//------------------------------// // 3 - The Afterparty // Story: Knight of Equestria II: Discordant Harmony // by scifipony //------------------------------// It wasn't a minute later, following a few day-night transitions, that I heard rapid-fire whooshing spring-loaded noises. Only magic could create such a sound—or a soundboard connected to a boom box, which was unlikely considering the chaos. I had again circled around in the neighborhood of the library, so I zipped upward for a brief spy-hop. I felt it, that sudden pulling-tingling irreality that made the fur on your spine raise: Magic. Magic of an odd sort, nothing like the unicorns performed at school. This felt like... the hot sun on a cool day that made you want to rest on a cloud, fluff your wings, and just soak in some rays. Calming. I curved into a flat trajectory, upside-down, even as I saw colorful stars shooting up from below the roofline a few blocks away, near where I'd harassed the monster. The top of a red diaphanous sphere appeared and sank from view. As I approached, everything felt so right that I began singing an epiphanic drone as if I were one of a chorus heralding a miracle. Maybe I was. A strange rainbow light arced upward and down. The rainbow wasn't the colors of something produced by water and the sun, or a creation of the Cloudsdale weather factory. This rainbow displayed the colors of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It raced downward and shot out of view. Reality wrenched sideways and warped. Or rather, I warped. I blacked out. I found myself in a steep nose dive; I flared my wings barely in time to bang my hooves down hard on somepony's balcony and skid into a wall. The shock left my knees tingling. I wobbled, but had no trouble standing upright. From my high vantage point, peering over a wrought iron balustrade, I saw the unbelievable. The perversion of reality reversed itself. Everything broken became whole all over Ponyville. Floating buildings planted themselves. Houses that had fallen apart reassembled. Stilt-legged rabbits became precious little bunnies. Ponies transformed by the monster into dumb bricks, dancing buffalos, and flying idiots became scattered unconscious ponies in the street. I saw a few lever themselves up as the cloudy pink sky melted and evaporated into a cloudless blue one. The quilt-work landscape transformed into dirt, lawns, and distant orchards. Could it actually be over? Ponies in the street shook themselves. One tan stallion with an hour-glass cutie mark looked around and shrugged. With a smile, he trotted away. I saw a pegasus who'd crashed on a roof do the analogous thing, looping gleefully into the sky. I took to the air, well able to fly steadily. I saw the stallion's goofy reaction repeated again and again and again. Did they think they'd fallen asleep and experienced a meaningless nightmare? Why did I remember, then? Because I was a "serious pony?" I wasn't going to ask. I wasn't going to ask anypony if they remembered any of that. I mean—It was a nightmare. Forcing somepony to remember that. I shuddered. To make them think it might have been real... that would be unforgivable. I flew past the Golden Oak library and navigated the restored landscape of Ponyville houses, eateries, and stores. Where the monster had placed his throne turned out to be where Ponyville Way crossed Main Street. Paddock Park provided a small green lawn that included the Prancing Pony fountain, a few trees and benches, and a bridge over the Canterlot Cataract brook. I had been about to enter the park when I'd first noticed the monster in my path. In the middle of the street lay a black opal with white-wired eardrops. I landed and picked up my iSing, turning it over and around with my primary feathers. Unmarred. It had been here, in this spot, that he had— De-harmonized me? It seemed forever ago. Yet—yet, I had found harmony in hardship. I had lacked internal harmony. I'd had no inkling of the treasure I'd missed. The need to sing rose up. Knowing my inner-pony better now, I let it bubble up as I looped the strap on my iSing over my neck and popped in the eardrops. I strolled toward the small hill I knew stood beyond the fountain. I keyed on a Keen on Loggin' song at low volume and sang along. "Magic helps the pony who fights against fear / Friendship's the key and it sets you free..." My voice sounded pretty good! Of course I knew everypony thought their voice sounded pretty good, until they heard it recorded, but the strength and clarity of it surprised me. The uncanny observation might just have been due to what I'd been through today. I'd record it tomorrow. Sobriety would