//------------------------------// // Finale: The Return of Harmony // Story: The Struggles of Running a Book Store // by arcanica_scripta //------------------------------// Arcanica stared into the sky intently. She was positive she saw something unusual earlier, and Celestia damn her, she was going to find out what it was. No matter how much work she put into it, no matter how long it took, she was going to- “Hey sis? Why are you on the roof?” She looked down and saw Bookworm standing on the stairs. She had a look of sheer confusion etched on her face as she tried to discern what her sister was doing by standing on the roof. “Go back inside, Book. I’m doing something important.” She returned her eyes to the sky above, desperately searching for whatever she had seen earlier. “Does it have to do with that weird cloud behind you?” She blinked at her sister’s statement. A weird cloud. Turning around, she saw that Bookworm was correct. There was a strange pink cloud behind her. “Yes. Yes, it does.” She went to poke the cloud, but it sprayed chocolate milk in her face. “Why you little…” She punched the offending cloud and quickly began panicking when her hoof got stuck in the gummy cloud. “Uh, Book? Get heEEEEELP!” The strange cloud reared back like a race horse before taking off with her still stuck to it. “Arcanica!” The pink cloud kept flying at top speed, and her efforts to free her hoof simply got her other front leg stuck to it. “Oh COME ON!” The cloud began to fly in loops and made numerous jerky turns. Unfortunately, none of that shook the Herald loose. “Ok, buster. That does it!” Her horn and eyes lit up as purple lightning crackled around her horn. “EAT LIGHTNING DEATH!” She shot the beam of Eldritch energy into the sticky cloud, vaporizing it in a wheezing shriek. “YES!” She began falling towards the ground, reminding her that she was currently more than a dozen feet in the air. “OH CRAP!” She was over an empty field, so there was nothing to cast a shadow for her to dissolve into. This is going to hurt. “I gotcha!” Something slammed into her and she felt somepony holding onto her. Opening her eyes, she saw she had been caught by Rainbow Dash and was being brought to the ground. “You ok, Arcanica?” She nodded as she was set on the ground. “Yeah. Thanks, Rainbow.” “Arcanica! Are you alright?” Twilight and the others caught up and looked at her in concern. “What the hay was that all about?” “I’m fine, Twilight,” she repeated. “I got stuck to one of those pink clouds and it dropped me over that field.” “Oh, those aren’t just clouds!” Pinkie was bouncing in place and looked unusually sticky. “They’re cotton candy! And they rain super delicious chocolate milk!” “I’m sorry what?!” That just didn’t make sense. “That doesn’t sound like anything normal, and this town already has a skewed sense of what that word means!” “She’s telling the truth, Darling. As strange as it may be, that is our current situation.” “It’s not jus’ the clouds. All the crops on mah farm are either growin’ all giant-like or turnin’ inta popcorn!” Applejack then pointed at Fluttershy. “Not ta mention all o’ Fluttershy’s animals now have giraffe legs!” “This is absolute madness!” Wait, madness? Is this a part of that prophecy? “Don’t worry, we’re heading to Princess Celestia to see what’s causing all of this.” Twilight walked close and floated Spike onto her back. “I know it’s sudden, but I’d like it if you could keep an eye on Spike until we get back.” Arcanica nodded as she ran through possibilities in her own head. “Got it. You girls get to Canterlot. I’ll try keeping things under control here in Ponyville.” Getting nods and affirmations, the six mares continued on their way to the train station. “Ok, Spike, let’s get this under control.” “But how? You’re an author and I’m a baby dragon! What can we do?” “He’s got you there, Arcanica.” Spike screamed as Rune Cluster appeared beside them. “Wh-who’s that?!” He clung desperately to Arcanica’s back as he pointed at the chimeric pony. “Really? Making yourself visible to just anypony now? I thought you had standards, Rune.” She tapped into the Void’s power and summoned the Necroscriptus. “But as for what we’re dealing with, any suggestions?” Spike tried getting answers out of them as she flipped through the ominous book. “I was originally going to use Death Lightning to get rid of the clouds.” The chimera-pony nodded before joining her in looking over the book. “That’s not a bad idea, but please remember that spell can get out of control after repeated use.” She put a claw to her chin as she used her own magic to flip to her own section. “You’d be better off looking through my section. I used to have to deal with similar phenomena back in the day. If nothing in there works, I’d check the previous section. Smoke Mirror dealt with more of this than I did.” “There won’t be anything. I burned myself out trying to contain him before he got loose last time,” supplied an ashen pegasus who appeared next to Arcanica. While his eyes had the same black sclera as the chimeric Herald, only one eye gave off the mist. “I barely understood the powers of the Void, so all I did was keep him in a bubble until he figured out how to get out.” “THERE’S ANOTHER ONE?!” “Great, so I’ve got one chapter to use to solve this.” She looked over Rune’s section and kept ignoring Spike’s panic. “And judging by your statements, this is Discord’s work, isn’t it?” Both ponies