//------------------------------// // Pony, Dragon, and Changeling // Story: Harmonics // by ezra09 //------------------------------// A few ponies came through the window after them, but it was a token gesture. The sudden upset caused by Mimic had set them back too far, and even Thistleroot was able to keep a lead on their pursuers. They hit the edge of town and Thistleroot’s horn flared with magic. The close knit trees leaned in after them as vines and foliage all around wound together, blocking the path. Still, Scootaloo and her friends didn’t stop running for another ten minutes. Thistleroot was the first to slow, and then stumble to a halt. Sweetie Belle didn’t seem much better off, so the group stopped to catch their breaths. Mimic pulled the fragment of harmony out from under her wing and offered it to Scootaloo. “Here.” Scootaloo took it, feeling the warm glow spread through her hoof. Beneath the golden surface, she could still see hints of each color of the rainbow dancing about each other. It seemed to be whole. “Thank you.” “Don’t mention it. So, we should get moving, right? Star Charmer said it was twenty miles out of the forest, and it’s going to be dark before we can manage that.” As Mimic spoke, Scootaloo borrowed one of Sweetie Belle’s scarves and wrapped the fragment of harmony. “Maybe we could double back and find somepony who isn’t connected with the research center,” Sweetie Belle said. Apple Bloom shook her head. “A town that small? Nopony is going to trust a buncha strangers over their neighbors.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “If we keep moving, we might be able to get out of here before midnight, at least. As long as the main road is fairly clear. Let’s go.” And with that, she began walking again. The oppressive silence of the forest settled in around them, broken only by the occasional snapping of sticks and rustling of leaves as they brushed past. Nopony wanted to waste their breath breaking it. Scootaloo faltered when she saw the fork in the path ahead. “Scoots?’ Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo’s head dipped in thought for a moment, and then she started walking again. “We haven’t finished what we came here to do yet.” “Do ya think that’s a good idea? Daylight’s burning, and Ah don’t want to spend more time out here in the dark than Ah have to.” “Apple Bloom’s right,” Spike said. “Even Starswirl the Bearded couldn’t get into Libiris.” “I know,” Scootaloo said, stride slowing again. “It’s just... If we don’t, then everything that happened here is pointless. Midlight’s broken wing, letting them see the fragment of harmony and then taking it away again. What if it really could have helped them, and we fail?” Everypony was silent for a long moment. FInally, Sweetie Belle said, “I guess a few more minutes won’t hurt.” They pushed their way through the thick overgrowth of the left path and Libiris came into view once again. Scootaloo climbed the steps first, and as she did the glowing lines of the seal reappeared. She ignored them for a moment, gathering the spilled contents into her saddlebags and putting them back on. “So, any ideas?” Thistleroot asked. Scootaloo sighed. “Not really. What about you? You read a lot.” “Yeah, but this stuff is way over my head. Sweetie Belle, can you do that X-Ray spell again?” Sweetie Belle nodded and cast her sister’s gem finding spell. As before, the stone carving of a pair of doors became translucent. Beneath the surface, countless lines and symbols crossed in an impossibly tangled web. Thistleroot leaned closer. “I mean, it has to be some kind of enchantment, right?” “Sure.” “Which means these lines direct and store power. That’s just how enchantments work. You can’t have any lasting magic without a power source and a structure. The problem is that there’s so many different lines here.” He studied them for another minute, and then shook his head. “I’m sorry, enchanting just isn’t my strong suit.” “What about the thing that happens when you try to control the vines?” Mimic asked. “That’s your specialty, isn’t it?” “I mean, it’s an enchantment on a plant, so not really.” “Well, do your plant thing again,” Apple Bloom said. “Maybe if you do it while Sweetie Belle is using her x-ray spell, we’ll see what’s going on.” Thistleroot nodded, ducked his head, and his horn began to glow. As it did, the lines beneath the surface of the stone twitched, and then shifted right. Not all of them, Scootaloo noticed. Only about a third of them had moved. The lines turned, and shifted again. Sets of two joined end to end, making longer lines. They turned again, and then began to drift toward the surface. They flowed into the vines growing over the door, and where they touched the surface, they glowed bright green, creating the script that had appeared before. As a result, the webwork of symbols still inside the wall were left less cluttered. “Oh, oh,” Thistleroot called, pointing. “Mimic, there were blue letters when you hit it with fire before, right?” Scootaloo asked. Mimic nodded. “Yes, but they disappeared almost immediately.” “Can you try using magic against the door again? Something that’ll last longer than a