//------------------------------// // Final Arc part two // Story: Ruining Harmony // by Artaelian //------------------------------// From a distance, the whole land of Equestria looked black, but as the ship landed on the beach, the six friends found this wasn’t really the case. The reality was that the ground lay under a layer of ash, but was still devoid of trees, and the grass under the ash did not look healthy at all. Rainbow Dash kicked some ash aside on a nearby rock, and looked silently at Twilight. Twilight herself looked around at the scene before them. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what would cause this.” she stated. The unicorn crew had been selected by Captain to help carry the important items the six friends had brought with them from Irvest, and on deck, Twilight could see Captain talking to Sunshine Blaze. Soon, Sunshine Blaze jumped off the ship and walked up to the six friends, smiling as he did. The smile annoyed Rainbow Dash slightly, as with the state Equestria was in, there was nothing to smile about. But still, Sunshine Blaze smiled. “Well, Captain is ready to wait for us. With the spells given by the sages, we can’t return here to meet with him should we need to run for our lives again. For now though, let’s go.” He said, walking ahead. Checking that the crew joining them were ready, the six friends slowly followed after Sunshine Blaze, dreading to learn what state the rest of Equestria was in. -- After half an hour, a foreboding sight loomed on the horizon. A black stone castle stood in a place that was previously flat and featureless, with six towers holding up the outer walls. The group stared at it, feeling fear as they looked on. Without a word, they begun to walk right, to find a way past it. The black castle that hadn’t been there before was a sure sign of where Ulysses was currently located, and they weren’t ready to face him yet. If they had headed west, they could have gone past Canterlot. But heading east also threw up a problem. East... That was where Cloudsdale had vanished. It had been hard on both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to watch it disappear. But with no indication as to what may have become of all the pegasi that had disappeared that day, it would probably be even harder on them to walk where Cloudsdale had been above six years later. As the group begun to head east, Twilight stared at the landscape. Far off to the east, the landscape seemed to be covered in dots, possibly thousand and thousands of stones. Her curiosity of what they were would soon be answered she knew. Within an hour, she wished she hadn't been so excited. “Graves...” she muttered. There were hundreds, covering every last bit of the ground, and all covered in ash. Solemnly, the group walked among the graves, reading all the names in turn. It was surreal in a way, having watched Cloudsdale vanish, to walk among the graves of those who had presumably died brought a chilling finality to the event. “I won’t find my parents here,” Rainbow Dash said aloud, as she continued walking, “they live in Fillydelphia. What about you Fluttershy?” “They’re in a countryside cottage somewhere to the north last I knew. When this is done, we’ll need to let them know we’re fine.” Fluttershy replied. Rainbow Dash froze. She stared in shock at one of the graves, and her actions caught the attention of her friends, as they hurried over to her and find why she had stopped, “It... it can’t be...” she said slowly, the shock of her discovery preventing her from crying, or even beginning to. The gravestone read; ‘Here lies Spitfire, proud member of the Wonderbolts.’ -- Twilight was glad to finally be walking away from the graveyard that now stood where Cloudsdale had vanished. It hadn’t gone like she had hoped, but at least she learnt the parents of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were elsewhere. However it still had taken some time to get Rainbow Dash away from the sight, simply because three of the graves belonged to some of the Wonderbolts, pegasi she had admired. It had actually been Pinkie Pie, who for the most part had kept quiet and was not her usual bubbly self in the ash covered lands of their home, that had convinced Rainbow to leave. Rainbow now walked with a determined look on her face. If only three Wonderbolts had died, the remaining team had to be somewhere. Ulysses castle now stood far behind them, and the group slowly made their way to the familiar old road that connected Ponyville and Canterlot. This gave the group their first real look at Canterlot since returning. “It’s just like in the future he showed me.” Stated Rainbow Dash. The white walls and colourful tower tops of