Failure was rarely just failure.
Sure, the goal wasn't achieved from it. But it WAS closer. Something new was learned. Even simple things, like attempting a new dance, succeeded in some ways when you failed. If in no other way than helping new muscles to strengthen.
Failure often left the groundwork for success.
But failure was still failure and failure hurt. Dr. Alicity thought he’d understood failure and long gotten over that pain. He’d expected he’d fail at many things. His parents ensured he knew exactly what it was to work despite being deemed a failure. The important thing, difficult as it may be, was to just keep going. Yes, that was what was key.
Dr. Alicity never imagined he’d be a failure as a father, however.
The earth pony paused for a moment before taking a slow, deep breath. He then glanced back down at the shard of dark ice on his desk, bringing the magnifying glass back up and peering through it.
The ice here was strange. Namely, in how mundane and simple it was. Yet the darkness it seemed to almost radiate was mind boggling. Supposedly many decades ago it had been even worse. Rumors were that Avatar Twilight and her friends had purified the ice and for weeks it had been so pure and sparkling that anypony could see clear to the water below.
Now it seemed to be getting darker and darker every day. As if it was responding to the negative feelings of those who resided in these halls. If so, it was a fascinating reaction. A feedback loop, in many ways, of despair and hopelessness.
Those were dangerous things to a pony. It was another reason as to why he had chosen to retreat here. This place, more than many others, was a bastion of such feelings. The perfect place to study it. The perfect place to combat it. Ponies were strange, in many ways. While there were other creatures in this world, none seemed as connected to their emotions as ponies were. The Meadowbrook incident had been the excellent time to study it.
The unmarked had lost much of what they were and while most hadn’t noticed it, he had made a few notes. They’d seemed duller, less bright. Not just emotionally, but physically. As if their very colors had faded. As if the world dimmed around them. Pony’s emotions were incredibly powerful. There was one thing that could combat such power, at least that he knew of.
Hope.
At least, that was his theory. According to the stories he’d heard, Twilight had stood up to Discord in the very end. Despite the fact that the elements had been shattered and he seemed to have won, they hadn’t stopped fighting. Their belief had given them hope. Drawn in other ponies, brought them to the realization that they, too, could fight. Even against such an unstoppable force, they had managed to hope they could win.
It was that hope that had brought together all ponies and allowed them to win against Discord so long ago. When ponies united together, they were unstoppable. They had an impact on the world that could not be denied. Harmony, the city, had been a clear sign of that.
More than that, though, it had been the gathering place of hope. Ponies from all four nations, together. For the first time as far as he knew. But Twilight hadn’t just shared it with them. She’d shared it with negasi, zebras, diamond dogs, buffalo, any and all species who wished could join. Perhaps, one day in the future, even the griffons would join them. A city of unity. A city where they could all unite together and become new ‘ponies’ who weren’t even all ‘ponies’. He idly wondered how the dialog would change, then. Linguistics was such a fascinating subject. Would they one day consider the other species just variants of ponies, or would ‘everypony’ phase out entirely to just ‘everybody’? Would their magic spread and one day there would be bright pink buffalo and silver diamond dogs?
He’d never see that reality, but he imagined it would be spectacular. That was what he worked towards. That was what was so important about his work, about Tomorrow Industries. Even if he didn’t get to see all of the results of his work, he’d see enough. He’d help set ponies on the steps forward to bridge those gaps between each other and unite them. He’d hoped his descendants would do the same, that they’d bit by bit unite ponies more and more towards a glorious future.
Instead…
He felt as if the darkness was creeping in on him.
His own daughter was a subject of Discord. He had failed in the most spectacular, breathtaking way imaginable. He’d tried so, so hard to be the best father he could. Sure, he got distracted by his work, but he’d still tried. He loved her so much. She truly was her mother’s daughter. Kind, generous, sweet. Maybe if he’d told Silver more about her. About the light she had brought to the world around her. Her work in Fluttershy’s Legacy. About her own struggles. Her own difficulties.
If she’d been here, would this have ever happened? He’d only met Stardew’s adopted grandmother once, the legendary Fluttershy, but she was every bit as bright and kind as Stardew. Perhaps if she’d survived…
Perhaps…
“I miss her too, sir,” Secretary said from besides him.
“W-what?” Dr. Alicity asked before glancing towards her. “When did--”
“But she wouldn’t let you blame yourself,” Secretary said. “Stardew would have been so annoyed at you for even considering giving into feeling hopeless. Don’t think I will, either.” Her horn glowed and she picked up the shard of ice in her magic to pull it away, before thrusting a bowl of stew into his chest. “Now eat.”
“But—”
“Sir, with all due respect, you have another meeting in a little bit and the president of Tomorrow Industries will not collapse from hunger so long as I am working for you,” Secretary said.
Dr. Alicity blinked a few times before snickering. “Ah, true. I suppose that would put quite a bit of a damper on things, wouldn’t it? Why, ponies might lose all trust in the leadership of the organization if that started to happen! Silver would never forgive me if I ended up damaging our reputation so soundly. Thank you, Secretary, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“And you’ll never have to find out, sir,” Secretary said with a small smile before holding up the clear shard of ice and putting it back on the table.