blast, just so we can see what happens?” Mimic nodded again and her horn glowed. Green sparks of changeling fire began dancing along the wall. Half the remaining lines and circles within the wall shifted, and the turned and pressed into the surface of the wall, glowing blue as they did so. “We’re still missing something,” Scootaloo said. “Sweetie Belle, do you have any spells that might work? “I can try, but I’ll have to drop the gem finding spell.” “Maybe I can try,” Spike said. “There were some draconic symbols in there before.” “Couldn’t hurt,” Apple Bloom said. Spike stepped up, took a deep breath, and released a thin stream of flame right at the center of the door. The last of the lines moved, this time framing the carving with the odd script in a bright crimson. A wave of pressure pushed out from the door and then retracted, like a single heartbeat, extinguishing Spike’s and Mimic’s flames. Thistleroot’s and Sweetie Belle’s horns darkened as their hold on their individual spells slipped. The lines on the wall and vines moved. They twisted and blurred as they were drawn into three points about two thirds of the way up the carving. The lines around the points sharpened and became circles, each a different color. Each circle was bordered by an intricate weave of symbols with a single larger symbol at the center. “I know that symbol!” Spike called out, pointing at the red circle in the middle. “I can read that,” Mimic said at the same time, pointing toward the blue circle on the right. A second passed, and Thistleroot pointed at the green circle on the left. “I have no idea what that says.” “What do they say?” Scootaloo asked, ignoring him. Spike stepped up closer to the door. The red symbol was comprised of a circle starting on the left top side and sweeping counter clockwise to the top. The line curved in and splitting into what seemed to be a fanged mouth swallowing a star. “The middle symbol looks like a simpler version of the crest of the dragon lord.” “The right symbol is the one we use for the first queen,” Mimic said, pointing to a blue diamond with a six pointed cross inside. “The first queen?” Apple Bloom asked. “It’s an old myth about the first changeling,” Mimic said. “I think I’ve heard you use that phrase,” Scootaloo said. “Something like “I swear by the first queen” when you were threatening me about your brother.” “You were threatening her?” Apple Bloom asked, eyes narrowing at Mimic. “Not important any more,” Scootaloo said, stepping between them. “Do you know anything about this first queen?” “She was said to be extremely powerful, and extremely beautiful. She originally learned to change her form because nothing in the world could stand to see her. I always thought it was a bunch of nonsense. Looking back on it now, it was probably Nocturne and a thousand years of exaggeration.” Mimic paused, eyes closed in thought. “She was also called the Night Queen and the Mother Changeling. Besides that, I’ve got nothing.” “So we’ve got symbols for dragon lords and changeling queens, and whatever the green one is. Any ideas what we’re supposed to do with them?” Everypony fell silent, thinking. “Oh oh oh!” Thistleroot said. “Lost treasure, lost treasure!” “Huh?” “Daring Do and the Lost Treasure of Ikanthax!” Scootaloo frowned, and then her eyes widened. “The temple of the seasons!” “Uh, Ah don’t remember that one very well, care to fill us in?” Apple Bloom said. “Daring Do went to the temple of seasons early on in the book,” Thistleroot said. “But it was sealed shut,” Scootaloo said. “It wasn’t until she had the orb of time that the keyholes appeared!” “And she had to use the four elements to undo the locks in order!” “So, we have to use pony, changeling, and dragon magic to unlock it?” Mimic asked. “We already did that.” “And it showed us the locks,” Scootaloo said. “Now maybe if we use the magic directly on the locks it’ll open them. The green one is first, try it Thistleroot.” Thistleroot’s horn glowed with its normal blue light. The green symbol glowed as well, and then the light around his horn turned bright green. The symbol vanished and the vines began pulling away from the wall. Within seconds the entire section was clear. “Spike, try hitting the dragon symbol with fire!” “On it,” Spike said, taking a deep breath and exhaling a stream of fire directly at the red symbol. The fire struck it and began to swirl about as though caught in a vortex. The red symbol disappeared and the fire spread out across the wall. The faint lines that covered the carving like stitches were burnt away. Mimic unleashed a bolt of changeling magic without prompting, hitting the mark of the first queen. It vanished and changeling fire spread across the door. As the fire passed, the lines of the carving shifted outward, filling with a silver color. The horizontal bars extended from the wall and the dark stone beneath became polished wood. Within seconds the fire had changed the carving of a set of doors into real doors. Scootaloo edged forward, hoof outstretched. She pushed against the bar on the door. It swung open without resistance. For the first time in over a thousand years, the light of day poured into Libiris.