//------------------------------// // Keep Calm, Laugh off // Story: Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb // by amastelaire //------------------------------// Cadance was supervising the fair from the castle balcony, The Storm King did not get to the Cristal Empire, but the fear he induced had weaken the Cristal Heart. Shining Armor came to her side, holding Flurry Heart with his magic. “So how is the fair going so far?” asked Shining Armor, struggling to hold Flurry Heart in place. Cadance was about to answer, but stopped as she saw a strange blue crystal flying at a rapid pace toward the library. “Did you see this?” Cadance jumped from the balcony, following the crystal while Shining Armor gently deposed Flurry Heart in her bed, ready to run down the stairs. Cadance was almost able to grab the crystal but it moved toward a window, disappearing into the house. “Did you get it?” exclaimed Shining Armor, who just arrived at the house. “No, it passed through that house and disappeared from my sight,” replied Cadance. “Did you know what it was anyway?” “No,” Shining Armor looked around him, searching for said crystal. “But a rogue magical crystal is never a good sign.” Cadance landed in front of him, and said “Well, we didn’t hear anypony scre –“ A distant cry was heard, “Help!” This single word was enough for Cadance to bounce off the ground and fly towards the library. As she approached the location of the screams, they grew quieter until finally going deaf. The library was totally quiet, not a single sound could be heard, not even a fly or cough. It seemed strange as the library was habitually busy at this hour, and she did not see anypony since she entered. She looked around again, trying to find who called for help, until she peaked toward the “Mystery” alley and saw an azure-coated crystal unicorn through the missing books of the bookshelves, It was the Crystal Empire’s Head-Librarian, Biblia Calm. “Biblia! Are you okay?” shouted Cadance The Librarian’s head snapped toward Cadance, looking straight into her eyes in a blank stare, only letting a “Shh!” be heard. In response, Cadance lowered her voice and whispered, “What is the problem Biblia, is someone dangerous here, does it have anything to do with…” She didn’t finish the sentence as her gaze stopped onto the bracelet worn by Biblia, the gem incrusted in it was a light blue crystal, exactly the same shape and color as the one she saw flying over the castle. A slight grin formed on Biblia face, her horn started to glow as she shouted, enraged, “Silence!” A light blue ball, the same tint of the gray-maned unicorn, started forming above her, exploding in a magical shockwave that pushed Cadance out of the library, her muzzle vanishing in magi-chaotical sparkles at the same time. “So this is what you call a ‘train’ right?” Pinkie Pie looked toward the greenish-maned pink Pegasus, surprised by the question. “Hum… Yes?” she didn’t really know what to say, she was never interested in technologies and you couldn’t really say she would be fit as an engineer. “You know Somna, I can call you like that right? If you were hoping an explanation on how it works, I’m kinda the wrong pony.” Somnambula smiled before answering, “Well, you could say I’m good at hoping.” The two pink ponies got along pretty well, even though one was calm and the other… wasn’t. The train stopped moving, and a strong voice shouted from the front of the train. “Terminus, Everypony’s off!” Pinkie Pie stumbled on one of the steps, falling onto a crystal-blue unicorn who seemed to be searching for something. She got back up, apologizing “Sorry Mister Unicorn, I’m Pinkie Pie!” The Crystal Unicorn put his armor back in place, and in a serious tone said “I thought you would be more…” He looked around searching for the others ponies that were described to him, but none matched those descriptions. “But you need to come with me.” Somnambula was still behind, asking the train controller question on the functioning and inner-workings of trains, intrigued by the iron beast, when she peeked back over her shoulder, Pinkie wasn’t here anymore. “This can't be a good sign” Somnambula thought to herself as she jumped and started flying around the train station, before finally spotting the festive earth pony entering the castle, dragged by two heavily armored guards. Pinkie Pie had always been a free-flowing spirit, so being restrained by two stallions wasn’t really a pleasant surprise. It felt strange for the guards to drag her like that, after all, she was friend with at