//------------------------------// // One step forward, two steps back // Story: My Little Pony: Harmony and Chaos // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// Sunny… was absolutely fuming. It was one thing to send one pony to attack Canterlogic while she and her friends weren’t present. It was another to send more than one to attack them on their way to Canterlot… but to send everyone to attack them, mutate and transform a baby dragon into a rampaging monster, kill a few alicorns, and nearly kill two ponies she considered friends? That was something else entirely. She looks at Twilight who was still unconscious but was now laying in a bed with two alicorns using their magic to heal her as best as they can. She frowns at the sight of her idol, mentor, and friend in such a terrible state. She couldn’t help but wonder if she could’ve done something to prevent this… it should be her in this bed, not Twilight. She’s cut out of her thoughts when she hears her friends arguing just outside the door and she sighs, excuses herself, then steps out to find them doing exactly what she heard. She couldn’t tell what they were arguing about though as the argument was getting very heated and they were talking over each, so she decides to step in and break it up before it got too out of hand. “Ok ok! Everypony calm down! One at a time!” Sunny shouts and they all start to stop and start explaining the topic of their conversation. “I was just telling them what I saw after I fought the unicorn with the whip, but clearly they don’t believe me. They’re too in denial.” Zipp says, earning glares from Pipp and Izzy. Sunny has a feeling she knows what Zipp was talking about. Before she can say anything though, Izzy steps in. “No, you’re just imagining things! It couldn’t have been her! She’s our friend!” Izzy says and Sunny now knows for sure what- or who- this was about. “I don’t think so… I think that was Misty back there… when she spoke, two things gave it away… her voice… and the way she said my name. She said it like she knew me. As soon as I heard it, I froze up… I was just so in shock. I couldn’t believe that it was her right there but… when she spoke again… she didn’t even sound like herself.” Sunny says and Zipp gives Izzy and Pipp a look before sighing and looking at Sunny. “Believe me, I wish I hadn’t been right.” She says but Sunny just frowns and looks down. “Hm… she was acting strange when we first met. One moment she was so nice and she complimented Sparky, and the next she went silent, gave a cold dead stare and started slowly walking toward us, almost like she was in some sort of trance. When I called her name, she snapped out of it though.” Hitch said and this intrigues and confuses the others until Pipp speaks up. “And when she got a headache, she started looking a little pale.” Pipp says and Izzy agrees. Sunny then remembers two little details she could make out about the unicorn in question. “And when I saw her eyes… not only did she look tired and have bags under them… they looked… darker than they did the last time we saw her. And I didn’t tell you guys this but… at the Brighthouse, the whole time she was with us, my alicorn empathy was being… really strange. Like it was sensing something dangerous but didn’t know what. Or like it was sensing danger but not immediate danger.” Sunny explains and everyone thinks about it except Zipp, who doubted that anyone else was to blame for Misty's actions except Misty herself. “Guys! No matter how you look at it, Misty committed all those horrible crimes. No one forced her to. She doesn’t care about us or anyone else.” Zipp says, but Pipp disagrees. “I don’t think so Zipp. When one of those clones was strangling me, I saw how she turned your head to see it happening and believe it or not, it looked intentional. She looked towards me and saw it happening then decided to attack you and turn your head just enough to see it.” Pipp says and Zipp shudders at the memory of that and gives her sister an angry glare. “For all you know, she just wanted me to watch you die! Stop trying to make bad actions seem good! As far as I’m concerned, Misty's just as bad as the rest of them and if I see her again, I’m putting her in a cell which is less than she deserves.” Zipp says and Izzy grows an angry look as her eyes glow white and she starts walking towards Zipp but Sunny gets in between them and gently holds her back. “Izzy, calm down. It’s ok, Zipp's just angry. We’re all on edge after last night. But don’t worry. We'll find out the truth and if Misty needs help out of whatever situation she’s