nodded. “Yup. He must have broken out of the statue that Celly and Lulu turned him into,” said Rune. She looked around as the leaves on a tree in the distance turned into butterflies and began eating the grass around them. “But this is a pretty tame for him. Something tells me he’s just stretching his muscles now that he’s loose.” “W-who’s Discord?” asked the dragon. Sighing, Arcanica turned back to the little dragon. “Basically, he’s the God of Chaos and Disharmony, and he’s managed to return to Equestria after over a thousand years of imprisonment.” She closed the book before handing it to the dragon. “Hold this, don’t read it, and stick close. We’ve got work to do, starting with those trees.” “Let me guess, Restoration of Form?” guessed the pink mare. “Restoration of Form,” repeated the unicorn as her horn crackled with white lightning and the usual black aura. Gritting her teeth, she fired the surging beam at the flock of butterflies. They were caught in a nonexistent wind as they were dragged back to the tree and morphed back into leaves. She panted from the exertion but nodded. “Alright. That’s that. Now to try fixing AJ’s farm and Fluttershy’s animals.” The two other Heralds exchanged nervous looks. “Um, you know that spell isn’t something to be used too frequently, right?” Rune Cluster fell in step with the red unicorn and dragon as Mirror faded out. “Even I found it dangerous to repeatedly use it, and I jumped into the Void face first!” “Um, what’s this Void thing?” “It’s a nightmare realm where all of your worst nightmares’ nightmares exist.” He gulped nervously at the blunt description as the party of three continued on. “And I’m aware of that. That’s why I’m hoping the animals are still at the farm so I can reduce my number of casts.” “I’m still not sure you should be using it for individual changes, but you are the current Herald. It’s your call.” Rune Cluster allowed herself to fade out, leaving Arcanica and Spike to continue on their way. “So, are you some kind of demon sorceress or something?” he finally asked after a moment of awkward silence. Arcanica shook her head as she pondered how Twilight regularly carried Spike on her back. “No, not exactly. I just happen to have been chosen to be the mortal emissary of a race of demon gods from another plane of existence.” He seemed more terrified at the explanation, so she continued. “Basically, I was chosen to wield the powers of their bizarre dimension and am under orders to seek out anything that either angers or annoys them and deal with anything that slips into Equestria from their worlds.” “And this is your spell book or something? Is it some kind of manual to wield all these demon powers?” “It’s not inherently evil, if that’s what you’re thinking, Spike. The Necroscriptus just keeps getting found by ponies with fewer braincells than a rock.” She reached the crest of a hill and took in the chaos that was devastating the Apple Family’s farm. “And stuff like this is part of why they choose ponies to do their bidding. To keep the balance when others might not be able to.” She lifted Spike off her back and opened the book to the desired page. “Hold this, and don’t read.” He held the foreboding tome over his head and she re-read the spell in question. “Are you sure this is safe to use on such a big scale? The butterflies might have been one thing, but this much and in such a wide area seems a bit much. Maybe that weird monster had a point.” “Only one way to find out.” Her eyes filled with darkness once more as her horn lit up. She poured more power into the spell than the first time to accommodate for the scale she was dealing with. Arcs of white lightning began striking the ground as she kept charging up her spell. “NOW!” The concentrated void energy shot out of her horn as a wave that swept over a large section of farm. The rabbits that hadn’t escaped the farm got their regular legs back as the trees and corn went back to normal. She looked at her efforts and groaned when she realized she had only carved a cone of normalcy through the chaos. “Oh, come on!” She stomped a hoof before charging up her horn once more. “Alright, let’s give this a second go.” And maybe a third and fourth. It took about an hour, but she was ultimately able to restore the farm and animals to their original states. As a result, however, she was currently panting under an apple tree after the amount of exertion she put herself through. “That was horrible, but worth it.” “I told you to take it easy,” admonished Spike. The Necroscriptus laid on the ground beside him as he tried tending to Arcanica with a bottle of water he procured from… somewhere. He gave Arcanica another drink of water, and she shut her eyes as she recovered. If reversing this much chaos magic took this much out of me, it’ll take forever to fix the rest of Ponyville. Twilight and the others better hurry up and stop Discord. “Uh, Arcanica?” “What, Spike?” “Look.” Opening her eyes, her pupils shrank as the corn in the fields began popping again. The stalks that didn’t pop uprooted themselves and began swimming in the popcorn as if it were water. At the same time, the bunnies she had fixed began growing wings and flying around eating the apples that began splitting and multiplying on their trees. “SERIOUSLY?!” She groaned and tried standing up. “Okay, Arcanica. Time to start over.” “Oh I wouldn’t bother if I were you, Herald.” The two froze at the velvety yet