least two alicorn, she represented the element of laughter and was designated to be the royal sitter of Flurry Heart, being dragged by people directly under the orders of her best friend’s brother seemed wrong, this was either a surprise party, or she was called here for a REAL problem. Pinkie sighed, “I hope it’s a surprise party.” She thought to herself. “Guards, is that a way to treat a guest?” A familiar voice rumbled, while the sentence was said jokingly, Pinkie could sense a smidge of distress in the voice. The two stallions dropped Pinkie Pie to the ground and stiff in place, as if they apologized by making a salute. One of them broke the silence, stammering. “Well… Sorry Captain, We didn’t know what to do… You just told us to get them here right as they would arrive.” Shining Armor walked down the stair, revealing himself to Pinkie’s eyes. “And where are the other?” “She was alone when we found her!” answered the second guard almost immediately, as if they were on a time trial. “Hey, That’s no tru –“ Pinkie’s remark was cut off by a loud banging on the two doors of the front entrance to the castle, making one of the guard startle. The doors kept banging as the two guards slowly backed up towards the stair, closing the distance between them and Shining Armor. The rooms grew silent, if it wasn’t for the extremely louds bang on the door of course, as everypony watched the doors being pushed farther and farther from their bounds, threatening to blast off into the room. The strange atmosphere was stirred away as Cadance arrived in the room, flying downward util she landed. “What in tartarus is going on here? Don’t you hear how much noise you make?” The pink alicorn seemed furious, but mostly anxious about the sound, she stared at her husband before turning towards the doors, right at the moment the lock couldn’t handle it anymore, and another pink pony, a Pegasus this time, flew down on the princess, crashing into her. “So, Would you care to come around a tea,” sighed Cadance. “It seems like I still need to put a clear on some things…” Soon enough, Cadance, Pinkie Pie, Somnambula and Shining Armor sat all around an oval shaped table, engraved with a plan of the Cristal Empire. While the room was big, it felt crammed with all of the armors and weapons lying in random piles on the ground or hanged on walls. The table had multiple figurines lying around it, outlining an area in the southern side of the city, centered around the library, multiple pony-shaped figurines lied in groups around the outline. “As you can see, She gained terrain since I sent you the letter, I though you would be more, but I guess Twilight didn’t send both of you without a plan.” Declared Shining Armor seriously while pointing a hoof toward the outlined area. “But our army as been able to evacuate most of the citizens, her magic is growing stronger with times, even Cadance null’s spells can’t annulate the alteration around the library!” While Pinkie Pie was looking at a butterfly through the window, Somnambula features convulsed from surprise, she opened her muzzle, but words didn’t got out immediately. “What letter? Who is She? What are you even talking about, the only thing Twilight gave me is this wooden box!” she shouted while grabbing a hoof-sized wooden box with lead engraving running across it from her left saddlebag. Cadance and Shining Armor looked at each other, then back at Somnambula, then at each other again, flabbergasted. Cadance wanted to start explaining whatever misunderstanding was here to explain, but Pinkie was faster. “Maybe the orb’s fragment flew here to cause mischief, that caused a friendship problem we were sent to stop, said problem turned out to be an evil magical librarian that want everything to be quiet and started to fight the cristal empire by making everypony she heard unable to talk!” Cadance stared at Pinkie Pie, looking even more surprised than before. “How… How did you know that?” “I don’t know, just a feeling!” responded the pink ball of energy as she hopped back up from the now fallen chair. “Where are we going next?” Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie until a sudden cry could be heard, not one of fear or sadness, but one of a baby alicorn who just awaken. And it was loud, very loud… Biblia Calm was walking down a dark street, even thought it was noon, the protection sphere she just casted blocked most of the sunlight, causing the whole block to be engulfed in grim light, the sound of silence was a pleasure for her ears, for once in many years, there were no more distant chatter, no more crying ponies looking for help, no more action-heated egghead trying to pick a fight, no, it was only peace and quiet, silence and calm, like the whole world was asleep. Her azure coat seemed darker, and her cutie-mark, once a phoenix quill, was now obstructed by a new one, a little light blue crystal surrounded by a white sphere. Biblia was smiling, exploring this southing experience that pure silence was, her smiled widened as she started to talk to herself, but it wasn’t a smile of joy or sympathy, it was a slightly wicked smile of victory. “I could show what real calm is to everycreature in the crystal empire, I could make the princesses experience it, I could… I could calm the whole Equestrian continent!” Biblia shooked for a moment, a shudder going from her mane to her tail, as if she was bit by the cold, one of her pupils tinted to a deep blue for an instant as she tried to repress the uncontrolled thought, but it didn’t last, and her whole eye had gone back to black, the empty stare directed toward the Castle, where she could hear a distant cry, distant but loud and clear, and it was disrupting the peace she worked so hard for. She grinned slightly again, the fragment of pure chaos magic on her left hoof slightly glowing, and as sparks of the same color flew around her horn and magic floated across her crystallized fur, the ground started shaking. Biblia started to lean on her back hooves, putting more and more pressure on the ground, until she suddenly released all of the magical and physical energy, propelling herself in the sky, before crashing into one of the Castle’s windows. The cries of the baby alicorn stopped for a moment, turning into a small laugh as Biblia struggled to get back on her hooves, the slightly mad unicorn wouldn’t get any of these mockery, and even less from a loud child, magic started to erupt in the air while Flurry Heart was starting to be surrounded by a spell-casted sphere, Flurry Heart’s laughter’s and tears muffled by the spell as fast steps could be heard coming from the stairway, rapidly approaching the bedroom. The doors opened in a crash, the princess of love and her husband rushing in the room, but nopony else was present here, nor an intruder, nor Flurry Heart, and the only trace of anypony ever being here was the destroyed window and the pieces of shattered glass across the floor. “We need a plan!” “But she’d just gone too far!” “Calm down, all hope isn’t lost!” “Calm down!? Did you just skip what happened?” The upper royal bedroom, normally quiet, was now entering a phase of pure chaos as four ponies started to argue and fight, while Pinkie was restrained by Shining Armor, Cadance was arguing with Somnambula, shouting as rage started to engulf her; Even if every pulsion wanted for her to fly and get revenge from the one who stole her child, Cadance knew that she couldn’t go without a plan, trying to take deep breath as Somnambula reassured her. While panic left Cadance mind, we could not say the same for the ‘Royal Sitter’, for Pinkie, Flurry Heart was like her baby, she would always spend most of her time in the Crystal Empire playing with the young alicorn, and seemed to be one of few capable of calming her when she was sad. “Kidnapping a baby, what monster could do that?” she shouted, almost crying. “Let me go! We need to go! She’s probably crying for help right now!” Shining Armor seemed to lose his grasp around Pinkie as her normally bright pink coat turned into a flaming red, heat and steam boiling around the furious earth pony. “I won’t be able to hold her for much longer!” he said, trying to get help from the two other ponies in the room. In response, Cadance horn glowed in a magnificent turquoise light, and as a small but steady stream of magic connected the two pony, Pinkie stopped cry-shouting, her coat going back to her original pink shade and her eyes slowly shutting. “What!? It’s just a little sleep spell Luna told me, it isn’t as powerful as her, but it should do the job for five to ten minutes!” Cadance calmly stated, as the two other ponies seemed surprised by whatever just happen. “Well then, we have five minute to figure out a plan,” Said Shining Armor as he snapped back to reality, “if I’m correct, we can’t go directly face to face, she’s too powerful.” Cadance nodded in agreement, “-And we can’t try to reason her, she’s not Biblia anymore.” Cadence nodded again, but more slowly this time. “So… What can we do?” Somnambula stepped forward, the wooden box put into evidence in her front-right