//------------------------------// // Let me Sing to (You) the Song of my People // Story: Harmony Among Fillies // by IsakeiAnon //------------------------------// This was a fucking monkey's paw. Or maybe Discord's. I'm breaking his statue the first chance I get. This shit right here, my little bronies? This should have been a dream come true. Lord knows how often we've all dreamt of this. My name, as of ten minutes ago, is Anonymous. Well, it was actually more like eleven. But I did always prefer David Tennant. Hey, his name has a bloody ten in it! "Anonymous? It's time for your entrance exam, Anonymous." Oh right, the exam. Let me rewind a little bit here. I had an actual name, not that I'd willingly tell any of you jerks. I've been doxxed over less. Like you, I was just a shut in who barely managed to avoid NEEThood. Although I'd come rather close a couple of times. Regardless, life wasn't all bad. Or that bad, really. I had family, I had friendship, I was a contender! Oh yeah, my friends were mainly shitposters on the internet. But we didn't just throw shit at each other all day, oh no, I'd watch the shit out of Friendship is Magic. So did all the other anons for nearly a decade. So did you, presumably, because what else are you doing here on FIMFiction? Regardless, life was filled with letters of friendship lessons and the fanboying of adults of all ages. Then I died. That guy cut me off, damn it! At least I think I died, I didn't quite feel much of anything. I'm also taking the idea of dying rather well, but I suppose I could just be imagining all of this in my head. Or go into some kind of shock. Either way, I went from driving around as a human one second to standing around as a pony the other. That would take the wind out of anyone's sails, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to process instant quadruple amputation. I found myself in a fancy motherfucker of a castle hallway, and looked around to notice actual unicorns sitting around me. Very nervous, very tense unicorns, to be exact. Tiny and kind of young looking, to boot. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" I have no idea who that was, but some random kid got up and ran after Forrest Gump. Oh hey, his cutie mark was a tree. Neat. Less neat was the hit in morale the room took, because plenty of colts and fillies ran off after the runaway. At this point even I was hoping I was just having a coma induced dream and I wouldn't be sent to the glue factory. I looked down at one of my hooves, green because of course not, and whacked myself upside the head. Yeah, my brain cells could have done without that. Giving myself the sacrilegious self-boop, I reached my forehead and proceeded to firmly grasp the world's most magical tumor, located on my face. Well, that was neat. Judging from my brand new unicorn horn, the little ponies gathered around a fancy hallway, and the significantly older looking unicorn that occasionally popped out of a room to tell us it was time for an entrance exam, it wasn't too hard to guess that I was taking my entrance exam at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. On one hand, actual magic, hell yeah, I was so going to milk this power fantasy for all it was worth. On the other hand, I'm not sure I wanted to go through horse puberty around a bunch of what, five year olds? Six? How old were any of us supposed to be? How old was I now? "Fee fi fo fum. I am going to learn magic, son." Huh, my voice sounded kinda high, but that was normal for little kids. More normal for pony kids would be the green coat and black tail. Wait, what was my cutie mark? Sure enough, a little black question mark stood out on my little green butt. Aw hell, was this going where I thought it was going? I checked. Yup, it's an anonfilly story alright. Can't wait to end up being raised by Purple Smart and Dragon Bro. Assuming I didn't fail this entrance exam. What spells did I even know? Okay, levitation was supposed to be an easy spell, one that everyone just casually had. Taking some deep breaths, I tried to relax myself and focus. Just breath in and out, and unleash the magic. In and out, will your inner self through the horn. Maybe with the diaphragm instead of my lungs? Nah, I may have been confusing how to do magic with how to project your voice. Great. I've seen Poochie brute force magic plenty of times, and I could be as stubborn as a former cult leader if I wanted to damn it! Focus young Anon, the magic is mightier than the sword. It is an extension of yourself, and you will learn ze magicks! I would feel my horn glow with power, any second now. Any second now. Any second now... "Anonymous?" Shit, please tell me someone else got isakei'd to grade school. No takers, just a bunch of silent, nervous kids. "Anonymous, it's time for your entrance exam." "Okay, I'm coming, I'm com-ing!" I fell to the ground face first. Great first impression, really needed to break down that morale even lower than it already was. At least no one laughed, though I got an eye roll from the attendant at the door. Okay, just think of it like crawling on all fours, doggy style. Steady, steady. Hey, I was doing it! Hell yeah, I'm a natural at being a little pony! I've got this! "Well, Miss Anonymous? What spells will you be showing us today?" I don't got this. I don't actually recall a single goddamn spell cast vocally in the entire show. Did the spells even have any names? And where's the dragon egg? Aren't I supposed to hatch a cool dragon bro? "Fillies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today in the name of magic! To uh..." Fuck, I only knew of randomly timed musical numbers and shooting rainbows lasers at your mortal enemies. If you roll the dice you'll either give them redemption through friendship or just straight up stone them to death. Damn bipolar Elements of Harmony. Harmony. The magic of friendship. The magic of Equestria that was it's very lifeblood. The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here! It isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. The magic within my crown was able to unite with those that helped create it! You're wrong Tirek! I may have given you my Alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all! Discord's right! We've proven time and time again that the real magic within us is the six of us working together! Okay, one spell. I've learned one spell in the past decade alongside the Princess of Friendship herself. And I was far from the only one out there to have learn those lessons with her. "...my fellow Equestrians. Today, I will completely make up a brand new spell, right out of my cute little flank. Right here, right now." That got the observers talking amongst themselves. The sheer audacity of this cute little filly who couldn't even walk right! I closed my eyes once again, and sang a fitting song. Tree of Harmony, you