sinister voice that came out of nowhere. “Your gifts, as wonderful as they are, can’t possibly hope to keep up with MY powers.” “Discord,” she muttered. “SHOW YOURSELF!” The wind picked up around them as lightning shot through the formerly clear skies. A malevolent laugh filled the air as a ball of light formed in front of them. With a mad cackle, the ball unwound itself and the Spirit of Chaos stood before them in all his mismatched glory. “Well hello there, Arcanica. It’s so lovely getting to finally meet the Herald of this Age.” “Cut the formalities, Discord. We both know it really isn’t.” Now that she had gotten her second wind, she stood defiantly before the draconequus. “Now what do you want?” “Such harsh words, that have been cast betwixt us, Herald. You wound me so!” He melodramatically swooned backwards, a plunger arrow appearing out of nowhere to stick to his chest. She rolled her eyes as Spike hid behind her. Getting no response, he raised his head to look at her over his chest. “Really? Nothing?!” Still getting no validation, he turns to look at you. “Yeesh, tough crowd.” “Are you going to answer me at some point?” Her horn crackled to life as her eyes followed suit. “Because I’m willing to throw your sorry flank to Shevkiral and let his pets eat you for lunch.” “Really, now?” He leaned in with a smug grin. “Then why haven’t you?” She snarled at him, so he snapped his fingers, making a large spotlight appear over him in order to cast a sizeable shadow. “By all means, try it! I do so dearly miss Uncle Shevy!” With a grin, Arcanica opened a gate under his mismatched feet, prompting several tendrils of darkness to latch onto his limbs and drag him down into the void-like darkness. Once he was gone from view, she released the spell. “There. Problem solved.” “Then why is everything still so weird?” She looked over the farm and lost her grin as she realized he was right. Nothing had changed after she banished him. There was a loud snap before Discord popped back into existence. There were a pair of sunglasses on his face and he was wearing a shirt that read “I got banished to a world of darkness and all I got was this crummy t-shirt”. He took a sip from a soda in his claw before lowering his glasses. “Honestly, Herald, I give it a 4/10. The banishing wasn’t really all that original.” She growled under her breath before firing the Death Lightning spell at him in a fit of frustration. Rather than dodge, he merely pulled a hole open in his face as if it were putty, allowing the beam of energy to pass through him harmlessly. “Well that was rude,” he muttered as he let go, his head snapping back into one piece. “I take time out of tormenting Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony and you try to kill moi? For shame, Arcanica.” “Well maybe you shouldn’t be in front of the pony who’s supposed to deal with problems like you!” she snapped. “Besides, if I can at least keep you busy, that just gives my friends time to stop you themselves!” “You seem quite confident that they’ll stop me, Herald.” He coiled around her like a serpent, pushing Spike away from her. “Why are you so confident that your friends will even be able to stop me?” “Because I have faith in my friends,” she told him, not letting go of her power. “I trust them to find a way to overcome any obstacle and stop you once and for all.” “Yes, they will stop me. Because they are the Elements of Harmony. They embody a perfect friendship.” She followed him with her eyes as he kept circling her, his body constantly extending to accommodate it. “Who better than to stop me than the embodiments of friendship.” “Is there a pit stop between here and the freaking point?” “My point, Arcanica, is that for somepony who talks about trusting the Elements, you clearly don’t value their trust, let alone follow the Elements yourself.” She raised an eyebrow at his arrogant smirk. “I’m sorry, what?” “Think about it. You say you trust them, yet I imagine not a one of them know what you’re actually capable of, do they?” She went to argue, but he cut her off once more. “You lie to them constantly about just what you were given the ability to do, you’re not exactly kind in doing your duty and take everything far too seriously, and you seem to want to keep the secrets of the void all to yourself. That’s not very loyal, now is it?” “Arcanica, don’t listen to him!” With a snap of his paw, Spike vanished. “SPIKE!” She glared at Discord. “What did you do to him?!” “Oh relax, Arcanica. I just sent him back to Twilight’s little library.” He let his body retract back to his normal length before getting in Arcanica’s face. “But face it, little Herald. You can deny it all you want, but not only are you not a good friend, you aren’t even an Element of Harmony. You’re even more of an outlier than that little dragon.” He stopped before thinking about something as they glared at each other. Arcanica was frantically running through the list of spells she knew that could potentially handle the Spirit. He was just below the Outer Beings themselves, so it had to be something powerful. There’s got to be some way of actually getting rid of him! “Oh, I’ve got it!” He grinned before snapping his fingers and vanishing. He reappeared shortly after holding a large yellow gemstone cut into a traditional style. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner!” He stuck the gem to Arcanica’s chest before snapping his fingers once more. With a quick flash, the gem was now shaped like her Cutie Mark and set in an ornate golden necklace. “Now you can cosplay like you’re an Element of Harmony!” “Are you ever serious about anything?” she demanded. “No, wait, it gets better!” He pressed the gemstone, shocking her when there was an audible click. “My little pony, my little pony!” “See? It plays songs when you push the gemstone!” He patted Arcanica on the head, much to her growing annoyance. Urge to kill… rising. “Well, I suppose I’ve hung around long enough.” He pulled back the fur on his lion arm to reveal 8 different watches, each showing a different time. “I’ve got chaos to spread, laughs to have, and chocolate milk glasses to drink. Toodles!” With another snap of his fingers, he vanished with a ‘pop’, leaving Arcanica on her own with the book and her fake Element necklace. “Okay, first things first,” she told herself. She used her magic to pull the necklace off but went wide-eyed to realize it wasn’t budging. “What the heck?” She yanked frantically on the hook clasp but to no avail. “Great,” she groaned, “there’s a Spirit of Chaos on the loose and he decided to stick a piece of costume jewelry on me.” Sending the black book back to her office, she began her walk to town. Hopefully, Twilight and the others were back by now and could lend a hoof to fixing Ponyville. “And you’re sure it doesn’t come off?” she asked for the umpteenth time. Rune Cluster shook her head. “Sorry, but whatever Discord did to this thing, it’s not budging. It certainly looks familiar for some reason, but I’m afraid that’s the extent of how much help I can give you.” “Thanks anyways, Rune.” Nodding, the specter faded as she blasted a flying singing bathtub back to normal. “Great, so that was a flop.” She groaned as a whole flock of singing tubs flew by, prompting her to give chase. She didn’t get very far before slipping on the soap road. “Arcanica?” She looked up and saw Twilight and four of their friends approaching her. “What did Discord do to you?!” She blinked in confusion before realizing her eyes were still emanating darkness. She blinked them back to normal before waving it off. “Oh, the eyes weren’t him. They’re something else entirely and I’ll explain later. As for what he actually did?” She pushed the gemstone and that same song played once more. “He stuck this to me and I can’t get rid of it.” She looked over the assembled group. “Um, why is everypony so grey? More importantly, where’s Dash?” “She’s tryin’ ta catch up,” Applejack said a bit too quickly. She looked around quickly in fright before shoving past them. “MOVE IT!” Fluttershy angrily shoved past them as Pinkie glared at them. Rarity followed shortly afterwards desperately clinging to an ugly boulder. “I’m… not sure. I think Discord might have gotten to them somehow, and Rainbow Dash abandoned everypony back in Canterlot.” Twilight sighed in frustration as she continued down the soap road as the moon and sun switched places again. “We were on our way back to Ponyville. I think Discord hid the Elements in the library.” She took notice of a certain missing someone and started panicking. “Wait, where’s Spike?” “At the library.” Arcanica joined Twilight in corralling their friends back towards town. “I left him there earlier. Figured he’d be safer there than following me around all day.” She mentally winced as Discord’s words came back to her. Wow, I guess I really do lie to them a lot, don’t I? “So, won’t we need Rainbow Dash to stop Discord?” “It’ll be fine,” she snapped. Arcanica flinched at her friend’s tone, but figured it was most likely due to the stress from dealing with Discord. They finally managed to get to the library and got everypony inside… and Rarity’s rock Tom. Twilight grabbed a specific book off the shelf and opened it up, revealing the six Elements in the now hollowed-out book. “This is great! See girls, we did it! We found the Elements of Harmony! Together!” The four greyed out ponies didn’t give any response, instead choosing to sulk around Tom. “You don’t even care, do you?” “Nope.” “It’s alright, Twilight. I’m sure they’ll be back to normal once we stop Discord.” She really hoped so, otherwise Arcanica wasn’t sure what they’d do. “Ok, that’s it.” She went around the room slapping the elements onto the necks of their respective bearer before putting on her crown. “Um, Twilight? You’re still missing Dash,” pointed out Arcanica. “I may not be the expert, but I’m certain you need all six Elements present for them to work.” Twilight rolled her eyes before slapping the necklace on Arcanica. “Fine. Congratulations, Arcanica. You get to be the new Rainbow Dash.” The actual Element of Harmony clinked on top of the one Discord stuck to her. “I don’t think this is going to work. At all.” “Too bad,” she snapped. “Now let’s go defeat Discord so we’ll never have to talk to each other again.” Arcanica hesitantly followed the two earth ponies and pegasus out, leaving Twilight to handle Rarity. “Look out, here comes Tom!” The large boulder shot out of the tree house before slamming into the ground with Twilight following it soon after. “Well, well, well. I see you found the Elements of Harmony.” The seven ponies stared at the Lord of Chaos as he balanced on his tail. “How terrifying!” Arcanica pawed the ground as she fought the urge to fire a bolt of Death Lightning at him. “Discord! I figured out your lame riddle,” declared Twilight as she