hoof, “You told us your problems, but remember that we came here to retrieve a magical fragment well known for spreading chaos, if we can put it inside this box, that should stop it from controlling your friend!” “You seem to forget something.” “And what did I forget, Shining Armor?” “THE FACT THAT SHE IS LITERALLY MORE POWERFUL THAN ONE ALICORN AND AN ENTIRE ARMY!” Shining Armor shouted back, his words so loud and mixed it seemed like he was trying to start a ritual. He paused, trying to stop getting on his nerves, before continuing, is voice drifting as if he had lost all hope in winning, “We also sent a letter to Celestia and Luna, if they didn’t come, then we are not the only ones deep into to trouble…” “If its just that,” Somnambula noted while almost giggling, pushing Shining Armor deeper into incomprehension. “Then don’t worry, because I got a plan!” “You want me to do what!?” Pinkie Pie almost shouted, only stopped by Cadance stuffing her hoof into Pinkie’s muzzle, effectively silencing the pink pony. “Shh! Remember about being quiet” Cadance quickly responded, almost whispering. “But you just told me to –“Pinkie was stopped again, small steps could be heard in the library’s main hall, Cadance having just enough time to cast a small invisibility spell around the group as Biblia walked in through the narrower corridor, and turning to the left toward the deeper part of the reserved library, Cadance spells disappeared and in response to Shining armor confused looked, said slowly “What? It’s just another spell Luna showed me!” “How many spells did she teach you?” Cadance didn’t respond to her husband and instead turned toward Pinkie Pie. “We all know you aren’t the best at being calm and quiet, so that’s why you will be the distraction, so when we are all in place, you need to be as loud as possible.” The roles were dispatched, While Shining Armor would be closing all escape paths, Pinkie would throw as much sound as she could, letting Cadance search for Flurry Heart while Somnambula would discreetly try to approach Biblia and steal the bracelet, sealing the chaotic fragment in the nullifying box Twilight gave her. Each moved toward completing their respective task, they needed to take as much profit from Biblia absence in the library, but Pinkie sat still for a few moments, she looked down to her hoof, where Cadance had left a small object, it looked like an engraved stone in the shape of a heart, she then pressed the small button at the front of the stone, letting blades-like crystals out of the thin divot, surrounding the stone to form a sort of shield. Almost all possible exits were sealed, Cadance was already searching the upper levels and Somnambula was ready to act, they all waited for a signal, and after a few second, the loud, powerful and melodic sounds of an organ could be heard in the whole library, the tune resonating in each room. Biblia was quick to react, and instantly started to teleport around the building, finally stopping when she was in front of the imposing instrument, the music continuing to play as a barrage of spells coming from Biblia’s horn lit up the room, reflected by sets of mirrors placed around the organ. While her eyes started to flicker between a deep blue and a dark black, the unicorn was fighting the dark presence imposed in her by the chaos magic, but when the shatter on her bracelet began to glow and a crooked smile laid on her features, darkness taking back her eyes, Pinkie knew that she will have to fight, and in a final taunt, said "Come on Biblia, Let's Dance!" The music sped up as Pinkie leaped toward Biblia, shield first, the impact sending a shockwave through the room, extinguishing the few candles left burning and plunging the hall into darkness, illuminated only by the light rays that passed through the blinds of the windows. Pinkie stood back up, unaffected while Biblia stumbled back, her grin turning into a frown. The unicorn launched a few bookshelves toward Pinkie who was able to barely dodge them, Biblia’s horn lit up again, a ray of magic bursting out, cutting through the pillars in the center of the room, the ceiling cracked and started to fell, the crystal’s rubles that started to pile on levitated, forcing Pinkie on the defensive to evade the multitude of projectile flying through the air. The wall to her left crumbled as a large metal pipe was torn out of it, small bolts and scrapes of metal joining the sphere of ash, books and crystal floating between Biblia and Pinkie. As the organ struck deeper and more powerful notes, Pinkie