Canterlot were stained and discoloured by the ash. The walls were now grey, and any gold didn’t shine. But even so, there were lights in the buildings and castle itself. Ponies were still living there, but clearly they had to defend themselves with the giant purple shield around the mountain. “I think we’d better hurry, and see what’s left of Ponyville.” Twilight said, turning up the path in the direction of Ponyville. -- It took under half an hour for what was left of Ponyville to become visible as the group travelled to the valley. The first sight showed mixed promise, some buildings lay in wooden rubble, but for the most part, it appeared that Ponyville had survived Ulysses’ rule. “Look Twi! I think the library survived!” Spike exclaimed happily. “Yes Spike, for the most part, Ponyville looks fine,” she replied smiling. A deafening roar echoed around, causing her to pause as she spoke, and the whole group to freeze. Circling around them, and looping back over Ponyville, was a large red dragon, and now visible in the air around the town were several more of varying colours. “Of course, it MIGHT have become a nest for dragons while we were gone, and everypony we knew died...” Twilight finished, biting her lower lip. “Where’s Applebloom!?” Applejack shouted, running ahead. “And Sweetie Belle!” Rarity added, dropping her lady-like manner, and running off as well, as Twilight tried to protest Applejack’s departure. “Oh good... run off into a nest of uncountable dragons and almost certain death... just how I wanted things to go.” Twilight said, highly irritated. -- As Ponyville drew closer, with the group giving chase to Applejack and Rarity, Twilight noted that Ponyville really did have few to none fallen buildings. It was as if Ulysses’ destruction as he attempted to gain the Elements of Harmony had never taken place. There were even ponies! Mayor Mare was talking to some ponies beside the town hall, Lyra sat in her strange way on a bench, with Bon-Bon next to her sitting normally, in all, the scene looked like the Ponyville Twilight and her friends had run for their lives from six years previous. But there remained one thing wrong with the picture, besides the crimson sky and the placement of the sun and moon together in the sky, the dragons. On the way there, she had assumed the Dragons had taken over the abandoned Ponyville, but it clearly wasn’t the case. There were currently ten fully grown dragons in the sky, and as she ran at full gallop after Applejack and Rarity, Twilight noted that there were at least twenty more on the ground around Ponyville. The group’s fast pace into the town hadn’t gone unnoticed either, one of the ten dragons in the sky was currently flying above them, keeping pace. She didn’t question why, mostly because no one else in the group would know, but it had singled them out. What Twilight was immediately aware of next was a flash of orange and violet racing past. It landed ahead of her, in the way of the path where Rarity and Applejack were still running on ahead beyond it. Focusing on what it was, Twilight saw the orange and violet flash had become a teenage filly, scars covered her body and her wings had a few missing feathers randomly distributed, her violet eyes glaring her down. Twilight skidded to a stop. “And just who are you? Running into the town with crates like you own the place.” the teenage filly shouted. The ground shook behind the group, and the hot breath of the dragon breathed on them. Looking behind her, Twilight saw as it picked each crate up and looked at the items within. “Books. Various personal belonging. Maybe refugees of a new attack.” it said in a rumble. “Well that’s a load off,” the orange filly replied, sitting down, “when we heard there were ponies running into town with crates, I was worried they were Ulysses loyalists with makeshift magic bombs.” she said. “Wait, I remember you.” Rainbow Dash said aloud, stepping forward. She looked into the violet eyes of the orange filly, seeing a life filled with pain that had led her to this moment. It was something to talk about later, but Rainbow was very sure of who this was. “I should hope you remember me!” the orange filly shouted, standing up and looking very angry, “I idolized you before you ran and left us all to die here!” “Scootaloo... what the hay happened to you?” -- Rarity had lost sight of Applejack long ago as their path diverged. Ahead of her now stood the slightly charred building that was Carousel Boutique, her home before she had left for Irvest. It still seemed quiet as it had always been, but as Rarity noted, it did not look run down. Somepony was still living in there, and she didn’t need to guess who. She came to a halt at