Hopelessness was powerful to ponies, dangerous. But hope was every bit as strong and it could change their world. Dr. Alicity knew that as well as anypony. They would come out through this and end up on the other side, somehow. He knew that. Because there was always one bit of hope out there, waiting for him.
One single pony, one alicorn.
The Avatar. Just as she had performed a miracle so long ago to destroy Discord, he knew this time she would perform a new one. This time to save Silver. So long as he had that hope, he knew they’d make it through to the other side. He just had to make sure not to buck things up too much before then. Silver would never forgive him if he did that.
------
Colgate let out another soft, gentle breath. She could do this. She WOULD do this.
She still didn’t like it, though. It felt weird, working as an assistant. She was certain her mother had done this before, though if she had she’d never mentioned it. A part of her longed to know more about how the spell functioned, to do more than just add her magic to the group.
Another part of her was terrified that, one day she may have to.
Still, within a few moments their magic bore fruit and the moon began its slow, gentle rise across the heavens.
“Good job, everypony,” Colgate said, struggling to add some enthusiasm to her voice. She was their Water Lord, it was her duty to be that example for all of them.
She was greeted by a few grunts and shrugs from the other moon raisers. She didn’t blame them, after all they had been doing this for… oh… she didn’t know how long now. Some of them were from Harmony, trained in the art itself. Those who had worked directly under Tittering and didn’t truly consider themselves a part of the Water Nation. Others were like her, the assistants, those who could do the magic but didn’t truly know it. None of them liked this situation, every day wondering if the moon would truly rise or if Discord would do something to alter it.
They all knew the tales, some of the oldest had even seen it. Supposedly during those final days Discord had turned night to day and day to night and then whichever to both and neither on a whim. This new Discord had yet to do it, to take over the skies, but it was possibly only a matter of time. By the stars she hoped not. But that fear, that doubt, still lingered. If only she could--
“Absolutely breathtaking!” Dr. Alicity’s voice echoed over the cold, barren wasteland of the south pole like the unwanted shriek of an airhorn in her ear. She begged the freshly arriving stars to give her strength.
“Ah. Doctor,” Colgate said before turning to see the stallion trotting towards them. Secretary was walking behind him slightly, only showing the slightest limp from their earlier scuffle. Colgate’s own horn seemed to almost ache as she remembered that quick, if vicious fight. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“I wished to see the stars!” Dr. Alicity said, ignoring the glares of the exhausted moon raisers. Couldn’t he tell he wasn’t wanted here? Half these ponies thought he should be in the prisons, considering it was his spawn that caused this whole mess. “To imagine, each and every one of those stars up there are set in place by such powerful magic. The moon, a powerful testament to the hard work and dedication of everypony throughout the ages. Why, some of those stars were placed by ponies so ancient I doubt we’d even recognize them as ponies! A veritable tapestry of the water benders through the ages, brought forth every day by the united efforts and magic of united ponies! It must be truly wondrous to have such a task before you, to know that you are contributing to the history and balance that has been maintained for countless centuries. To imagine you all do it so easily, almost as if it’s mundane! I would love to study the spell one day, to--”
“No,” Colgate said firmly. “That spell is incredibly protected and is not to be shared with anypony, under any circumstances, aside from those of the highest order. Even I haven’t been granted knowledge on how it works.”
“Awwwww,” the doctor said, his smile wavering. “Very well, I suppose I’ll just need to be disappointed.”
That, at least, was a little satisfying. Even Colgate couldn’t deny that a few of the water benders heading back into their current home walked a little straighter, their heads a little higher. She wondered if that was his intention all along, remind them that what they did, even if it was exhausting and did feel meaningless at times, truly was incredible. That only made him annoy her more.
Of course, once it was just the three of them, her eyes narrowed again. “So, was that it? Did you really just come here to see the stars and moon?”
“Of course!” Dr. Alicity said. “And the moon. It’s beautiful, is it not?”
“We also passed a member of the shadowbolts dashing through the halls,” Secretary said. “We felt it might be wise for you and the doctor to be in the same location in case Copper Shield required us.”
“Of course,” Colgate said, unable to keep a rush of excitement from her. “Do you have any idea what it’s about?” She couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed that she wasn’t a part of the command structure of the Moon Raisers or the Shadowbolts. But then, they were both of Harmony. The last thing anypony wanted was a stand-in ruler of the Water Nation to be trying to extend her authority. Still, she couldn’t help herself, despite her best struggles to keep it down. “Was it about the lost elements?”
“Your mother?” Dr. Alicity asked. “Doubtful.”
Colgate felt her ire rising and took a small step forward, only to pause when she saw Secretary move besides him, her eyes narrowed slightly. She really didn’t want to get into another fight right now, no matter how obnoxious he was.
“It is quite strange,” Dr. Alicity said.
“Strange?” Colgate asked.
“Indeed,” Dr. Alicity said. “Why take the magic of the previous elements, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, as well as the Avatars, but then only take the elements? Why leave Diamond Tiara by herself?”
“She’s your spawn, why don’t you tell me?” Colgate asked.
