//------------------------------// // Chapter thirty three, Unfamiliar Faces: Meeting Harmony. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -The future that refused to change, Fluttershy- The party was getting back into order and I couldn’t find a way to get Fizzle alone, she was busy ordering the Storm Creatures around. Mostly to release the ponies and tell them that the Storm King was no more. Each Storm Creature had thick white fur along their backs, three fingered hands and three toed feet. They were also quite large, I wondered how someone like the Storm King could even order them all around when they were so strong in numbers. The Storm King was very different. We never got his name, but we knew he was at least a Satyr and that was very different from the now docile Storm Creatures that were following Fizzle’s orders. They were surprisingly efficient and were following them almost faster than Fizzle could dish them out. I didn’t see a single Storm Creature that was sad at the Storm King’s passing… unless his statue could be rebuilt and he could be revived from there. I tried not to think about it. I even met the one I befriended and decided to finish our conversation. “So I had forgotten all of my old friends for my new ones in my life.” I was teary eyed and the Storm Creature gently wiped my eyes. “Thank you, I don't think… no wait… I actually have more to discuss. I’m glad that I can remember them all, I wonder if they are still there at Airship Mauled. Anyway after meeting Twilight and going past the several things Nightmare Moon placed in our paths, I can’t figure out why she didn’t just attack us outright. Instead she just seemed to want to deter us or play with us roughly, it wasn’t until we got the elements of harmony and got them working that…” My eyes widen and my mind went back to that moment we were encompassed in the power of harmony. -Castle of the two sisters, two years after Jade, Fluttershy- So much power flowing through all of us, it was really quite scary. Yet I could almost hear a gently voice singing to me. “Sing a melody, simple as can be~. Give it some words and…~” The voice stopped. “Sweet harmony~.” I sang back to her without knowing how I knew the words, I heard a giggling of a child. “Raise your voice now~.” The voice urged on. “So we can sing our song proud~!” I felt a warmth blossom in my chest. “And we will sing it out loud~.” The voice sounded chiding. “Sing a melody of love~.” We both sang out together. “Oh love~!” I let out now holding my hooves to my chest. “Love is the magic, love is the story, love is the melody…~” The voice sang, I felt that love and it was coursing through me. “That we… all… can… sing~!” My heart was put into the last word of the song stretching out into the world around me, until I felt an urge to stop. So I did. “Airship Mauled is a place you’ll forget to remember, you will remember it again one day and you will do something important. Open your eyes.” I did so and found myself in a white void. “Hehe can’t see a thing can you? I’m sorry that your blind here, but and this is very important, I want you to wake them up with this song.” “What do…?” I started to ask only to somehow be silenced. “You’ll know when to sing it, trust me. You will be quite tired after this experience, you are a good kindness and all of it is just part of who you are. I’m borrowing your power for a little bit. None of what is currently happening is my power, it’s all you and your friends that is giving me this power. I’m just putting it together to use for you.” The soft voice giggled and I felt myself being hugged, I smiled brightly. “Your friendships are quite important to the world, but take solace in the knowledge that you will always love and be loved. You will know anger and hate, but in the end you will always be kindness personified and you do it all on your own merit every single day. You don’t quite see your strength yet, but it’s there waiting for you to let bravery into your heart. You will be able to stare down even the most dangerous of creatures one day. That which binds us in true friendship makes us stronger, friendship can come from anywhere and at any time my friend. Now listen carefully to this song, because we don’t have much time.” I nodded and would listen to her song. “Grown-ups have done so much more stuff than me, there’s many things that I still want to see~.” Her voice was like that of an angel, I couldn’t not listen. “Now I take my backpack to the world, and fill it with memories~.” I saw a vision of Jade falling on top of me, she looked so worried about me and seemed happy that I was alright. She picked me up and started to carry me towards the campsite I woke up at. The crashed airship that mauled itself against the ground. “My journey to find what I’m looking for seems forever long, waiting for me to become strong, but I’ve come to miss… what I’ve wanted all along~.” The white world started to become shaky, the song seemed so slow paced. “Where have all my friends and companions gone, for one I do not see~. I want my guiding light to, bring them all back to me~.” I think I could feel Jade’s life, but not the context behind what it meant. It felt as if I were standing on a pillar and watching something. I then saw Jade standing in front of me, she started walking to a large wall of darkness. I tried to call out and she didn’t respond. She turned back to me, the light left her eyes as she fell backwards into the darkness, was she hurt? What hurt her? “For when we meet again the dust and grime all falls off in dismay~. I know in my heart that I’ll see them all again someday~. No matter what somehow, despite being led astray~.” The voice started to fade, but I could still clearly hear it. “In the dark our broken hearts will mend and… I’ll open my eyes then… I’ll see that the guiding light was always there to show me the… way~.” The last note stretched and faded off softly, I was crying and I didn’t know why. I blinked and felt myself falling to the floor. I was forgetting something, but I couldn’t remember what. I struggled to stand and saw my friends around me getting up groggily. A small filly was resting in the pieces of Nightmare Moon’s broken armor in front of us. Bright blue hair, dark grayish blue to purple fur. -The future that refused to change, Fluttershy- I gasped, blinked my eyes and saw a worried face. I was held in the Storm Creature’s arms, he made a questioning noise. “I’m okay… I just remembered something important.” I didn’t know who the voice was, but it felt like a close friend. I got up and he made some more worried querying noises. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Now let’s continue to talk about you.” Then the Storm Creature opened himself up to me again, he felt hopeful that with the Storm King gone he could do something better with his life. He needed a friend to help him through this and Fizzle would be in Canterlot for the cleanup after the Friendship Festival, I had time. -Kuril- “Oh how the mighty king who once sacked Abyssinia fell, his luck seemed so great only to be beaten by his own thrown spell.” I stood a short distance away from the site wrapped tightly in my cloak, I turned my back on the sight of broken stone pieces. “I almost lost a daughter against a road well paved, but thanks to the friendship princess she was saved.” I started to walk off, I had to think about what to say before I confronted her. -Fizzle- I walked the streets and saw many a glare, I had two Storm Creatures following along to protect me from them. The two that were following me had followed me from the beginning, dying a portion of their fur the same color as my mane. They’d rather I lead them then the Storm King and if he gave the orders, they wouldn’t have killed me. They, much to anyone’s disbelief if I were to tell them, were my friends. Pique and Niche were the two Storm Creatures that became my friends after I asserted myself as commander of the Storm King’s army, only I was too stubborn to let myself be their friend. Now our friendship was a little uneasy, but they still saw me as a friend and someone worth following. They certainly weren’t willing to immediately ditch the colors they had dyed into their fur. I remember how the Storm King forced me into an arena to fight them. I didn’t hurt them unnecessarily, but kicking them around had been rather cathartic. They did take part in the invasion of Abyssinia and destroyed Jade’s hometown, I’d eventually go back there to see if Abyssinians of Palicoast could use some help rebuilding. I wanted to help Abyssinia get back on its paws. I had a lot of things to fix and make right, today was just the start of it all. Of the things that couldn’t be fixed here today, my horn, my heart and my reputation in Canterlot. No, I doubt any pony who lived or got stuck here over the time of our militaristic occupation was ever going to forget me. I didn’t want my reputation as Tempest Shadow anymore, but it was definitely going to haunt me for some time after this point. I had told Pinkie my name, because she asked as if she didn’t know it. She went on to bounce all over the place, then she whispered that she was sorry to hear that my sister Tempest passed on. I just stared at her and gave her a small smile, only Pinkie Pie. Just as I remembered her. What could be fixed is the relations the Storm Creatures have with ponies. It would be an uphill climb for them all. What could also be fixed is the homes that were destroyed. The magic only repaired Canterlot, it didn’t reach Mount Aris or the other places I’ve been though. I’m sure Grubber could handle it, he was actually too nice to be evil. Where was that short pug face hedgehog that stuffed his face constantly anyway? I made my way to the square where I heard that a pirate loaded cake was pulled into Canterlot. Seriously a cake? That plan seemed entirely Jade levels of silly, did they seriously think they’d get far with that? Walking around the cake, I saw that the back half of it had been eaten away. Well the parts that were a cake anyway. Grubber was snoring away with his face in the middle of the empty section. I let out a small laugh, my heart felt lighter than it ever has in a long time. I’ve missed the feeling of being able to laugh or smile, but my heart still ached. I’d talk to Grubber later this evening when he woke up, I turned to a nearby Storm Creature. “Harken, free up Grubber, clean him off and put him in a nice place to continue his nap.” The Storm Creature threw me a quiet salute and went to pick up Grubber. “Don’t wake him up.” The Storm Creature gently picked up Grubber and then went off to find one of the docked airships. With that done, I was going to continue overseeing the return of Canterlot to its rightful rulers. “Fizzle! Excuse me, but I need to talk with her.” Hearing Fluttershy call me out, I turned to see her apologize to a Storm Creature and the Storm Creature basically said it was okay to her. Fluttershy could befriend any creature, even a Storm Creature. We kind of needed a different name for them, but Grubber can work out the logistics of that too. My two bodyguards were looking about ready to block her off. “Let her through, she’s a friend of mine.” Both of them gave me a look and backed off. “What do you want Fluttershy, here to tell me how horrible I am?” “No, I think I need to sing something to you before I ask you a few pertinent questions about all that’s happened.” She looked unsure as to why she need to sing to me, but I shrugged. “Guys we’re going to find an alleyway so that I can discuss something with my friend here. After we do, I want you temporarily block it off so I can have some privacy with Fluttershy here. Just remember, follow the same orders I gave at the start of this and all other invasions.” No ponies or hippogriffs, much less anyone else, has been hurt too badly since I took command. Any hospitals were left untouched. I might have grown cold to the world, but I wasn’t that far gone. “If you can’t remember, no serious injuries or hurting anyone without just reason.” I still had to enslave the ponies to make it look like I had ransacked Canterlot in our attack, a smokescreen for the Storm King who eventually turned on me like I knew he would. I planned for no casualties and I achieved it, not a single pony was hurt badly. Almost took out Princess Luna too late, but thankfully she was close enough to the ground when I turned her to stone with four stoning spheres that the Storm King gave me. I’m surprised that Celestia is still letting me run around to command my forces. We found a nice dead end and I went in with Fluttershy, Pique and Niche stood outside to keep anyone from coming close enough to bother us. “Fluttershy let me start off by saying I’m sorry about all that’s happened and…” She stopped me by forcing a hoof into my mouth, she wasn’t acting shy at all. “It’s okay Fizzle. I need to sing now and I need to do it before I forget all the words.” Fluttershy then sang to me, the song was interesting to say the least. The words that really caught my interest were guiding light, it reminded me of Jade’s prophecy and how things have happened up to this point. In fact the song reminded me of Jade way too much, it made my heart yearn for her even more. Why did Fluttershy have to sing that painful sounding song? “So she’ll always be in my heart… why do I feel like there’s something to it all?” As cruel as the world can be sometimes, I had almost become as cruel. A guiding light to bring back my friends? Jade wasn’t around anymore to do the whole guiding light of Airship Mauled thing. “That was beautiful, do you know where my daughter is?” We jumped and looked towards the cloaked Abyssinia who somehow got past my guys and into the alleyway. “I’m afraid I’ve lost her and she has the name of Fizz.”