the door and quickly checked her mane before she knocked, and opened the door. The inside of the shop looked as it had when she left, the mannequins that she used to make dresses when lacking another pony to help her were in one piece, and were not covered in dust, as if they were still in use. The floor too looked like it had been mopped not too long ago, as it shone under the dim light in the room. Rarity laughed to herself slightly. Things had gone far better than she had expected. She had expected to arrive to find Sweetie Belle had done something irreparable, like causing the shop itself to collapse. “Rarity?” came the voice of the teenage Sweetie Belle, who had just arrived from the upper floor. Both sisters ran to the other and hugged, crying tears of joy and relief. They were both alive, they had survived the worst Ulysses had thrown on the world, and for that moment, nothing else mattered. “You’ve grown!” Rarity exclaimed with a chuckle, extending her hooves still holding Sweetie to see her. “Well yes, I didn’t stop sis. I’m just glad you’re home! Where did you go?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Far away, I’ll get to it in a minute. But first, you kept the shop neat and tidy all these years?” Rarity asked. “Yes,” Sweetie Belle beamed a smile, “I wasn’t good at making clothes, but when Ulysses turned up and turned Equestria on its head, I figured you’d want the shop clean when you ever came back. Scootaloo often yelled at me, saying you and your other friends would never return, but I kept cleaning anyway.” Rarity sobbed slightly with joy. Sweetie Belle’s belief that her sister would one day come home made her happy. But that all disappeared when she saw Sweetie Belle’s flank. “You still don’t have a cutie mark?” Rarity shouted, utterly shocked. “Oh... yeah... it’s hard to find your special talent when somepony is trying to destroy civilisation.” Sweetie Belle answered, staring pathetically at her blank flank. “I think we both have long stories to tell each other. Let’s go make some tea and we can talk then.” Rarity replied, leading the way to the kitchen. -- Applejack was relieved to see that Sweet Apple Acres still stood. The only noticeable change she could see was a few missing trees further from the barn and house. But there were more important things on her mind as she ran towards the house. She could see the big red form of Big Macintosh as he carried buckets of apples from the farm and to the barn, the only noticeable change being how tired he looked. She had never once known her brother to look like he had gone without sleep, but the darker patches under his eyes didn’t lie. On the porch of the house, the frail green shape of Granny Smith sat in her rocking chair, a blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm against the chill of the air. But beside the relief of seeing Big Macintosh and Granny Smith still alive and well, there was one pony she hoped to see as she kept running closer. Applebloom. Applejack darted her head around as she ran, hoping to see her little sister at any second. Thud! Applejack came to a sudden stop, and looked around. It sounded like somepony had bucked a tree, but she couldn’t see the shaking tree to know where they were. Thud! She looked sharply to her left, and froze. Over in the tree, looking more tired than Big Macintosh, was Applebloom. She stumbled a bit as she walked to the next tree, turned and bucked her hind legs against the tree, shaking it of any apples that were ready to fall. Applejack laughed slightly to herself, the sight very much reminded her of the time she had promised Big Macintosh that she could buck every apple on the farm for apple buck season. With a smile, and very few tears of joy, she walked over to Applebloom. “How ‘bout ah do the next one?” she asked. Applebloom’s head shot up as if she had just been spoken to by a ghost. It was very much the same way she was currently looking at Applejack. Slowly, Applebloom drew closer, before prodding Applejack gently with one hoof. “It really is you... Applejack,” Applebloom threw herself at her older sister and hugged her tight, “where’ve ya been these last six years?” she wailed, crying with relief of seeing her older sister after the years that had passed. “Ah just had to go somewhere fer a little while. Sorry ah couldn’t tell ya’ll before ah left.” Applejack replied, placing one hoof on Applebloom’s back. The embrace lasted a while, as Applebloom sobbed into Applejack. When she slowed down, she took a step back and looked at her sister. “We were all worried Ulysses had killed you. When you didn’t come back home after his attack on Ponyville, me and Big Macintosh took care of the farm.” she