//------------------------------// // An Explanation // Story: Legends Never Die: The Beginning of Harmony // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// “So let me get this straight. You went on a crazy expedition to try and find Sunny, taking you across the land to places that have never been explored by ponykind, and then you eventually came up here when Flurry sensed that the Crystal Empire was in danger, got kidnapped by Sombra, freed yourselves from Sombra, came back and defeated Sombra, then defeated Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow.” Zipp cleared her throat. “Ah, we fought Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow. Something tells me that they’re going to be back. For revenge,” she added, in case it hadn’t been made clear. Haven rolled her eyes. “Whatever. And, meanwhile, Sunny was being held captive by this… this ‘Legion of Doom’, escaped, and then went off to… other lands to befriend creatures that we had never heard of nor seen before today, and the majority of them did not want to be befriended because Cozy Glow told them that ponies wanted to exterminate them all, so they threatened to retaliate and are planning to attack us at this very moment.” The queen turned to the earth pony sitting next to Zipp for confirmation, and she shrugged. “You forgot the part where we found a magical tower that controlled the sun and moon and came to everypony else’s rescue,” she said modestly, stirring her tea and taking a sip. She made a face and hurriedly set it down, the crystal cup rattling against the saucer. “Yes, yes, that happened, too,” Haven conceded, rubbing her temples with her hoof. “I’m just trying to make sense of it, that’s all.” “Don’t worry,” Sunny agreed, adding a spoonful of sugar to her tea, “we all are.” “You know no more than we do,” Pipp added, clasping her mother’s hoof. “Well… mostly,” she added with a look from her sister. Haven sighed and leaned back in her seat. “I’m not going to ask,” she decided. “I have enough to process for one day.” She stood up and turned to Flurry Heart. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done, Princess. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to turn in for the night - it has been a very stressful day.” She gave both of her daughters very stern looks. “Do not leave for another magic quest without telling me first - I want to be able to say a proper good-bye this time.” She wrapped her wings around Zipp and Pipp, pulling them in for a hug and planting a kiss on both of their heads before nodding respectfully to Flurry and Sunny and leaving the room. Sunny watched her go, and when the door closed, she said, “You know, all things considering, she took that very well.” “I’ll say,” Flurry agreed. “From what you’ve all told me, the world is just recovering from uniting all three pony tribes - and given some ponies’ reactions to that, I don’t want to know what would happen with about a dozen others.” “Yeah… wait, I only met eight!” Sunny protested, watching Flurry hide a smile. “How many other tribes did you know about, Flurry? Do we need to send friendship ambassadors to all of them?” “Probably should hold off on that,” Zipp interrupted, scratching her wing. Pipp swatted her hoof away, glaring at her, and Zipp lay off the bandages for a while (her mother had FREAKED when she saw that Zipp’s wing was hurt and insisted on getting it treated right away), but the moment her sister was looking away, Zipp started pawing at the itchy canvas again. “I think there were about…” Flurry paused, doing a mental count. “Gosh, I don’t even know… at least twenty sentient ones, though the majority of them rarely get involved in Equestrian affairs and are fairly peaceful. I don’t think we should be worried about them until this whole thing calms down.” “I couldn’t agree more,” Sunny said fretfully. “I do not want to make any more enemies than I already have. It’s a wonder I still wake up each morning.” Flurry could tell that she still felt bad about the other tribes wanting to declare war on the ponies and said gently, “It’s not your fault, Sunny. My aunts told me all about Cozy Glow and her schemes - she could sweet-talk a filly out of candy without breaking a sweat. They would have done this anyway.” Sunny gave a small smile and stood up. “Well, I think I’m going to go see if Hugo’s back - and that all my friends are settled. See you in the morning.” “Good night, Sunny,” Pipp called as the earth pony left the room. “Her friends,” Zipp said quietly as the door closed behind Sunny. “I mean… I want to like them, I’m sure they’re perfectly nice… creatures, but the way Sunny talks about them… I just…” She sighed and stopped trying to talk, apparently at a loss for words. “You’re worried that they’ll take her away from us,” Pipp finished in a low voice, staring down at her hooves. “I know. I feel the same way. Sunny’s finally back, and it’s wonderful, but I feel like there’s a part of Sunny that’s… lost. Or at least will never be the same again. And it honestly scares me.” She wrapped her wings around herself and shivered. Zipp nudged her. “Look,” Flurry said, glancing at the door to make sure Sunny was really gone, “I don’t know what will happen - you might want to talk to Midnight about that,” she added teasingly. “But I do know that you and Sunny have a very powerful friendship, the kind of friendship that nopony, no matter who they are, can take away. Sunny is an amazing pony, and I know she has enough room in her heart for both you and all the other creatures. But you are her best friends, and I know she will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” The night breeze ruffled Sunny’s mane, and she wished she were brave enough to fly. But ever since her fight with the