went front-and-center. “You’re in for it now.” “I clearly am.” He landed on the ground as he spoke in a beyond sarcastic tone to the unicorn. “You have clearly out dueled me, so it is time for me to meet my fate!” He put on a pair of sunglasses and placed a large bullseye on his chest. “I’m ready to be defeated, ladies. Fire when ready.” “Formation!” The other four Elements and Arcanica lined up beside her as she took aim. “Alright, let’s do this.” Wait… he knows this won’t work! “Twilight, wait!” The Element of Magic wasn’t having it, as her crown and eyes lit up along with four of the five necklaces. As Twilight’s Element reached it’s peak, the light suddenly died out, dropping the five mares to the ground. “What just happened?” “You knew that wouldn’t work, didn’t you?” The Spirit of Chaos grinned as he got in Arcanica’s scowling face. “Guilty as charged, Arcanica.” He laughed as he clapped sarcastically. “Because you see, this proves that harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools.” As he skated away on the soap roads, Arcanica gave chase, not willing to admit her defeat. “Get back here, you overgrown snake!” Her eyes reignited before firing a bolt of Eldritch magic at him. With a pirouette and a large mackerel, he smacked the spell away into a nearby tree. With a snap of his fingers, the road rippled underneath her, sending the red unicorn sprawling. “Really, Arcanica? You don’t seem to be a very capable Herald.” She growled as she got back onto her hooves. Nearby, a pack of flying rabbits passed them without a care in the world. The Draconequus had coiled around her with a teasing grin. “Also, if the Elements of Harmony failed to defeat me, what makes you so sure a Herald can do it?” “Because I won’t give up on my friends!” She released a pulse of black lightning that forced him away. “I will fix whatever you did to them, and they will stop you!” He cackled hysterically at her declaration before poking the gem on the fake element again. “You’re not one of the pack, Arcanica. You’re the side kick. The token background pony, the self-insert. You barely count as their friend and that will be your own undoing.” He booped her nose before standing tall over her. “But by all means, give it your best shot! I want to see just how badly you fail at this.” With another snap of his fingers, he vanished. Arcanica quickly made her way back to the library and gasped when she saw grey Twilight opening a suitcase. “Twilight?! What are you doing?” “Oh, hey Arcanica.” She sighed as she put her Element into the bag. “I’m leaving. The girls and I just… we don’t click.” She grabbed a couple books as Spike started burping out letters in rapid succession. “So, I figured I’d leave Ponyville while I still can.” The red unicorn ground her teeth before lighting her horn up with her normal red glow. “No.” She pulled the crown out of the suitcase and placed it on Twilight’s head. “Twilight, you’re the Element of Magic and Princess Celestia’s student. You showed me what friendship is all about, so I refuse to let you give up.” “Some friend I turned out to be.” She sighed as she removed the crown again. “I couldn’t keep my friends together.” “But I’m still here. You haven’t failed yet!” Arcanica grabbed the mare by the chin and made eye contact with her. “And you never have! Twilight, you’ve changed everypony’s lives for the better since we all met you and there’s no group of ponies I’d trust more than you girls!” She pulled away while looking unconvinced and stared at the Element of Magic forlornly. There’s gotta be some way to make her remember everything she’s done for everypony… Her eyes widened as she got a very crazy idea. Remembering… “That’s it!” She ran over to Twilight and put the crown on her friend’s head once more. “Twilight, if you can’t believe me now, then I know just what to do.” Her horn and eyes turned black as she touched her horn to Twilight’s forehead. It was a bit of a long-shot, but this spell was her best bet: Renewal of Memory. It allowed the caster to dredge up any particular memories in another pony. The only reason it was avoided was because it placed the caster’s memories on full display to the other party during the process. I don’t care if this is how Twilight learns about me. I won’t let my friends down. She heard Twilight gasp as they dove into her memories from her time in Ponyville. The Parasprites, Zecora’s misunderstanding, the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming together, her birthday party, all of it was on display and she was taken aback at the feelings of warmth and love that filled those memories of their friendship. “I’m here Twilight, and your friends will always be there for you.” The brightest memory she could find of them all together was the connection they all shared through their Cutie Marks. “Now please… Come back to us!” She felt somepony wrap their forelegs around her neck right before the connection was broken. She gasped at the sudden disruption before realizing Twilight had pulled her into a teary hug. “Arcanica… Thank you…” The purple mare pulled away with a determined look on her face. “We can talk about everything later. For now, our friends need us!” “Right!” Leaving Spike in his bed burping up letters, the two mares charged out of the library. Their destination: their friends. “Is gagging her really necessary?” Twilight nervously looked at their farmer friend as she fought with the