in, we’ll help her. Right Zipp?” Sunny asks with a firm tone, giving Zipp a look who rolls her eyes and nods. That’s good enough for Sunny. Sunny looks to see Izzy breathe in and out as her eyes stop glowing and she can tell that’s good enough for her too. “Thanks Sunny…” Izzy says and Sunny smiles and nods before they all hear footsteps heading their way and they look to see Twilight's friends, along with Brightburn, Solar Flare and Lunar Frost, leading the multitude of creatures they expected to see. Askari, Skylight, Nebula, Firestar, and Magma were finally here. “You all made it.” Sunny says and they all stop right in front of them, but based on the looks on their faces, they were not coming with the best of news. “Oh no… what’s happening now?” Sunny asks and they all look away, seeming reluctant to tell her. “We have some bad news…” Skylight says as she finally looks towards the others. “And I mean… very bad.” She continues and Sunny braces herself for what’s coming. “Half the world… or at least half of its leaders are… losing faith in you and your friends. They’re stuck between a decision of whether to keep allowing you and the alicorns to be your own ponies and continue defending Equestria… or outlaw you and ban you from interfering in their business.” Askari says and out of all the things that they expected her to say… none of that… was even on the list. Sunny slowly looks down and starts backing up, barely processing what she had just been told. “No… no… why? After everything we’ve done for them… they’re just going to give up on us? Just because of a few incidents that were out of our control?” Sunny growls lowly, the temperature around her starting to rise dramatically. “We fought for them, gave them hope, made compromises, sacrifices… I literally died for them, twice! I lost my dad a second time for them! And for what?!” Sunny shouts, causing the temperature to pick up even more as she feels her Alicorn form about to come out but… something feels off about it this time… it feels even more out of control than it did last night when she went ballistic on the villains. This was due to the fact that she could hear someone… laughing… talking… in her head… and not just anyone… Midnight. Normally, she wouldn’t have been surprised or shocked by this since she heard her voice every now and again but this time was different… because when she looked at everyone else… she saw Midnight standing right there behind them, clear as day while they were all giving her concerned looks. Sunny's breathing starts becoming very elevated and that caused Midnight to smirk, her power starting to flicker between red and purple. “You’re almost ready. See you soon… Sunny.” Midnight says before Sunny is suddenly snapped out of it as Midnight disappears and she can finally hear her friends again. She sees Izzy standing right next to her with a hand on her shoulder and a worried look on her face. “W-Wha… Izzy?” She asks and Izzy suddenly hugs her as tight as she can. “Oh thank hoofness Sunny, I didn’t know what was going on with you! You had us all worried for a second!” Izzy explains with a shaky, teary voice. Sunny slowly returns the hug and feels her heartbeat slowing down as they helped calm each other down. “I’m ok now… don’t worry.” Sunny assures her but the others don’t seem convinced. “Are you sure Sunny? We were calling your name and asking you if you were ok and what we should do, but you didn’t respond. You started panicking and you looked like… like you’d seen a ghost… or something worse.” Hitch pushes the subject, more than a little worried for his friend's mental and physical wellbeing. “I said I’m fine, ok? Don’t start turning on me just because I slipped into a small panic attack.” Sunny says with an annoyed tone as she stands up and gives them all a stern look. Before they can call her out on her behavior or tell her that they weren’t turning on her, she continues speaking. “Right now, we need to figure out what we’re gonna do about all of this before something else bad happens-“ Sunny says but before she can fully close out her sentence, she sees Brightburn, Solar Flare and Lunar Frost walking towards them and they don’t look happy. “Great…” Sunny mutters to herself, annoyed. When they stop in front of them, Brightburn has to stop Solar Flare from walking forward and saying something to them that she’d regret. “Guys… I’m sorry, but you have to leave.” Brightburn sighs, the frustration and sadness evident in her voice. They all look confused until she continues. “We had most of the alicorns in the city come together for a meeting