//------------------------------// // Meeting Harmony part 2 // Story: Rise and Fall of Nightmare Star // by sykko //------------------------------// The ponies and former humans could only gape in disbelief at the pale white female draconequis, whose tone was almost the same as the crystalline tree. Harmony, like Discord, was a mishmash of various creatures, but her appearance was more lithe, almost serpentine. Instead of fur she was covered in pale white, nearly translucent scales and sported two pairs of catfish-like barbels on her snout. Her eyes were more uniform, looking more like a pony's eyes, though they were of mismatched color, the left being a jade green and the right being an amethyst hue. She lacked the goat's beard her brother had. A wreath of living ivy wove around her mismatched horns. "This is I never showed my true form, Discord.", Harmony said as she pointed at the ponies and former humans. "Now they're there catching flies. Let me deal with that for you." She snapped fingers. Strips of fly paper appeared on the ponies and former humans' faces. The gathered princesses and element bearers spat and sputtered as they wiped the fly paper from their faces...except for Pinkie D and P Dianne, who fell into one another in fits of giggle-snorts. "Catching flies! Good one!", they said between giggle-snorts. Cadance stepped forward, her mind trying to make sense of everything. "So you're his--" "Yep.", Discord said nonchalantly "And she's your--" "Mm-hmm.", Harmony replied as she buffed her eagle's talons on her chest scales. "But how?" "You see, eons and eons ago in the fires of rapid expansion, or as some would call it, 'the big bang', special energies were created that spread out all across what would become the multiverse.", Discord said, suddenly dressed as a college professor. "As the energies moved across the ever-expanding space-time, they created echoes. These echoes coalesced into six singularities, and these singularities were compressed into gems of great power. Great and terrible beings that lived out of space and time took possession of these gems. With them they could create or destroy civilizations on a whim. These great and powerful beings ran into a civilization whose home planet was blasted by deadly radiation from their star. This civilization reached out to these beings for help, but the beings had grown arrogant of their power, so they refused them. The civilization grew angry and with the help of star eating beings made entirely out of gas and energy, were turned into spooky space robot skeletons and made war against the beings who denied them help." "Discord, no.", Harmony said as she facepalmed. "That's the history of at least three completely different and unrelated universes." "Well excuuuuuuuuuse me, Harmony!", Discord said, wearing a green tunic, green pants, a green floppy hat and holding a sword. Harmony sighed. " The origins of draconequii...draconequises?...draconequisees?...draconequiseseses?" A horde of human knights standing by a lake appeared and shouted, "Get on with it!" The ponies and former humans stared dumbfounded at the horde of human knights that appeared, shouted, and just as quickly disappeared. Harmony continued, "We...*ahem*...draconequises and alicorns are made in pairs. We draconequii are made in opposing pairs. Discord is the draconequis of chaos, where I am the draconequis of order. Mother is the draconequis of matter, while father is the draconequis of antimatter. Alicorns on the other hand, or this case...hoof, when created are created in pairs to embody the same elements." She gestured to Celestia and Luna. "Light." She gestured to Cadance and turned herself into the image of Twilight. "Love." She held a confused looking Flurry Heart in her arms. "And in the case of this 'ball of joy and wonder', empathy...but her other half...has yet to show herself, but she got close once already." With a snap of her fingers, Flurry Heart disappeared. *** Back in the Crystal Palace, Flurry Heart appeared in a flash of light back in her crib, much to the shock and surprise of her nannies. She looked around the room for a moment, her infant mind unable to make heads or tales of what happened, so she did what all babies would do in that situation. "Wwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The servants and nannies that weren't bowled over by the wall of sound struggled against the waves of sound to comfort the yearling princess. Flurry Heart bawled here eyes out, making the Crystal Empire shake like it was in an earthquake, until one intrepid nanny, against all odds, managed to get her whammy to her. The living WMD gurgled and cooed happily, stuck one end of the stuffed snail into her mouth, sucked on it, curled up and went to sleep. Shining Armor, Sunburst and a corps of crack, elite guards burst into the nursery. The nanny let out a half-mad chuckle and collapsed to the floor. Shining Armor resigned himself to writing up the paperwork to present the nanny a medal. " May the heavens help the enemies of the Crystal Empire when Flurry reaches five. Her nannies will be so hardened that not even an elder dragon will shake them.", he whispered as he walked over and kissed the forehead of his sleeping daughter. *** Celestia raised an eyebrow at what Harmony had said, then drifted her gaze over to Sunset. "So you are ascending!", she gushed. "But why hasn't your wellspring grown? Have you been experiencing any itchiness or aching in your back? What about any heaviness in your hooves? What about any tingling or heat in your core? What about any aching around your horn or headaches? " "I'm starting to get a headache now.", Sunset grumbled under her breath. She cleared her throat. "Magic doesn't work that way in the human world, Princess Celestia. Until the last year or so, there hasn't been much in the way of magic." Celestia rubbed her chin in thought. "It's been a long time since I've read Clover's treaties on the effect on wellsprings in low-magic environments. It's highly plausible that your wellspring's growth has been retarded." "Ya hear that, Sunset? Sun-butt