magic holding her mouth shut. “Yes. I was getting sick of hearing her going on about almost beating Discord in a fist fight. Now hold her still so I can use the Memory Spell.” Twilight nodded before lighting up her own horn to hold Applejack in place. “Now you listen here, you-” She never finished her thought as Arcanica made contact with her forehead and dove into her memories. Wow. This pony has a very monotonous life… no wonder she loves going on adventures so much. Putting her commentary aside, Arcanica quickly dragged up the memories Applejack associated with her friends and the ones that defined her as a pony. When she pulled back, Applejack was back to her regular colors and looked very ashamed of herself. “Wh-what happened?” She noticed the two unicorns smiling at her. “Twilight! Ah saw a vision of us fightin’ and… Ah just couldn’t accept it as the truth so…” “It’s alright, Applejack. I’ve already forgiven you. Now come on!” She took off at a full charge, with the two following behind. “Um… so did you…” Fluttershy’s face was even redder than Arcanica’s coat. “Yes. I did.” Arcanica nodded to Applejack, who untied the rope around Fluttershy’s legs. “I saw everything, and now let us never speak of anything I saw in your memories ever again.” As Applejack and Twilight helped the pegasus up, Arcanica shuddered. How she’s supposed to be the innocent one is beyond me. “No! What are you doing?! Stay away from my gem!” Rolling her eyes, Arcanica cast the spell and quickly brought her friend back to her senses. After an awkward silence, the white mare quickly shoved Tom out the door and into her yard. “Let us never speak of this again.” The group of six made their way from Sugar Cube Corner with Pinkie Pie in tow. The pink pony was laughing her flank off in an apple cart as Arcanica lay draped across Applejack’s back. Her head ached not from the magical strain, but from the confusing cacophony of mayhem that made up Pinkie’s mind. “Oh come on. My mind wasn’t THAT bad.” AGH! How did one of you get into MY head?! “I dunno. Maybe you’re just going coocoo-bonkers.” “What do you mean she’s not home?” Fluttershy shrugged as she flew down to them. “Without Rainbow Dash, we can’t use the Elements.” Applejack nervously rubbed her chin. “She could be anywhere by now. We’re never gunna find her.” “Yeah we will.” They all looked over to Pinkie. “She’s up there!” They followed her pointing hoof and saw the pegasus they were looking for sleeping on a cloud overhead. “Rainbow Dash!” “Hey guys!” Arcanica gestured with her head for Twilight to take lead. Her expression got the message across quite well. You’re the leader. You can do it. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you! Discord is still on the loose. We need your Element to defeat him: Loyalty.” Twilight looked up at the pegasus with a pleading stare, but the pony in question scoffed. “Loyalty shmoyalty. Have you seen Ponyville?” she asked incredulously. “It’s a complete disaster. I’m staying up here in Cloudsdale where everything is awesome.” Her piece said, she returned to her nap. “How in the wide world of Equestria does she think that tiny little patch of cloud is Cloudsdale?” “Same way he made you think that rock was a bona fide diamond?” Rarity glared at Applejack’s smug look. “I though we agreed to never speak of that again.” Arcanica stepped up. “Well, time for Plan B, I suppose.” The other Elements looked at her in confusion while she grinned. A short while later, they had secured Twilight’s hot air balloon with Applejack on top of it and Fluttershy flying alongside it. Arcanica leaned forward as Twilight passed the farmer her lasso. “Ok, Fluttershy. You hold her down and Applejack will lower me down so I can get the real Rainbow back.” “On it.” With a salute, Fluttershy flew down to the sleeping pegasus before gently nudging her awake. “Um, is it alright if I hold you down against you will for a bit?” “OH COME ON!” yelled Arcanica. “You know, yelling like that isn’t good for your throat.” Shut up, Pinkie. Rainbow Dash laughed at their attempt before grabbing her cloud and flying away from them. “She’s getting away!” “Way ahead of you.” Twilight quickly fastened a loop of rope between her hooves before throwing part of it down to Fluttershy. “Come on, Fluttershy. We gotta catch her.” Nodding, the yellow pegasus grabbed the rope in her mouth and began pulled the balloon behind her as she followed Rainbow Dash. Seeing them following her, Rainbow began performing various loops around them in an effort to make her capture that much more difficult. Arcanica tried tracking their friend’s movements but found it easier said than done. “This is impossible. Applejack! Can you catch her?” “Ah’m on it!” Applejack threw a lasso and managed to snag Rainbow Dash, who only accelerated. Unfortunately, Pinkie hadn’t tied off the rope like she was supposed to, so she and Rarity were now being dragged behind the cyan pegasus. “Rarity! Pinkie!” Arcanica stared in fear at her friends’ precarious position. Gritting her teeth, her eyes and horn lit up. “Don’t worry! We’ll get you!” “Arcanica? What are you doing?” She noticed the fear in Twilight’s voice but smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to catch Rainbow Dash and get all of this under control.” She narrowed her eyes as Rainbow Dash began to lose her grip. As she flared her wings, Arcanica fired off a chain that successfully wrapped around Rainbow