and it reached a boiling point and came to a vote on whether to ask you for help… or kick you out of the city… and a majority voted against you. I vouched for you all, I really did but… I have to keep my city's best interests first.” She explains and they all give her understanding looks… except Sunny. “This is unbelievable… if it weren’t for us, this city wouldn’t even still be standing right now, and if it weren’t for us, Midnight would’ve killed you all years ago!” Sunny shouts, getting the attention of nearby alicorns who all get ready in case something happens. Sunny notices this and it just aggravates her even more. “Without us, you won’t stand a chance against them if they come back.” Sunny says and Brightburn thinks about it but sighs and shakes her head. “Sunny, please don’t make this harder than it already is. Look, if it were up to me, I’d allow you to stay… but… how do you expect the other alicorns to work with you after what they saw you do last night? After that, plus the darkness and hatred that we all sense in you, excuse us if we’re a little skeptical.” Brightburn says and Sunny looks down and frowns, causing her to sigh again and walk to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “If there was any other way to get everyone to calm down, I would… but we can’t risk it.” She says and Sunny continues looking down until she looks at her and slowly nods, reluctantly agreeing to what they’re asking of her and her friends. “Well… can we at least stay a while longer and check on Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asks and Brightburn nods, causing the original Mane 6 to sigh in relief before they all look at the others. “Don’t worry. If something changes, we’ll be the first to let you know.” Rainbow Dash says and they all nod before being led out by alicorns. Rainbow Dash looks at the rest of her friends and sighs. “So… what do we do while Twilight's… recovering?” She asks, her voice slightly breaking when she mentions Twilight and her current predicament. “Well… the least we can do is let everyone else know what happened. With Twilight like this, we’re going to need all the help we can get.” Rarity says and they all agree. “Leave that to me. As soon as we got started rebuilding, I contacted Discord and told him to let everyone know.” Fluttershy says and everyone smiles at their friend’s genius. Hopefully Discord could pass the message along in time, because with everything happening now… time was surely of the essence. “It’s always fun exploring with you three. I’m glad I was able to help you all find a home again.” Sunset says as she stares up at the three massive sirens in front of her who she had become very close with, especially the leader and the oldest of them, Adagio Dazzle. “Yes, well… you know what they say. Home is where the heart is or something like that… and you, Sunset Shimmer, have earned a very special place in mine.” Adagio Dazzle says, smirking at the now flustered pony before she hears her youngest sister, Sonata Dusk, laughing at her. She also sees her middle sister, Aria Blaze, smirking at her and rolling her eyes. Adagio immediately realizes why and starts to blush visibly through her scales. “I-I mean ours! As in our home!” She quickly tries to play it off but she can tell none of them really buy it. Sunset giggles as she watches the interaction between the three sisters but before she can respond, a letter appears in front of her out of thin air with a flash and drops to the ground. She looks confused but picks it up and opens it, immediately starting to read what it said to herself… but frowning the more she read. The Dazzlings stop bickering and notice the change in their pony friend's behavior almost immediately. Adagio lowers her face down to Sunset's level to try and see what could have caused it. “Sunset? What is it? What’s wrong?” She asks and for a bit, Sunset doesn’t answer as she’s still reading… but when she’s done, she looks into Adagio's eyes with a distraught look in her own. “There’s a new threat to Equestria now… last night, it struck and… and Twilight got hurt pretty badly. She’s alive, but it’s not looking too good.” Sunset says, still frowning until she feels Adagio's huge, scaly head nuzzle against her and she leans her own head against it while petting her on the cheek. “Come on. I’m pretty sure everyone else is gonna learn about this sooner or later and we’re gonna need a plan.” Sunset says and Adagio nods and gives a playful sigh as she lowers her body to allow Sunset to get on her back. “Joining forces with the very ponies and other creatures we