stated. “Ah owe you both then fer doing my job,” Applejack smiled, “but there’s something ah noticed. Didn’t you get yer cutie mark? Ah can’t see it.” Applebloom looked hurt as she looked to her blank flank, sighing as she did. “We’d better go let Big Macintosh and Granny Smith know your ok, then we can catch up.” Applebloom replied. -- Scootaloo, as a young filly, had always looked cute when angry. It was one memory of her Rainbow Dash remembered. But the six years in the Equestria led by Ulysses had changed her. Scootaloo not only achieved looking angry, it was a look that probably would kill ponies out of fear. It was probably the many scars to her face that helped, but the lack of vibrant, energy filled eyes added to it. Scootaloo had led the group to the library, and leaving most of the ship crew and Spike in the library, had led the rest into the basement. It was darker now, and the portals Twilight had set up six years previous still stood there, a bit dimmer in their glow than memory recalled. But there was something strange. Scootaloo had walked into the only part of the basement room that was kept in permanent shadow, and Rainbow heard whispering. Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all looked nervous, but Sunshine Blaze remained calm, apparently used to whatever was going on. Scootaloo soon reappeared from the shadow, and trotted over to the portals on the far wall, looking at each in turn. “When I first came in here after Ulysses attacked Ponyville, I found these. They confused me at first, scared me even. But then, I dared to step through one,” she looked over her back to Rainbow and friends, “imagine my shock when I found there was a Ponyville where you, Rainbow, got struck by lighting and died. I ran back through, and assumed the worst. They couldn’t find you or the others, either alive or dead.” Scootaloo returned her attention to the portals and didn’t speak for a while. Slowly, her right front hoof lifted up towards them. “I was confused, how could I watch you die, yet no body could be found? I kept returning through it, trying to find anything I’d missed, any hint as to where your body had been found. But then, after so many heartbreaking trips, I realised something,” her right front hoof was now reaching out to the portals, “it hadn’t happened. Your body, in there, had been found right away, you died, you were buried. End of it. It gave me new hope, hope that you were alive. So I checked the others, and found they led to either grim futures, or the past of Equestria. I hoped, and constantly entered each, hoping that somewhere, there’d be a hint of what became of you six.” Her last two words were as warm as glacial ice, and thrown like sharp daggers at a heart of whoever heard them. But still, Scootaloo did not move. “And no hints ever came. No bodies were ever found. All the while, ponies here hid from constant raids on supplies by Ulysses’ loyal subjects. Soon, pegasi arrived, wounded badly, from Ulysses’ efforts to purge Equestria of our kind,” she shot a nasty look at the friends and Sunshine Blaze, “can you imagine how I got these scars? Ulysses doesn’t mind earth ponies, or unicorns, he can at least fight them on equal footing, but us pegasi... he wants us extinct. These scars are all the times I came close to death. Each one of them.” “Scootaloo, I’m sorry...” Rainbow Dash said, looking sad. “SHUT UP! Just shut up Rainbow Dash! I don’t look up to you anymore! Why should I idolise a coward who ran and left the other pegasi of Equestria to be slaughtered like common animals?” Scootaloo yelled. As the room fell quiet, all that could be heard was the deep breaths of Scootaloo, Fluttershy’s frightened sobs, and some shuffling in the shadows. Sunshine Blaze added to this by sighing, as he stood up. “I didn’t give her, or any of them a choice,” he said, staring the angry Scootaloo down. “And who are you?” she snapped. “I am Sunshine Blaze, survivor of Ulysses’ first ever attack. I’ve followed him for years, seeking to stop his violence, because he is my brother. If I don’t stop him, then no one will!” Sunshine Blaze exclaimed, raising his front legs in the air. “And what gave you the right to hide them for all these years?” her voice was bitter, and her eyes narrowed. “That day Ulysses attacked this town, he sought to end their lives to take the elements of harmony as his own. The only course of action I could think to do was to get them to Irvest and prepare them for their return and whatever horrors they would face.” Sunshine Blaze replied. Rainbow Dash had expected Scootaloo to burst into another angry rant. So it came as a surprise when she looked to the shadows, her anger subsiding, and nodded. Within