Dash’s barrel and pulled her back, thus slowing her down. Once Applejack added another rope and Fluttershy caught up, they were able to ground the rainbow pegasus. Once they were on the ground, everypony held a rope to secure the mare in place as she snarled a snorted like a wild animal. “Sorry, Dash. But this is for your own good.” As she delved into Rainbow’s memories, felt her friend freeze up like a terrified animal. Once the mare was back to normal, she looked more confused than anything. “Uh, what’s going on?” The other six cheered and pulled Rainbow Dash into a group hug. Arcanica stalked through the warped streets of Ponyville, her eyes and horn ablaze. “Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Shouldn’t you be in your own head by now? Get out of mine! She was honestly getting tired of one of the Pinkies from her friend’s head being stuck in hers. She knew full well how risky this all was, but she had to do it. “Well, I’m one of the Pinkie’s who can read, but I’m also the one with our supernatural radar but no sense of direction, so I’m kinda stuck here.” The mental fragment of her friend shrugged as she sat around in her head. Arcanica wanted to keep arguing with the Pinkie in her head but saw her target ahead of her on a throne. “DISCORD!” The mentioned being rotated his throne to reveal its demonic look, a glass of chocolate milk in claw. “Ah, Arcanica. Tell me, how goes your little plan to defeat me?” He raised his glass to his hand and proceeded to drink the glass itself before tossing the solid milk over his shoulder. A large explosion behind him cast a menacing shadow over his face. “Ready to admit you can’t defeat me, Herald?” She smirked as a large runic circle spiraled out under her hooves. “No. I’m here for my Plan B. Fighting like all hell.” He rolled his eyes as she got into a ready stance. “Oh right, because that worked so well last time.” He moved his head to the left to dodge the blast of crackling lightning energy. “Well now you’re just being rude.” “Not my problem.” Her eyes flaring wildly, she began launching a chain of lightning and fire balls at the Sprit of Chaos. As he stretched open a hole in his chest to avoid another blast of Death Lightning, Arcanica sent a set of chains to wrap around his body and restrict his movement. Once he was properly bound, she smirked at him. “Anything clever to say now?” “What exactly is the game plan here? Kill me where I stand?” He rolled his eyes as he sarcastically clapped. “Because let me just say, both Celestia and Rune Cluster tried that about a thousand years ago and it never worked.” “Oh, I wasn’t going to kill you.” “Oh? Then what are you planning? Handing me over to Kreeshva Akzin or Shevkiral? Ooh, or maybe to Vehstrak or Desta’Rahkt?” “None of the above,” she replied with a smug grin. “I was just the distraction.” “I’m sorry, what now?” He spun his head around like a corkscrew to see what Arcanica was pointing at. His jaw dropped when he saw Twilight and the other Elements standing at the ready with their magic jewelry equipped. “Wait when did they get there?!” “It’s over, Discord! We’ve got our Elements back, and our friendship is stronger than ever!” Twilight had a proud smile as she stood alongside her friends. “Ready everypony?” “READY!” The six Elements began glowing with their proper harmonious light as Twilight began floating with her eyes glowing with the same light. As the six began shining together, the light sputtered out before they collapsed. “What the?!” Discord burst out laughing as he slid out of the chains as if he were covered in grease. “Oh my, I didn’t even think this would work! You really did everything like we agreed, Arcanica!” Her eyes widened at his statement as Twilight narrowed her eyes. “What are you on about, Discord?” He chuckled as he patted Arcanica’s back. “Well you see, Twilight, I knew I couldn’t defeat the Elements on my own, so I asked Arcanica to help me out with a little plan I cooked up.” He coiled around the now frozen unicorn and tapped the gem without pressing it. “See this little beauty? I made it to absorb the power in the Elements as she restored you all to your normal selves. This way, when it came time for you all to defeat me, the Elements of Harmony would be drained and powerless for the time being.” “Wait, Twilight I-” “And the best part is, none of you suspected it the entire time!” He started laughing hysterically as the Elements stared in shock at her. “Twilight, please! You’ve gotta believe me! I didn’t-” The unicorn raised a hoof to stop her. “I don’t want to hear it, Arcanica. Not one word.” The red unicorn felt her heart drop at her friend’s statement before she felt a spell wrap around her. The next thing she knew, she was alongside the other Elements. “Your little trick won’t work on us, Discord. Arcanica is our friend, and I know full well she would never betray us.” “We trust her with our lives, just as she trusts us with hers,” added Rainbow Dash. “And nothing a bully like you can say will change that!” “She may not be like the rest of us, but she’s still our very dear friend.” “She’s a part o’ our little family.” “And she cares for all of us a lot!” “Everypony…” Discord gagged loudly as he quite literally rolled his eyes. “Oh please, you think that counts for anything? She’s not even an Element of Harmony, for crying out loud!” Twilight shook her head with a smile. “It’s not about that. What matters is that