Legion of Doom, she had become wary of her own powers, fearing that they were too much for even her to handle. And she didn’t want to endanger her friends. She sighed and scanned the night skies for any sign of the zeppelin that her friend Hugo was piloting with her other friend Kailani, taking all of the abducted ponies home after being freed from their Sombra-induced mind control. They had been gone since earlier that morning, and she was beginning to get worried. “No sign of them,” came Imara’s voice, and she turned to see the changeling land on the balcony behind Sunny. “I flew as high as I could, but I didn’t see them.” Sunny sighed. “Thanks for trying, Imara,” she told her friend before turning back to the sky, desperately wishing she could spot something that the changeling had missed, but there was nothing. “How is every creature?” “Oh, they’re fine,” she said dismissively. “Settling in right away. I tried to tell them not to test our host’s hospitality too much, but will they listen?” She rolled her eyes. “Flurry Heart’s a wonderful pony,” Sunny insisted. “Nothing we do is going to make her any less hospitable.” She glanced back up at the sky, which remained empty. “What exactly are they doing?” “Lukas won’t leave the library, Little Braveheart’s following Brooks around because it’s a tad too cold for her up here, Hugo and Kailani, still don’t know, and Midnight’s getting an oversimplified history of everything we know happened from Izzy, Ash, and occasionally someone else if they decide to drop in.” She shrugged. “As for me, I’m being helpful.” Sunny laughed, and Imara shot her a dirty look. “S-sorry,” Sunny wheezed, wiping her eyes. “You were saying?” Imara scoffed and tossed her head. “Well, I have been very busy in investigating what we’re up against,” she said, still sounding offended. “You see, the strangest thing is, we don’t have any mention of a ‘Queen Chrysalis’ in changeling history books - trust me, I’ve read them from top to bottom. The farthest we go back is King Thorax, and he was the father of Queen Monarch - so we have very minimalistic history lessons.” The thought sobered Sunny up. “How strange,” she agreed. “There’s probably something, it’s just hidden. And nopon - sorry, no creature would realize that, because they probably forgot all about it.” “What?” Imara said sharply, whirling around to face her. “Explain.” “You should join Izzy’s history lesson,” Sunny said seriously. “A lot has happened while all you creatures were holed up in your kingdoms. Which is not your fault,” she added hurriedly as Imara opened her mouth angrily. “But… Okay, oversimplified version: there’s this group of ponies that thinks that all different types of ponies - and probably all creatures - are meant to live separately so that they can be with others like them. They began to spread rumors about each other, and as tensions between ponies rose, the other creatures decided that they wanted no part in whatever was about to occur, so they withdrew into their own kingdoms in social isolation while ponykind fell apart. “But this group of ponies decided that it wouldn’t be enough, so they took a magical memory-erasing rock that they used on the whole world, erasing any and every memory of unity and friendship between the tribes. They all separated and rewrote history as it made sense to them, and they had lived that way ever since. Oh, and magic disappeared, which made them all angrier at each other, and the world almost froze over because of their hatred for each other, but everything worked out in the end,” Sunny finished. There was silence on the balcony as Imara stared at her, open mouthed. “Wow,” came a voice behind them, “maybe I should have come to you for the history lesson.” Sunny turned to see Midnight standing in the doorway to the palace, Izzy next to him. “Hey, Midnight, Izzy,” she said as Izzy pulled her into a hug (ever since she had come back, it seemed like Izzy couldn’t get enough hugs, and Sunny had missed her, so she went along with it). “What’s going on?” Her gaze shifted to the necklace hanging on Midnight’s chest, the pale crescent moon standing out against his dark coat. For reasons she didn’t know, seeing that gem had snapped her out of her crazy magic-induced trance - if only for a while, but it was enough for her to come to her senses. “Is it another vision?” He glanced down at the moon. “Actually, no,” he said, sounding surprised, like even he couldn’t believe it. “I thought I would be getting them all the time now, what with the Legion of Doom still out there, and-” He paused, clearing his throat. “No. That’s not it. But… Look, I know we’ve only been here for, like, a day, but every creature’s anxious to be getting out there again.” Sunny sighed and turned back to the sky, the stars glimmering against the velvety dark expanse. It was truly beautiful, but she had little time to appreciate that. “I know,” she said, “and I want to, too. But we can’t leave without our friends, and we have no idea what we’re going into. We know who they are, we know where they’re based, we know what they’re capable of, but what do we do about it?” She looked down at the crystal floor and pawed at it nervously. “And I’m not quite sure I’m ready to face them again. After what happened last time…” “We’ll work on that,” Imara assured her. “We are not going to let them take our friend away so easily again,” Izzy agreed, putting her arm around her friend’s shoulders. Imara looked surprised that the pony had agreed to something she had said. Sunny smiled; their devotion always made her feel hopeful. Even if that hope was futile, it was still something for her to cling to - something she could hold on to in the days ahead. Because something told her it was about to get rocky.