seconds, the shadows vanished, and made Rainbow’s jaw drop. Three pegasi had been sitting in the shadows, wearing the Wonderbolts suit. A muddy brown earth pony and a white unicorn sitting to the side of them. The one in the middle had a blue mane and blue eyes, and he looked very tired and badly bruised, cuts were also on any visible part of his body. “I think it’s time we both say what has taken place to the other for the last six years, it could prove vital for defeating Ulysses.” Soarin’ spoke slowly. -- Soarin’ now looked at each of the friends present before him, and watched them discuss among themselves who would explain what had taken place for them. All the while, Scootaloo sat and observed, holding back her anger at the ex-idol that had seemingly left her and every other pony to die. After a brief moment, Twilight stood up and cleared her throat. “Six years ago, we used those portals Scootaloo found, convinced the Elements of Harmony were somehow corrupting themselves. It was only after mine did I learn the truth, Ulysses had tricked us to corrupt the elements for him. We heard noises in the streets and when we went to look, Ulysses was coming here, all to kill us and take the elements of harmony.” She looked at Scootaloo, who’s angered gaze had faltered slightly at hearing what Ulysses had attempted to do six years previous. “He used his magic and grabbed five of the elements from us, but only Rainbow Dash was able to avoid his attempts. When Sunshine Blaze arrived, he quickly told us a plan to get out of there, and we followed it. He took us to Irvest where we’ve been these last six years, even down to seeing the place Ulysses first begun his violent ways.” Soarin’ seemed to think over all of this, as he held his front hooves before him. Scootaloo looked between Twilight and Rainbow Dash, searching for any sign that what she had heard wasn’t the full truth. “You’ve got to be lying somewhere. I don’t believe Ulysses would try to kill all of you!” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Believe it or not squirt,” Rainbow Dash snapped, “he tried it, but he didn’t expect his brother to come and ruin his fun. When Sunshine Blaze here got us out, he tried to trick at least me back to get the last element and kill me, by destroying Cloudsdale!” Soarin’ coughed, and shot an annoyed glance at Scootaloo. “So, this is where our stories temporarily meet,” the cold and emotionless tone in his voice contradicted what Rainbow Dash recalled him sounding like six years previous, “that day, I was at practise, when we watched the sun and moon start to raise in the sky. Then Cloudsdale be pulled to a giant black orb. Being Wonderbolts, we would never let innocent ponies get hurt, we begun as best as we could to get pegasi away, through any gaps in the barrier that kept us on Cloudsdale.” Soarin’ stood up and walked up to Scootaloo, he paused only to give her a look that suggested that he wanted her to think carefully about her anger that she had misplaced for so long. “I can’t tell you how many I saved, but even as Cloudsdale drew near the orb, we kept risking our lives to save as many as we could. Just before impact, I urged the other three, including Spitfire, that we couldn’t risk any more. But she had none of it, and they flew back. That’s when it vanished. Later, I found Spitfire, on the ground and barely alive. She had somehow fallen there. I won’t disclose what caused her to die, but before she did, I made a promise, that her death would not have been in vain.” Soarin’ now turned to face the other two Wonderbolts, and raised his voice slightly. “The next day, we heard of attacks on pegasi, by ponies who had decided the safest thing to do was to ally with Ulysses. That made my mind up. Even if only pegasi would help, we would resist and fight Ulysses and his minions to our last breath. We soon found Ponyvile, which had fallen under the harsh rule of one of Ulysses’ loyalists. Nopony knew how he had quickly taken control of the town, but all bits and food went to him, all pegasi were captured and strung by their hind legs on ropes, including Scootaloo here.” Soarin’ stated. “This new pony called Baron tortured us,” Scootaloo added, “he whipped us, strangled us, set up fires under us. You imagine it, he did it to us. I don’t know how often I was terrified when he got out a knife and said that one of us would be randomly killed. I always feared it’d be me next, but it never was. It was horrifying for the poor pony being killed, but it wasn’t any easier trying to not hear their pleas or cries as they went through it.” As she spoke, she visibly broke down, and was now trembling. “That’s why she has scars and no cutie mark. Hard to earn one