there? I'm not one of your little ponies. But I know you're out there. I know what destiny you intend for the many creatures of this world. No, I don't wish to impede on your future. Instead, I humbly ask to walk amongst you all in the name of friendship. I can only offer you in return the lessons of friendship I have learned from those you protect and look over. Honesty. Perhaps us Anons are too honest with each other. Or maybe not honest enough when it comes to ribbing each other on. But there's something refreshing about not having to choose your words carefully to express how you feel. To feel comfortable in the company of others. Not the worst way to go about it. "Miss Anonymous, if you are not going to show us a proper spell instead of this singing, then-!" I don't know if she cut herself off, or if I just couldn't hear her anymore. Either way, I hadn't opened my eyes again. Kindness. Tough lough, motherfuckers. We braced each other for the worst sure, but we hoped for the best. And if we ever interacted with anyone else? Well, perhaps it wasn't so hard to show a little kindness to others around us each day. Distantly, I could feel myself singing. Laughter. This needs no explanation. It was why we talked to each other to begin with. Jokes, board culture, references. Puns didn't hurt either. Generosity. Giveaway threads to total strangers. Random vidya drops, maybe a little bit of art or greentexts to really make someones day. Whatever we could give, it would come from the heart. Loyalty. Global rule five was a bitch, eat your heart out Barneyfag. Cope and seeth at a bunch of man-children all you want, we were going to enjoy our silly little horse show together. One day, we were all going to make it to Equestria, just like I did. "Always, always...." I opened my eyes. Princess Celestia wondered, not for the first time, just how differently things could have gone nearly a millennium ago. Centuries of loneliness had become a bit of a blur, especially at the beginning, when Celestia had to scramble to lead her little ponies and reassure them everything would be ok when Luna had 'disappeared'. If only I were not so blind and arrogant in our youth. Oh, if only I would have taken our bond less for granted, dear sister. Why she contemplated this with increasing frequency these days, she did not know for certain. Perhaps because after nearly one thousand years, the day the seal of the moon failed would be upon them, and the stars would aid in the escape of the Mare in the Moon. Celestia had dedicated centuries of her life to maintaining eternal peace and harmony across all of Equestria, just so it would be able to fully dedicate itself to her sister's return. Perhaps the sudden trip down memory lane was because her faithful student was making the same mistakes of arrogance towards others she herself made towards Luna when they learned under Star Swirl together. Harmony had a fondness for irony these days, it seemed. "It's a simple matter, Princess Celestia. My studies take dedication and priority over more trivial matters such as friendship.” Sunset Shimmer. A little filly whose magic shined brighter than any Unicorn she had seen since Star Swirl himself. One she hoof picked to be her intended champion and possible successor among the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the very same Elements she and Luna lost their connection to when they fought against one another. Not that Celestia had told her faithful student that much, mind you. Sunset already had a hard time willingly working with others on a good day. “There is more to life than studying for the sake of it, my faithful student. There is only so much one can learn from their dusty old books." "These are your books, Princess." "Yes, I have spent a couple of lifetimes gathering knowledge from all over Equestria. Do you know how I was able to do so, Sunset Shimmer?" "Ponies respected your authority as Princess?" "Not quite. Knowledge is to be shared among all us little ponies. What would happen if no one was willing to share such knowledge?" "You wouldn't have any books?" An encouraging nod was all Sunset would get in response to this. "And if nopony was willing to share, you wouldn't be as knowledgeable?" "That's right Sunset. Knowledge is gained through our personal relationships with other ponies. When we put one another in each others hooves, we are able to do things we could not otherwise." "I dunno about that Princess Celestia. I'm already the most capable unicorn in the entire school. My magical power and grades are far above the rest of my peers." This was not as much of an arrogant statement as most would assume. Out of everypony at her school, Sunset set new records in academic excellence. Her teachers reported that Sunset's understanding of the magical material was ahead of the rest of her peers, who struggled with the coursework. "Again, there is more to life than magic and grades, my faithful student. Friendship can bring out a part of ourselves we'd never have thought possible." "I'm already fulfilling the impossible as your pupil. At this point, what the hay could anypony else possibly have to offer me so that I could grow any further?" Were she not so surprised by the interruption, Celestia would be getting rather tired of the irony these situations had. BANG "WHAT THE BUCK! WHAT KIND OF EXPLOSION WAS THAT!" So much magic so bucking much of it what the BUCK! "That was not an explosion at all, Sunset." "P-princess Celestia? Didn't you feel all that power?" "I have not felt this power in a very, very long time. Not since the worst night of my long life." Sunset gaped. Even after becoming Celestia's pupil at a young age, her mentor had always kept a rather professional distance between herself and Sunset. Much of the elder ponies life as, well, a pony was still a mystery to her. While Sunset was having her entire worldview taken out back behind the shed, Celestia was trying so hard not to see the multicolored light that entered and left the room. Harmony. There was no mistaking how it felt. She would never be able to forget how Harmony itself had felt when it's power was bestowed upon her. Luna couldn't have escaped early, could she? A quick spell showed her sister was still dormant in her imprisonment. Mercifully, so was Discord. So why was Harmony itself acting up? Another quick spell was cast to attempt to trace the origins of that massive magical discharge. Now Celestia herself would gape. Instead of detecting the Elements or the Tree of Harmony as she had expected, Celestia traced that massive blast of Harmony itself to her own school. "Sunset, I have detected the origins of that phenomenon. If this is what I suspect it is, then time is of the essence." Sunset shook her head. "Understood, Princess. And if it isn't?" "I do not know." With another flash of light, both teacher and student were gone.