she’s our friend. Regardless of being an Element. Because friendship is more than that. And its something you’ll never understand, Discord!” With her declaration, the Elements began glowing, this time with Arcanica’s joining them to everypony’s shock. “Arcanica took a huge step today in friendship with all of us, and that was firmly putting her trust in us. She let us see her darkest secrets to remind us of who we all were. She showed all of us an aspect of friendship that even we forgot. Trust.” “FINALLY! The psychic Pinkie and the Pinkie that reads subtext wouldn’t shut up about that!” Twilight and the others began floating, taking Arcanica with them. “No… not like this!” The six of them surrounded Twilight as she opened her eyes. “How could my trap have turned into an actual Element?!” “Because friendship is the greatest magic of all.” With that simple declaration, Twilight released the charged energy at the Spirit of Chaos. The rainbow of energy struck him before coiling around him, quickly turning the screaming draconequus into a statue once more. With him sealed, a bubble of energy exploded outwards from their battlefield, undoing all of Discord’s magic and restoring the town to its former state. The seven mares landed on the ground and shook off the effects of the Elements of Harmony. “Wow, that was new.” Arcanica looked down and frowned at the necklace. “Annnnd this thing still exists.” She tugged on it and sighed when it came undone and didn’t play any music. “At least it’s kinda normal.” She let out a yelp of shock when Pinkie Pie tackled her in a hug. “What the hay, Pinkie?!” “You’re an Element of Harmony, now!” she cheered. “Don’t you know what this means?!” “That this is some stupidly contrived deus ex machina that will upset the commenters?” How can I hear the other yous?! “YOU’RE PART OF THE TEAM NOW!” Her scream was loud enough to make all of their ears ring, but the others joined Pinkie in hugging Arcanica. “Aw yeah, now we have Arcanica for the full experience! Welcome to Team Awesome!” “I don’t remember asking to join the Elements of Harmony.” Her complaint went ignored as the others kept excitedly chatting and even moreso when Celestia showed up to collect Discord and bring them all to Canterlot. Arcanica sat on a balcony outside the ballroom. Her Equestrian Medal of Honor hung around her neck as she admired the stars. A glass of chilled wine sat beside her, a stark contrast from the excitement inside. “Hello, Arcanica.” She looked over her shoulder and saw Princess Celestia joining her. “Do you mind if I join you?” “Not at all, Princess.” The older mare sat down beside her and they enjoyed the moment of silence. “Why?” “Hmm?” “Why did I somehow become an Element of Harmony? There’s so much of this that doesn’t add up.” She looked at the Princess. “I don’t get any of this. I’m the Herald, so why am I now the Element of Trust. Weren’t there only six Elements?” The alicorn chuckled at the onslaught of questions. “Well, for starters, nothing ever makes sense whenever Discord or the Outer Beings get involved. As for the nature of you being an Element? I think it’s fitting for you to be an Element.” She gently brushed Arcanica’s mane aside. “Trust is something that Luna and I lacked before she became Nightmare Moon, so it makes sense for there to be a missing Element. As for your status as its bearer, what better way to protect everypony from the dangers of the Outer Planes than to be an Element of Harmony?” Arcanica nodded before her eyes widened. “Say, Princess? You wouldn’t happen to have any spare scrolls and quills lying around, would you? There’s something I think I should do.” The Solar Princess smirked before summoning said items. “You just get your thoughts out. I’ll write.” She unfurled the scroll and got the quill ready. Arcanica took a deep breath before finally speaking. Dear Princess Luna, For some time, I’ve questioned how I would ever write to you. I’ve always assumed this was to be me reporting my studies of the Void and my own powers, but now I realize it was meant to be so much more. What I was expected to do is connect to you not as a student, but as a friend. While I’m upset it took stopping Discord and realizing just how much my friends meant to me, I’m glad I came to this realization. I realized that my friends and I have something more than just the bonds of destiny or the Elements of Harmony. They mean the world to me, and I would gladly place my trust in them, regardless of the result. I was so afraid of what would happen if they learned that I was the Herald that I was unintentionally pushing them away. But now? Now I know better than to think my friends would be better off not knowing. If something were to happen to me and my friends didn’t know, it would hurt them so much more than if they knew what I was doing. I realized that all I was doing was being the worst possible friend imaginable. But no more. I won’t hide the truth from my friends any longer, and I look forward to conversing with you at length in the future. Not as a student or a disciple, but as a friend. Your hopeful friend, Arcanica Hoofcraft She accepted the sealed scroll from a teary-eyed Celestia. Lighting her horn, she sent the scroll to the Lunar Princess before rising. “Sorry to go like this, Princess, but I believe my friends are waiting for me inside.” As she opened the door, she looked over her shoulder. “And… thanks, Celestia. For everything.”