The doctor laughed, making her want to strangle him all the more. “Oh, nonsense. My little girl wouldn’t do such a thing. I’d certainly taught her better than that. She’d have taken all of them or none of them.”
Colgate gave a low, ominous growl. To her annoyance, the doctor didn’t even seem to notice, instead just smiling at the moon. “Ah, so you think it’s somepony else?”
“Perhaps,” Dr. Alicity said. “I couldn’t say who, though. Mayhaps they’re out there now, working in their own little way. Or maybe somepony found them and just happened to miss Diamond.”
“Or maybe when Silver finished with them they were left vulnerable and died to some monster in those damn woods!” Colgate snapped, unable to keep the rage out of her voice. Once again, the doctor barely seemed to notice.
“Don’t be silly,” Dr. Alicity said with a light chuckle. “If that were true then their cutie marks wouldn’t be held within the Immortals, now would they? No, wherever they are, they’d be alive and hopefully, well. All the evidence points to that. But the question is, as always, where? Just imagine, three of the last generation’s elements, poof. Disappeared without a trace. Even Pinkie Pie doesn’t know where they are and, frankly, if anypony would know it would be her.”
Colgate took another slow, deep breath. There were no witnesses. They were surrounded by snow and ice. If she removed him now, then nopony could blame her. She’d probably be seen as a hero. Destroying the father of Discord.
But, as much as she hated to say it, he was important. His knowledge, his inventions, even his occasional quips helped keep morale higher than she ever wanted to admit. He was almost as useful as he was agitating. He also might be one of the few ponies they could use to help leverage against Silver in the end. Instead she huffed and started to trot inside, though to her annoyance he followed after her.
“That demon is the spawn of Discord,” Colgate said bitterly. “She doesn’t have to make sense.”
“Au contraire,” Dr. Alicity said. “Everything makes sense, if you look closely at it. Say what you will about Discord and his machinations, he obviously DID have a plan. Even if his methods were strange and the results we saw didn’t make sense to us, didn’t mean they didn’t make sense to him. The problem is unraveling the chaos to find how the nonsense makes sense.”
“So maybe she took them to torture them,” Colgate said. “After all, they helped destroy Discord. Maybe it’s a punishment.” Oh, those words chilled her to the bone. The thought of her mother and aunt being tortured right now while they struggled made her feel ill.
“Unlikely as well,” Dr. Alicity said, for the first time his voice actually turning serious. “Silver would never torture another pony.”
“Ah, so she draws the line at destroying our homes and lives, then?” Colgate asked bitterly.
“Perhaps,” Dr. Alicity said. “You have read the same reports I have, after all. While Silver has been conquering quite a bit of territory, her reign has been far from agonizing.”
“She strips ponies of their magic and then makes them bend the knee to her!” Colgate yelled, unable to suppress the anger in her voice. She quickly tried to pull it back when she saw two nearby guards tensing up. “How is that not agonizing?”
“She takes the magic of those who would do her harm and adds it to her own,” Dr. Alicity said. “But the ponies themselves are still safe and themselves. Their minds in tact. Compared to what Discord did, I’d say it’s quite a bit gentler. He didn’t just rule, he altered the very minds of ponies, changed them into something else entirely. Why, she has been absolutely marvelous in her methodology. I’m certain we can undo… most of what she has done.”
Colgate growled again, her eyes narrowed on him. It would be so, so easy. But he was right and she hated him for it. If they could defeat Silver, then they could likely undo most of what she’d done. Not all. But most.
“That could be her intent,” Copper Shield said, the earth pony trotting down the hall towards them. “Or it could all she can do currently.”
Colgate let out a sigh of relief before looking at the leader of the Metal Benders. It would be nice to have a sane pony to speak with. “Ah, Copper. I don’t suppose you have some good news for us?”
The earth pony just stared at her before, slowly, shaking her head. “The Water Immortal is back.”
Colgate took a slow, deep breath. Buck. Buck. Buckbuckbuck. “I see. Anything else?”
Copper shook her head.
Colgate gave another sigh. Leave it to Copper to manage to drop five little words with such horrible meanings.
“Well, that will be another problem for us to deal with,” Dr. Alicity said. “Though, I suppose that is correct. Silver is currently waging a war on four separate fronts. Even with the ability to steal our magic and push it into the immortals, it’s possible that stealing our magic and using her generals to command is all she can do for now. I suppose the true test of the kind of pony she is will be what she does if she wins.”
“She won’t win,” Colgate said before she could stop herself.
“On that, Water Lord Colgate, I must agree,” Dr. Alicity said with a light chuckle. “She can’t win.”
Colgate paused, her eyes narrowing on him. “And why, exactly, is that?”
“She may have spirits, chaos and an army at her side,” Dr. Alicity said with a light chuckle. “But we have an Avatar. And let me tell you, having seen Diamond Tiara in action, as much as I love my little girl there’s no way she can win. Why, the alicorn managed to drive my parents off for a whole day by herself. It truly is a thing of beauty when she gets going.”
Colgate gave a soft sigh. She hated him so, so much. But she really wished she could hold his confidence. She prayed that he was right. Whatever the Avatar had planned to stop that demon, she’d better do it soon.