used to be against to save Equestria from another world-ending threat.” Adagio says as Sunset gets on. Aria smirks and cuts in after Sunset's secure. “Well, we are overdue for some excitement. Very very overdue. And I’ve been waiting to hit something.” She says, causing Sonata to give her a pouty look. “You just hit me a few days ago, then there’s that giant squid you hit yesterday. But yeah, anyway, we’re with you Sunset.” Sonata says, causing Sunset to smile, especially as the other two sirens agree. “Thanks… Let’s get going.” Sunset says before the Dazzlings instantly take off towards where they just knew everyone would be going once they found out about the current situation with Twilight and the new threat… Canterlot. Ponyville, School of Friendship Starlight couldn’t believe what she just read. There was another Alicorn that wants to take over or destroy the world and Twilight was hurt? How much worse could things get? When would it finally end? She snaps out of it when she feels someone nuzzle her and looks to see it’s Trixie, giving her a reassuring smile which causes her to smile back. “Hey, don’t worry. Twilight's strong. She’ll pull through and so will we. We always do, right?” Trixie asks and Starlight sighs and nods. “Eventually. Ya know, after a long while of traumatizing experiences and grueling battles.” Starlight says jokingly, causing Trixie to laugh. “Tell Sunburst that something’s come up and we’ll be gone for a while so he's in charge while we’re gone.” She says, earning a nod from Trixie, who walks out to tell the aforementioned pony what’s going on. Meanwhile, Starlight looks back at the letter, tightening her grip on it. “Hang in there Twilight… We’ll finish what you started… I promise.” Canterlot This was not good… not at all. She had hoped that these kinds of days, the ones filled with such a huge amount of danger, would never come again after Midnight was defeated… but that was just wishful thinking. Still… Celestia knew better than to give up all hope. She would stay strong just as everyone else has done… just as Twilight and Sunny have done. She breathes in and out, walking into her and Luna's former throne room, finding her sister, Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart, and Discord already waiting for her. “I’m assuming that you were the one who sent the messages Discord.” She says, earning a nod from the Lord of Chaos. “Hm. Well then I suggest that we start preparing for another war.” “Seems like it’s every other year where there’s a war or a potential one in the making. I’m sure everyone else will be disappointed… especially since it’s gotten so bad already.” Luna says with a frown, causing Celestia to do the same. “Well… I think they can deal with it. Luna, you will find the Hippogriffs and the Griffons and see if they will help. Cadence, you’re going to the dragon lands. Flurry Heart, get the former legion of doom, Luster Dawn, and Twilight’s old students. When you’re done, see if you can get the Wonderbolts to prepare. Discord, you can rally with the Kirins and the changelings. I will talk to the Yaks and the Alicorns.” Celestia says and they all nod and walk out, departing to the locations of their quarries. “No matter what you do, no matter what you throw at us… we will not let you or any other creature of evil prevail… Opaline.” Celestia says with a determined look on her face but little did she know, Opaline was watching the whole time. The fallen alicorn grows a slightly angry look on her face that slowly morphs into an evil smirk. “Game on.” She says, giving a simple sign that she accepts the challenge from the so-called heroes. She would get her magic back one way or another, and in the end… they would see which one was stronger and which one prevailed… Harmony… or Chaos. “Ugh! It isn’t fair! After everything we did for them, they turn on us just like that?!” Sunny shouts as she paces back and forth in front of her friends, obviously anything but happy at the moment. They were just glad she wasn’t destroying anything in the Brighthouse. “Now we’ve got no allies, no Marestream, no Sparky, and no answers!!!” She continues before sitting down, holding her head. She was so stressed out, she was surprised her entire mane hasn’t turned grey. “And not only that, but one of our so-called “friends” could be a homicidal terrorist.” Zipp says, warning glare from Izzy and Pipp. “What?! I told you what I saw and Sunny told you what she heard! How is that not enough evidence for you?!” Zipp asks and Pipp is about to answer until Izzy walks up to Zipp with an angry look on her