“I don’t know how to use this thing.”
“Just try.”
Scootaloo held the fragment of harmony between her hooves. She sat in front of the statue of Discord, trying desperately to ignore the shaking of her limbs. “Try what?” She thrust the stone toward the statue, and nothing happened. “It’s not working. It might be broken.”
“It responded when I tried to use it yesterday,” Thistleroot said. “Nothing’s happened to it since then.”
“You tried to use it?”
“Yeah. But, uh, it was a bad idea. It wouldn’t have worked.” Thistleroot glanced away. Scootaloo frowned, but didn’t press the issue.
Magic, huh? Maybe it would only respond to unicorn magic. But then, it had been left for her in the crusader clubhouse. Surely Princess Celestia would have created it so that Scootaloo could use it.
Magic. “Thistleroot? How do you use magic?”
“Uh, well, you sort of need a horn first.”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I mean, how do you, specifically you, use magic. I’m not asking you to teach me how to make stuff float or anything.”
“Oh.” Thistleroot shrugged. “I’m not really sure exactly. I mean, how do you explain to somepony how to breathe, right? But, I guess if I really need to focus on a spell, it comes down to knowledge. Like plants. I know what they need to grow, and I know the process they go through to do so. If I want plants to grow faster, I concentrate on those things.
“Of course, everypony is a bit different,” he continued. “What about you? How do you use magic?”
“It all comes naturally now,” Scootaloo said. “Dash taught me proper form, and how to concentrate on what I wanted to do when I was learning to fly, but now I don’t even have to think about it. It helps to go over old memories.” Scootaloo shrugged. Well, it was worth a shot. The first time she’d seen the Elements of Harmony in action had been the resealing of Discord, after Scootaloo had freed him.
She’d been a bit distracted at the time. The Element of Betrayal had appeared around her neck, and using it had been painful. She’d been panicking. If they’d lost, who knew what Discord might have done to her.
Might still do to her, if he had the opportunity.
She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought. It was no worse than what Rosalia would do. She had to trust that Thistleroot was right.
What did she remember about that night? About the magic of harmony? The light had been warm. It had passed over her on its way to Discord, but left her unharmed.
It was magic created by the bond six friends shared.
Discord had been her friend. At least some part of him had wanted her to stay by his side, even after she’d outlived her usefulness. And she’d been ready to go against everypony else to free her friend, even before Rainbow Dash’s actions had accidentally driven her to accept the Element of Betrayal.
She wanted to use the fragment of harmony, not to bring back the Discord that had manipulated her and hurt Spike, but to bring back the Discord that had given her food and listened to her worries. Sure, they were the same Discord, but that didn’t mean one was strictly a lie, did it?
Her friendship with Discord had changed the course of her entire life. For better or worse, she couldn’t possibly know, but wasn’t that how it always was? How different would her life be if she’d never met Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle or Rainbow Dash. Or if she’d never met Thistleroot or Mimic?
She felt a deepening warmth in her hooves and opened her eyes. The fragment of harmony had become a soft, nebulous ball of rainbow light.
She took a deep breath. The world seemed to come to a stop as she looked up at the statue. This was it. It was one thing to say she would free him, but in her hooves she held the key. She had to make her choice.
Discord had manipulated her. He’d lied. He’d hurt Spike. She’d often wondered if he could forgive her, but looking up at his statue, she wondered if she could do it. Could she forgive him? Even if she accepted that he’d wanted her to stay by his side in the end, did that genuine show of friendship make up for all the evil he’d done?
No. Of course not. Even villains could have friends. It didn’t stop them from being villains. But it did mean that he was capable of friendship. It meant that, even if she didn’t already forgive him for everything he’d done, forgiveness wasn’t impossible.
After her parents had died, she’d found a new family. Rainbow Dash was her sister, even if they weren’t related. She had Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and Spike. Even Thistleroot and Mimic now. She’d gotten a second chance.
What would Discord do with a second chance?
She closed her eyes and thrust the fragment of harmony outward again, and the rainbow light flowed into Discord. The light cascaded across his stone form, sinking into it and fading. The entire figure pulsed once with a soft golden light, and then it faded, leaving the statue as it had been before.
Scootaloo stepped back, breath caught in her chest, muscles tensing, ready.
Thistleroot winced and ducked his head.
The stone statue of Discord loomed over both of them, glaring as it had been for ten years.
The sculpture gardens were silent as the light of harmony worked its magic.
Scootaloo’s lungs burned with the held breath.
Soon, chaos would be...
Soon, chaos...
Soon...
“Nothing’s happening,” Thistleroot said.
