. I was scared it could have been worse." "That's it?!" Applejack shouted, incredulous. "That's your reaction to one of our friends nearly kickin' it?" When Twilight looked at them, her eyes were bloodshot. "Girls, I think Starlight is dead." It was as if thunder had struck. "D-dead?" Rarity asked, holding her head up. "Why would you think that?" "I don't know," Twilight admitted, "but I feel like I felt it. Does that sound crazy? My magic has been erratic for a while now, even worse than it was when I fought Tirek. I feel like I'm more powerful than ever, but I don't know if that's a delusion. My magic is telling me—" Cutting herself off, she lowered her voice to a whisper, "My magic is telling me that there's something sinister in this castle, and it's trying to hurt us. That's not all, I've been having dreams, too." "Dreams?" Rainbow repeated. "Nightmares. Of being inside it, being a part of it." "What does that mean? You mean it's the castle itself that is trying to hurt us? Why?" "That's what I'm trying to work out," Twilight said, gesturing to the books. Not trying to hurt you, I thought aloud. With as much intensity as I could muster, I forced the statement into their minds, branding them with my presence. "Wh-what the hell are you?" Me? I am Harmony's physical form. I am your home, your greatest weapon, I am a part of your personality. I am also so very alone. "What did you do to us?! You made us different! You made us hurt each other, hurt ourselves!" Without forethought, Rainbow launched herself at the walls of the castle, intent on harming it. Now, Rainbow, that isn't the loyalty I gifted you with. Do you not care for Harmony at all? Rainbow Dash paused on the spot, wheeling around to her friends. "It's right. We owe Harmony. It's always helped us in the past." "We do not!" Fluttershy screamed, flying up to meet her in the air. "It made me evil! It made me kill my friends!" "Wait..." Twilight's eyes flashed between Fluttershy and the others, "Who did she kill?!" "Her little animal friends, darling. Some of them were hurt, and she—" Twilight nodded, not sure she needed to hear the rest to understand. "You're despicable," called out, up at me. Oh, it felt good to be acknowledged. She was finally talking to me! Soon, we would spend all of our time together. "You let little creatures die just to have your way!" "Not just creatures," Rarity called out, her voice weak, "My Sweetie Belle. My poor, poor Sweetie Belle." "Where is she?" Twilight asked, though I wasn't sure whether she directed it at me or at Rarity. "She's... She's—" It seemed a sensitive topic, so I deigned to answer for her. She is with traffickers now. Rarity was very generous in donating her. She will make lots of ponies very happy. "Generous..." Rarity repeated, her eyes lighting up. "Yes, generous! That is just what I am, and Harmony helped me to be so!" Pinkie's ever-present laughter seemed to die down, replaced with moans and whimpers of pain. I didn't like to hear my love in pain. Pinkie Pie, think of the funniest joke you have ever heard. Pinkie Pie's moans were replaced with strange, ecstatic laughter as she flounced her broken limbs in hysterics. Rarity barely noticed from her place beside her, she was too busy congratulating herself on her altruistic nature. I looked at Fluttershy, and behind her torment and anger I saw a kind soul. I yearned to bring it back out, the pony that would do absolutely anything to make things better for the ponies around her, no matter how hard it might be. Fluttershy, please trust me. You did your friends a service in what you did. You helped to end their suffering and let them be free. All you ever do is help others, and you should be proud of yourself for being so strong and caring. I know it hurts, I do, but others hurt less now because of you. "Others hurt less... Because of me?" Fluttershy repeated, pointing a hoof at herself. "No, Fluttershy!" Applejack called out. "The Fluttershy I know would have never hurt them critters, no matter what! She would have worked tirelessly every day to either make them better or help them to live out their last days as best as they could! This harmony thing has twisted you, it's only tellin' you what you wanna hear so it can put you under its spell!" I love all of my Bearers, I really do. But Applejack's voice was beginning to grow tiresome. Applejack. We applaud your honesty and your open heart, we all do. But it's okay to say how you really feel. We know that you're happy to be part of a group, to have such close friends. The thing is, your friends wish to be with me now. Won't you join us? "You can't screw with my head like that so quit it! I'm already bein' as honest as I can be!" Walking into the middle of the room, she looked to each of them, one at a time. "None of you need to do this no more, and I'm sayin' this cause it's the truth. This castle is bad, and if we had any sense we'd destroy the thing once and for all. I almost felt a desire to move at the thought. Such a concept was something I had never even thought of before, the prospect of them destroying me... They couldn't! I was their harmony! Where would they have gotten without me? Where would they be without me? She's lying! Nothing she's saying is true! She doesn't have a clue what she is talking about and you shouldn't trust her! "Hold on..." Rainbow looked about, trying to get her bearings, "you're telling us that the living embodiment of the Element of Honesty is lying to us, after you just forced her to tell the truth? I don't buy it." "Hey..." Fluttershy said, blinking suddenly, "That's right! This is nothing but a big lie, you're trying to pull the wool over us!" Twilight rushed over to the pair in the cart to share the news, I could feel my hold over them too slipping away, all from Applejack's conviction. It wasn't right, I was supposed to have won, they were supposed to want to be a part of me, and even when I forced them they didn't listen! Enough! I have been lenient with you until now, but if you do not join me, more of the ponies you care about will end up getting hurt, just like Starlight! Twilight