jumped on a mirror floating from the unstable magic the filled the room, the mirror shifted and turned toward the sphere of debris, putting Pinkie in the perfect position to dive onto Biblia who was still bursting with magic, she turned the sharper edge of her shield toward the golden bracelet on the librarian’s hoof and with a powerful kick, threw it downward at an incredible speed. The shield hung still in the air, the razor-sharp blade only centimeters away from the orb fragment, a light-blue hue keeping the shield in place, Pinkie’s eyes widened in shock as the crazed unicorn smile grew even larger, her head slowly turning toward her “You thought this would be enough?” the voice resonated, it was grave and wicked, almost as if Biblia was stuck in a voice-crack, it almost seemed to have multiple layers, and her words mixed into each other, fading in a grim noise. Biblia’s voice wasn’t the only thing to crack as an ear-piercing sound could be heard coming from the ball of ruble, the magic crushing crystal and metal together, while shatters of the mirror flew in a ring around the sphere who was starting to take the shape of a sword. When the ashes and dust flew away, they revealed a long-crystallised sword embedded with a reflective glass panel along the edge, the grip was covered with a thin metallic band and two long streaks of iron were carved in the base of the blade. Biblia smiled only grew larger and larger, almost starching across her whole face when Pinkie Pie stepped back, she threw the shield which lodged in one of the few walls still standing, and plunged toward the pink pony, who was unable to fully avoid the blade’s sharp edges, a small streak of blood poured from Pinkie’s cheek as a shallow wound took place on her features, her eyes widened as the organ hit two notes so deep they were almost inaudible, the situation started to look unwinnable and Pinkie Pie was being forced into a corner, between the organ and two fallen over bookshelves. The melody sped up again, the notes arranging themselves into a chaotic yet beautiful sonority, taunting the calming sounds of silence, Biblia’s sword was held above her head, ready to strike the now stuck and cornered Pinkie, even if the blow wasn’t fatal, another quick one would do the job. Pinkie was stuck here in front of her, at her mercy, yet Biblia didn’t strike, the sword could be seen clutching back and forth as the eyes of the librarian flickered again, become a deep blue for a few seconds where she spoked, in a different voice than the wicked one heard earlier. “RUN.” Black tendrils started to form around the unicorn who was engulfed in the magic of the sky-blue fragment, the tendrils oozed around Biblia, forming an armor before surrounding her head, starting from the neck and shaping themselves in a helmet, the darkness started to grow around Biblia’s coat, who was slowly turning as black as her eyes, Pinkie was shivering from fright until without any warning, the monster that formed before her crumbled to the ground, revealing a pink Pegasus behind, holding a wooden box where a recognisable blue fragment was contained. “Somnambula!” “Pinkie!” The two ponies hugged for a moment until Somnambula saw the blooddrops falling from Pinkie’s cut. “We need to get that checked, did you see Cadance or Shining Armor?” Pinkie Pie tried to respond but was only able to point a hoof toward the unicorn behind them who was rising back up. Somnambula turned to see what Pinkie was pointing at, and almost dropped Pinkie when she saw the sword slowly rise up, grasped into Biblia’s magic. “Let me help,” exclaimed biblia, a shoulder resting on her sword now used as a cane, “It’s kind off my fault.” Cadance accented null-spell worked, and the only sign of a battle ever happening was the small scar on Pinkie’s cheek and the burns around Biblia’s coat. Pinkie walked toward Cadance who was holding and hugging a laughing Flurry Heart. “Here is your shield” she said, lending the small heart-shaped stone to Cadance. “Oh no, you can keep it!” the princess answered with a smile radiating from thankfulness, “See it as a gift for your help!” Somnambula approached the group, giving a little head-pat to Flurry Heart before pointing the sun with a hoof. “It’s almost dusk Pinkie, we should get back on the train now if we want to be home tonight! The pink pony nodded, and waved goodbye to Cadance, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor and even Biblia Calm, who was sitting in a corner, getting taken care off by two nurse-ponies. “Goodbye.” “Goodbye!”