Scootaloo exhaled, still waiting. Nothing happened for a few more seconds. “You’re right. It’s not—” She cut off, eyes snapping back to the statue. Thistleroot skipped back, eyes widening.
Nothing happened.
“Huh, I thought for sure something would happen once we’d started talking,” Scootaloo said, frowning.
“Oh, sure,” Thistleroot said, relaxing a bit. “But it’s pretty obvious by now that it’s not going to—” He cut himself off and pointed at the statue. “Okay, nope. Uh... what does this mean?”
Scootaloo stared at Discord. A part of her had been praying that the fragment of harmony wouldn’t work. But had it really failed? Had they wasted it? Even after making the decision, had she failed to free him?
The statue remained as still as it had been for the past ten years.
“It really didn’t work,” Scootaloo said, the realization and its consequences still working its way through her mind. She looked down at her now empty hooves. “We used the fragment, and it didn’t work.”
She looked up to the statue again, hoping that she was wrong, hoping that they hadn’t just wasted their only weapon.
Discord remained motionless.
*****
“Ah mean, if ya think about it, it’s not any different than if Rose kept the fragment, right?” Apple Bloom asked. They sat together in their own tent near the Royal Guard section of camp. Several hours had passed since the failed attempt to free Discord, and Scootaloo had finished filling them in on everything that happened. “Ya only found out Thistleroot still had the fragment like, what? Three minutes before ya used it? We’re still in the same predicament we were in this morning.”
It was true, Scootaloo thought, but it didn’t feel true. The few minutes of hope she’d had once she realized they still had the weapon Celestia had given them left a bitter aftertaste once that weapon had been stripped away. Thrown away, she corrected herself.
“And we were saving the fragment of harmony for Twilight, weren’t we?” Sweetie Belle added. “If it couldn’t free Discord, it wouldn’t have worked on her either, right?”
“Oh yeah, that’s a real good point,” Apple Bloom said. “Imagine if we’d gone back to that castle and gotten Twilight back and then it failed. At least with Discord, nopony got hurt trying it, right?”
“True,” Scootaloo said. “But why would the princess even make it if it couldn’t do anything?” Neither of her friends had an answer to that. “We must have missed something. The princess must have made it for some reason, and then we blew it.” She bowed her head. “I blew it.”
“Now cut that out!” Apple Bloom said. “Ya couldn’t have known it wouldn’t work, and everypony knows it. Don’t go beatin’ yourself up over it.”
“But I should have been more careful,” Scootaloo said. “I could have asked Sunburst about it.”
“But ya didn’t,” Apple Bloom said. “And Ah wouldn’t have neither. Ah honestly thought it would have worked, and Ah wouldn’t have second guessed myself. There’s no point in cryin’ over spilled cider. Especially when nopony got hurt.”
“Nopony got hurt this time,” Scootaloo said. “but what if I make a mistake like that again? What if one of you two gets hurt because I think something will work and it doesn’t?”
“We know the risks,” Apple Bloom said. “And we’re here anyway. Ya don’t got to worry about us.” Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.
Scootaloo bit back a frustrated growl. “Yes I do. Look, I know we’re all friends, but lately it seems like everypony has been following my lead. Thistleroot’s even been trying to convince me that I’m turning into the group’s leader or something.”
“Now that’s just silly,” Apple Bloom said.
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo said. “But still, if—”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle agreed, “Of course you’re the leader. Why would he have to convince you of that?”
Scootaloo blinked. “What?”
“I mean, you’re the one who keeps coming up with all the good ideas,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah didn’t think about the Crystal Empire until you mentioned it, and now we have Twilight’s student. That’s like the next best thing to having Twilight herself.”
“And I just wanted to get out of that forest. If we hadn’t gone back to Libiris, we never would have found where Nocturne’s castle was,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Not to mention Ah didn’t really know what was going on with all the changelings and stuff until ya explained it,” Apple Bloom said.
“But we almost died in Night’s End. And the Crystal Empire. How can you guys think I’m the leader when I keep messing up?”
“What the hay are ya talking about?” Apple Bloom asked. “It wasn’t your fault windigos attacked our train.”
“And we all knew how dangerous going to Night’s End was going to be,” Sweetie Belle said.
“But what if I make a bad call again? What if I get one of you hurt?”
“Ah told ya already, we know the risks.”
“That doesn’t make it any better. I’m not cut out for this,” Scootaloo said. “This thing with the fragment proves that. You two are wrong. Thistleroot’s wrong. I’m not a leader.”
“Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle started, but Apple Bloom cut her off.
“Fine.”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Ah’m sorry,” Apple Bloom continued. “We didn’t know we were putting so much pressure on you.”
Sweetie Belle looked back at her, and then to Scootaloo again. After a moment she smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Scootaloo said. “It wasn’t like that, really. I just don’t want to get anypony hurt.”