called you retarded!", Mabel said with a stifled guffaw. Sunset glared at the rainbow-haired girl-turned-pony for a moment. "Could I have damaged my wellspring when I stole and put on Twilight's crown, transforming myself into a demon?" Celestia studied Sunset for a moment. The amber-coated unicorn shuddered, it was almost as if her former teacher's gaze was peering down through her. "I'm not sensing any damage. If there was any damage, your wellspring's natural energy cycles would have healed any damage. I'm sensing a normal, albeit powerful, unicorn's wellspring." "If we can get back on topic...time's a-ticking and there's a deadline you all must meet.", Discord said, taping a ridiculously oversized wrist watch that appeared on his wrist. Harmony leaned down, got face-to-face with Sunset and wound around the unicorn's body, her expression was stern. "This one here I've been watching for a long time. For so long all she ever saw was her own ambitions to the point where they blinded her to everything around her. Thank goodness that rainbow sucker punch knocked some sense into her." She then directed her attention to Starlight and long shadows stretched across her expression. "This one here has so much natural talent, so much raw potential, she could have completely rewritten treatises on magical practice, but between losing her mother at a young age, the neglect of her father and her only friend being sent to Celestia's school, she could not see past her own pain and desire to control everything around her. When she had taken from her what she had stolen, she chose not to reach out to others and get help, but instead she chose to retreat into her own darkness. It was only when she experienced the worst days of her life that she was humbled to the point where she could see past own darkness. There is still hope for you, but there is one last line of red in your ledger that must be balanced before you can be fully healed. I wonder what you will sacrifice to attain that?" As Starlight stared at Harmony, she saw a stylized shadow play of a unicorn standing before a nightmarish creature on the wall behind the female draconequis. Harmony rose once again to her full height and a brilliant light shown from her eyes. "In the darkness the seventh will aid the six from a land far and away, who in turn will help the first six to reclaim the lost champion. With two circles will the champion awaken the Daydream and aid in throwing down the nightmare. Like a snake, will the wretched one attempt to slither away. Only with a sacrifice of blood will the light entrap the darkness. Fret not, Little Moon, the nightmare will be confronted by the shadow cast by the light and be banished into all-consuming flames. Through suffering and toil will you be victorious. Flames and wrath threaten to fall upon all, but the stars will dance and swirl with victory. The darkness may whisper lies and offer you empty promises, but you shall remember your inner light. Your fellow champion is lost and believes she is struggling alone against the darkness. Bring her back to the light. Go now and seize your destinies!" Harmony faded back into the tree. The ponies and former humans started their trek back to Ponyville, their thoughts on the events that had transpired and will transpire. Discord lingered in the cave that held the crystalline tree. Once he was certain that the princesses and both sets of bearers were out of earshot, he spoke up. "And ponies accuse me of dramatics, dear sister." Harmony reappeared next to her brother,holding a dagger in her eagle's talon. "Nah! I just told them what they already knew and needed to hear somedraconequis else say. Like grandfather always said, 'When you do something right, it'll seem like you've done nothing at all.'" She examined the dagger. "Now Celestia, why do you need Mistmane's dagger? Are you planning to sacrifice yourself to save your protege or are you playing at a longer game?" With a snap she sent the dagger back to the pocket dimension Celestia had stashed it in. *** The next morning Celestia, Luna, Cadance and both sets of bearers sat quietly around a dinning table eating breakfast. Their thoughts were heavy with their task ahead. Once they had finished eating and clearing the table, the former human bearers each wrote a message in the journal for their loved ones back home. Once they had finished writing in the journal, Sunset gripped the pen in her teeth and began writing a message for Principal Celestia and Vice-principal Luna. Dear Principals Celestia and Luna, We are preparing to go out to find and save Princess Twilight. It may be several days before any of us can write back again. Please make sure my friends' families know they love them and miss them. I also want to say thank you to both of you for giving me the chance to prove myself after the fiasco at the Fall Formal. I promise that I won't let you down and will strive every day once we save Princess Twilight, I shall strive tirelessly to get my friends home. Know that I consider both of you as valuable of teachers for me as Princess Celestia was. I must keep this brief as I must pack for the journey ahead. Your friend and student always, Sunset Shimmer Celestia and Luna teleported back to Canterlot to set up the daily runnings of the government in their absence and to place an enchantment on their sun and moon for a fortnight. Cadance quickly teleported back to the Crystal Empire to spend a few last hours with her husband and daughter as she knew not when she would return. The pony bearers spent a few hours with their loved ones and getting their affairs in order, just in case. Noon rolled around and both sets of bearers met on the platform of Ponyville Station. Packs were slung across their backs, heavy with provisions. In a brilliant flash, the engine for the Royal express with a single car appeared on the tracks. The bearers stepped into the car where Celestia,Luna and Cadance were waiting for them. With a steady chugging, the Royal Express set out from the station bound for its last stop on the edge of the Badlands.