show if my impression matched reality. Behind the fountain, a sorry sight hove into view. The toppled statue would have stood two storeys high. It had a mismatched antler and horn, a mismatched talon and paw, and two mismatched wings. The equine dragon looked quite surprised. Hard to believe I'd spat in his eye. A right wanker he was. I started laughing as I walked up to him. As I knelt before his head and stared into his mismatched irises, words bubbled up. I sang, "Pugnacity presages perdition plus purple pony purgatory." He looked satisfyingly shocked, though I allowed that it might have been his reaction to what Twilight Sparkle and her friends had done to him. "I tried to warn you! I told you I was influenced by Princess Nightmare Moon, but did you listen? Nooooo. She made me her knight, you see." Well, technically, she promised to make me her knight, but still... I wasn't taking any credit for what Twilight Sparkle or her friends had wrought. Regardless, it was delicious to think that the monster wouldn't know I hadn't been somehow instrumental in his being... stoned. I snorted loudly. He remained unmoved, unmoving, his mouth open in disbelief. So deliciously fitting. "You don't know what hurts ponies, do you? You bring discord to harmony." No response, but something told me rainbow magic didn't kill. It would be very satisfying if he did indeed hear me. He'd been imprisoned in stone in the Canterlot Sculpture Garden awaiting Princess Celestia's parole. He was probably awaiting his next time, now. I tapped his forehead. "Maybe I bring harmony to discord. Harmony in discord?" I got up and looked at the trees that rustled in the slight breeze. A red bird with a black mask alighted on a branch—a cardinal. Behind me, the water in the fountain pattered pleasantly. I shivered, finding peace where minutes ago had dripped horror. I walked around him, breathing cool clean air to fill my lungs and noticing that ponies again trotted down the street. Some noticed me. They were dozens of pony-lengths away. I kicked the statue in the bear-like foot. It clanked. "Remember this if you're in there. Good in evil." I bucked him in the hip. The statue wobbled. It felt pretty solid, but it was nevertheless carved from some sort of marble. I'd seen plenty of ancient marble statues missing legs or tails. Sweet. "Evil in good." I put my front hooves on his bat wing and pushed. It flexed delicately. I clambered up on him, flapping my wings to keep from slipping as I navigated his snake-like curves. I walked precariously toward his neck. "Which are ponies? Good? Evil? I could just step on your neck here." The curve of his neck provided tricky footing, and I had to work to get my wooden horseshoes properly positioned. Thanks to the big difference in our size, I could get all four hooves between his head and his chest. Wings out for balance, I began bouncing. There was no support between his shoulders and where his head rested on the ground. Perfect. I bounced harder, judging the flex in the stone and straining eee-eeh sound it made. I thought of malformed Diamond Tiara flying around reduced to a drooling idiot. "Crack," I said, then looked down at his face. I thought of ponies turned into objects and living nightmares. I thought of Twilight Sparkle's friends twisted and greyed like me, turned into irascible dis-harmonized wretches. All for "fun." I crept closer to his head and lowered my muzzle to his ear to whisper as I bounced some more. "Crack... Then, no next time..." I took a deep breath. "But I won't. This... prison means there's supposed to be a next time... Princess Celestia could have sent you to Tartarus, but she didn't. Don't blow it! But... But if ever you see me again, remember, and remember well, that I'm not like everypony else and—" Directly into his ear, I hissed, "Run." I fluttered to the grass. I turned and faced him. Because curious chattering ponies had already entered the park, into earshot, I said lowly, "Oh, yeah. Thanks for fixing me." The cardinal began singing his whistling, chirp, chirp, chirp song. I listened, then imitated it... Well enough that the bird sung back. I looked around as ponies noticed and smiled. I smiled, too. To think I'd actually been embarrassed to sing! To the monster, I added, "I do appreciate you fixing me. I guess there can be good in evil." I hoped so. For my own sake. I really wanted to buck him in the muzzle, though—but that was personal and not the right thing to do, unlike when I bucked Blue Bird in the mouth. I decided it might be something other ponies would report. I wasn't keen on that, so I trotted off. I really needed to find Mum and Dad, anyway.