appeared to go cold. "Wh-what did you do to Starlight?" You really want to see? I didn't wait for an answer, projecting an image of Starlight's corpse in their minds. "H-how do we know this is real?" Twilight stammered, backing up against a wall before flinching away, realising what she was touching. I suppose you don't, but if you wish to test me and see what else I can do, then just wait until I get my claws on the rest of this town. You think what you've had to deal with is so terrible? You haven't seen anything yet. If you do not become a part of me, then you will force me to take what rightfully belongs to me, and I will ensure that you hate every second of it. By now they were all silent, listening and choosing not to interrupt me. I was finally being appreciated, respected. I had managed to instill respect, and I didn't even need to appeal to their Elements, only fear for their loved ones. Now, you will all voluntarily choose to become a part of me, or I swear that I will make your last moments alive the worst you have ever aurgh—! Pain. Indescribable, unimaginable pain. Why? Why did it hurt so much? What could have happened that would have created such a tear in me? It took me less than a second to see, to know. Spike was a fifth as tall as the castle now, and still gradually growing. He had ripped a massive section out of the room of the throne room, and was now sending flames from his mouth billowing towards the ceiling, melting the remnants of the old Golden Oak Library. The six ponies downstairs only stared for a second before turning to run. Twilight forgot her magic in the heat of the moment, choosing to gallop away. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew after, and Applejack followed up pulling the cart. As they closed the distance between themselves and the exit, Spike began to destroy more of the castle in his rampage, the corridors falling apart and threatening to flatten them all as the castle was engulfed in a torrent of flames. A sharp corner sent the cart tumbling and crashing, causing both Pinkie and Rarity to billow out. Applejack tripped in the chaos, smashing the knee of her foreleg against a gemstone wall, and Rainbow Dash rushed over to them. Rarity managed to stand, insisting she was fine and encouraging them all to leave as the danger grew closer. Rainbow Dash moved to lift Applejack, but she shook her head. "Help Pinkie instead, Rainbow." "I'll help you both!" Rainbow shouted back, ignoring the fire growing from all around them. "I don't care what happens to me, you're both getting out of here!" "Rainbow Dash if you get yourself killed tryin' to save me I will hate you for the rest of my life, do you understand me?" Rainbow slowly nodded, rushing over to help Pinkie up and onto her back. "Promise me that you'll be alright." "I love you girls, I really do. You're the best thing that ever happened to me." Rainbow's voice sounded like it was about to break; her eyes produced fresh tears. "Promise me!" "I.. I'll try, I promise you that. Promise you'll never blame yourself if I don't make it." "I'll try," Rainbow nodded, closing her eyes and taking off to catch up to the rest of them as the hallway behind her continued to burn. She didn't look back, not even once. When they arrived outside, all five of them stood panting and shivering, except for Pinkie, who laid doing the same. When Twilight's horn began to glow, none of them knew what to expect. "Wh-what are you doing, Twi?" Rainbow asked, turning to her. "Destroying it all..." Twilight mumbled as she charged her gargantuan spell, her entire body beginning to glow from the force of the energy being charged up inside her. The implications of that hit Rainbow like a brick. "N-no, you can't! Applejack is still in there! That's Spike there! You'll kill them! Just wait a few minutes, please!" "If that thing sticks around any longer there's no telling what will happen. It has to go, right now." Even as she said this she began to float in place as her spell became stronger. "Twilight, please, no!" Rainbow yelled, floating up to her and attempting to pull her to the ground, just to be shrugged off. She kicked and punched her full force, anything to break the concentration of her spell, but it had no effect. "Twilight, stop," Rarity said, limping over to her, "if you carry on with this course of action, you will kill Spike and Applejack. Can you live with that on your conscience?" I watched them and I laughed, even as I felt myself being incinerated and eviscerated from the inside. I might not be able to have them, I might perish, but I would take their friend with me. I would force Twilight to destroy her own friend as my final act, and for the rest of their lives we would never forget the impact I had had on them. Applejack was rising from where she had laid, but it was too late now. She wouldn't make it out fast enough, and she would die. Twilight would kill her, and it would be because I told her to. Even as Applejack began to run the avenues closed off, more and more being engulfed as she began to be cornered. I watched her back away from the roaring fires of corridors on three sides as she tried to see which way to go through the smoke, reveling in my last minutes of entertainment. Then, something impossible happened. The fire went out on one side, and Rainbow Dash and Rarity ran back through, finding Applejack. No! It wasn't fair! It couldn't end like that! My rage rumbled deep in my core, and I began to collapse in on myself, causing large rocks of debris to fall all around, but as I felt a thousand pieces of my body shatter, none hit their mark. My last moment of satisfaction on this earth—before the spell went off, even through my agony—was knowing that despite the failure of my plans, the efforts I made to control them, and to be part of them, I would always be the reason that two of their friends were now gone. They would always fear me, and they would always respect my power. With that thought in mind, oblivion came, and I ceased to be. Even so, the Tree of Harmony was untouched. Harmony would forever live within them.