face. “Because it just isn’t! If Misty was someone that dangerous, she would’ve attacked me the first day we met!” Izzy shouts and Hitch starts thinking about it. “She also could’ve attacked me and Sparky then but at the same time… probably not since all of you were nearby. Plus, that silent unicorn targeted Sparky before attacking any of us. Almost like she knew he was special, but why would that be?” He asks and Zipp takes the chance to answer. “We did tell Misty that Sparky's Dragon fire was special. In doing so, we basically just revealed that he has magic. So I don’t think it was a coincidence, obviously.” Zipp says and Izzy growls and is about to either hit Zipp or start yelling at her until Sunny speaks up. “Enough! Look! We'll find out if Misty is with Opaline or not for sure, but not right now! …We’ve got enough to deal with.” Sunny says before standing up and starting to walk up the stairs to the shared room that she, Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp had. All her friends exchange worried looks between each other when she’s gone. “Are things always going to be like this with you guys?” Nebula asks, reminding everyone of her and Firestar's presence. That also reminds them that Askari, Skylight, and Magma are outside, the aforementioned two fixing the Marestream while Magma kept Solaris and Sky Blazer occupied. “Let’s… hope not. I’m gonna talk to her. Something’s wrong with her and I don’t think it’s just stress.” Izzy says, gaining concerned looks from everyone before they all reluctantly agree. “Just tread carefully Iz. Sunny isn’t herself right now, so who knows what she’ll do.” Zipp says and as much as Izzy wants to ignore her for how she’s talking about Misty… she does take her advice about this. She nods and walks up the stairs, leaving everyone else to sort everything out and finding Sunny sitting on her bed… looking at a picture of her father. Sunny doesn’t notice until she’s standing right next to her. However, instead of jumping or even looking at her, Sunny sighs, puts the picture down and lowers her head, putting it in her hands. “I’m sorry Izzy…” Sunny says and Izzy frowns, sitting down next to her upset marefriend and putting her arms around her, pulling her into a hug. “I’m so so sorry… for everything.” She continues and Izzy just continues to hold her. “It’s ok Sunny… you’re dealing with a lot right now. It’s ok to be stressed out, we all are.” Izzy says, rubbing comforting circles on Sunny’s back. This sort of helps to calm Sunny down, but she could tell Sunny easy still upset and frustrated. “I don’t think it’s just stress anymore Izzy… my nightmares… the things I see in them… I’m even starting to see them when I’m awake… and it’s scaring me because of what it could lead to.” Sunny explains, moving closer to Izzy's side, very much in need of comfort and reassurance. “I don’t know what to do… about this… about these new enemies… about Misty… about Twilight. It’s all just… too much.” She continues, leaving out quite a bit but telling Izzy more than enough, at least for the time being. “Well… that’s because you’re already trying too hard to focus on everything at one time. Just focus on one thing and take care of the rest after you’ve dealt with what you choose to deal with first. Then do the same thing until you’re done. You’re strong Sunny and you’ve been through so much but… you’re just one pony. You don’t have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders all the time… me and all our friends are here for you… so let us carry that weight with you.” Izzy says, causing Sunny to look up at her and smile. “I’ll try… thanks Izzy… I can’t say this enough but I love you… so SO much.” Sunny says, causing Izzy to smile and blush before nuzzling Sunny, giving her a kiss afterwards which she returns. “I love you too and no matter what, I’ll always be here for you. We all will… and I’m hoping we can still be there for Misty if she needs it.” Izzy says and Sunny silently agrees before she gets an idea. The Manesquerade Ball was happening in a few days for hearts and hooves day. They could invite Misty and test her innocence there… but for the plan to take full effect, they needed Sparky before then. “Don’t worry Izzy… we’ll find out soon enough.” Sunny says, more determined to find Sparky and fix everything. “No matter what happens next, we’ll keep going. We’ll keep moving forward… together.” Sunny says, meaning every word of what she says. Things may get worse before they get better, but as long as she has her friends by her side, she just knows that in the end… everything is gonna be ok.