“Ah understand. But ah don’t want you getting too down on yourself about the fragment, okay? Nopony got hurt, and anypony would have done the same, so no moping, ya hear?”
Scootaloo nodded and tried for a smile, “Okay. Yeah. We don’t have time to mope, right?”
“Exactly,” Apple Bloom said. “Look, it’s getting late. Have ya eaten yet?”
“I’m not really hungry,” Scootaloo started, but Apple Bloom started shaking her head before she’d finished.
“Ya need ta eat. Go on. That’s an order, ya hear?” Scootaloo paused at the sudden command, and then chuckled. Apple Bloom held her serious face for a moment longer before grinning. “Ah’m serious.”
Scootaloo sighed, still smiling. “Uh, aye? Or affirmative? Whatever, fine.” She turned and made her way out of the tent.
*****
“So, I guess you want to be the leader then?” Sweetie Belle asked once Scootaloo had left.
“Of course not,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah still don’t even know halfa what was goin’ on before that Nocturne thing got free.”
Sweetie Belle thought about it and then grinned. “So, it’s still Scootaloo then?”
“Eeyup. Just don’t tell her that.”
“Do you think that’s okay?”
“Eh, she’ll come around, Ah think. She’s just had a bad day,” Apple Bloom said. “We should probably tell Thistleroot not to make a big deal about it, next time we see him. Where is he, anyway?”
“I’m not sure. I think he was with Sunburst and Spike.”
*****
It had been a big day for failures all over. Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer had no luck whatsoever in unravelling the prison currently holding the princesses. Sunburst had promised to keep studying it, but it was apparently far more complicated than anything he’d ever worked on before.
He’d had no time to rest, however. As soon as he’d returned, Scootaloo and Thistleroot had asked him about the fragment of harmony and Discord, hoping he could explain what had gone wrong.
Thistleroot now sat alone in Starswirl’s tent, nodding as his eyes scanned the page in front of him, barely registering the words he was reading.
Sunburst had balked at the idea of allying Discord, of course, but had finally relented to a theoretical discussion on why freeing the spirit of chaos had failed. They’d gone over what everypony knew about the Elements of Harmony and the stone prison, and about the fragment of harmony. Spike had helped them find three different reference books, and Sunburst had gone over the numbers half a dozen times.
The main problem was that there was no possible way for the spell to have failed.
The Elements of Harmony had imprisoned Discord in stone. Scootaloo and Spike had both agreed on that. They’d watched it happen. And the fragment of harmony was definitely made from those same elements. Scootaloo had watched it being created. It shouldn’t have taken that much power to free Discord. Not when the fragment was from the same force that had imprisoned him in the first place.
Thistleroot was no expert on measurements of power, but even he could tell the fragment had carried a huge amount. More than he’d ever wielded before. Could it have lost that much energy when he was about to use it? But then where had the magic gone? Magic, all energy really, could be transfered or changed, but not created or destroyed. Had the magic flowed out of the fragment and into the air without his noticing? But then the crystalized form of the magic would have been smaller.
He pushed himself back, trying to focus. Spike and Sunburst had long since gone to bed, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to rest. Not until he understood what happened. He turned the page, then shook his head and turned it back. He hadn’t retained anything. He started the page from the beginning again.
Trotter’s Tome had an entire chapter on the law of conservation of magic. Granted, that was in an isolated system, but there was nowhere else the magic could have gone, was there? Had Sunburst missed something? Were the energy requirements for undoing the imprisonment actually several times more than they thought?
Scootaloo’s face when she realized it had failed was still fresh in his memory, and each time he thought back to it, it brought a fresh stab of guilt to his chest. It had been his fault. She hadn’t said as much, but surely at least some part of her had to think that. He’d returned the fragment, given her hope, and it had come to nothing. She could have kept it, used it to save her sister, but instead she’d wasted it. Because he’d convinced her. Because he’d made promises he had no way of keeping. He’d let her down.
It just wasn’t possible. No matter how he looked at it, it should have worked.
Thistleroot closed the book at tossed it across the table more forcefully than necessary.
It just wasn’t possible. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said, putting his face in his hooves.
Laughter filled the tent. It was a deep, smooth laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Thistleroot’s eyes went wide as his head came up. He turned, looking over one shoulder and then the other, trying to find the source of the noise. He was alone.
“Make sense?” A voice asked behind him. The sound of it was just as deep and rich as the laughter, but something about it sent shivers of unease down Thistleroot’s spine. He felt something clamp down on his right shoulder, and when the voice spoke again, it was a whisper into his ear. “Oh, what fun is there in making sense?”