when you're strung up to be tortured and possibly murdered,” Soarin’ took a deep breath, “we arrived in secret and formed a quick plan. The citizens here were starving to death and taxed for bits they simply didn’t have. But when we learnt what Baron was doing to the pegasi, just to keep Ulysses happy, we told the town, and they were furious. As one, the whole of Ponyville assaulted the town hall, freed the pegasi, broke Baron’s horn clean from his head, and locked him in a cell where he couldn’t use magic. We eventually checked up on him, to find he had hung himself.” Twilight begun to think things over, as Rainbow Dash looked away from Soarin’ to Scootaloo. The young filly she had known as full of energy and had a positive outlook on life had gone through so many horrors very early on. But something didn’t make sense, the incident with this Baron had been years ago, yet the scars on her were fresh. “So, if that occurred about six years ago, where do the dragons come into things?” Twilight asked. “As his influence spread, Ulysses learnt of other creatures he could not fight on equal terms. He really doesn’t seem to like the idea he may be weaker than anything. So he attempted to wipe out anything that was stronger than him. The dragons didn’t like it too much, and while they aren’t friendly with us ponies, they know we have a common enemy. It’s not just dragons too, there’s manticores, a hydra or two and Zecora.” Soarin’ answered. “Zecora?” Twilight asked dumbstruck. “Yes, she lives in the Everfree Forest, thought you knew her. Anyway, with her, Ulysses learnt she had ways of stopping his epidemics that targeted the Resistance. What he didn’t know, she’s pretty handy with anti-magic potions. We almost had him that time, but he knew the forest better than even Zecora.” Soarin’ now resumed his place between the other two remaining Wonderbolts. “Now, there is simply the remaining problem. We have attempted many times to attack Ulysses’ castle directly, and nopony ever returns from the attempt alive. We must make a plan, and I’m hoping you lot have some ideas.” Soarin’ said. “Actually, I do,” Sunshine Blaze spoke up. He had been quiet the whole time, but now stood, all eyes fell on him, “what we need to do is get these six, and yes I know two aren’t here, they ran off, we’ll find them, into his castle.” “And you think it’s going to be that easy?” Soarin’ questioned, looking at Sunshine Blaze as if he were a lunatic. “It’s simply a case of distraction. Tell me, when somepony tried entering the castle before, what happened?” Sunshine Blaze asked. “Usually, the group were met at the gates by a small army of Ulysses’ loyalists.” Soarin’ replied. “Perfect! Now, you have Resistance members willing to help, dragons, manticores, two hydras and this Zecora. What you need to do is challenge him.” Sunshine Blaze grinned. “Challenge him? I’ve seen far too many go to their deaths by his actions. Give me a good reason why I should risk it!” Soarin’ snapped. “Just listen. Ulysses likes to think there is no one willing to challenge him, and now he has an army. Simply put, you, the Resistance, arrive to his castle in battle formation. He’ll be insulted you think you can fight his army. With them drawn out, if I know him enough, he’ll remain behind. Then, with the dragons distracting any attacks to the air closer to the ground, one can carry the six bearers of the elements of harmony into the castle, where they can find the elements, take them back, and hopefully, finish Ulysses once and for all.” Sunshine Blaze finished his speech in the air, grinning. “A distraction? Do you honestly think it’ll work?” “If what I know about him is right, his loyalists are under some sort of powerful spell. When these six friends confront him, he’ll need all the energy he can get. If they are under a spell, your problems will be over, all you need to do then is get back to Ponyville with the dragons and hope the rest of the plan works.” Sunshine Blaze still grinned, but was now slowly approaching the floor. Soarin’ looked to the other Wonderbolts, the earth pony and unicorn, and a silent exchange took place between them for a moment. After a while, Soarin’ looked to Sunshine Blaze and sighed. “We will go tomorrow. Give us until the town clock rings in 12pm.” Soarin’ said, his face showing worry. “Of couse. Wouldn’t be much of a plan if I rushed you out right now.” Sunshine Blaze landed, his grin turning into a smile. -- Ulysses sat on his black throne, the five elements of harmony he had taken six years previous floated with his magic in the air before him. Each one sparkled, despite the fact there was only the light of his horn in the room, and his horn was glowing black, not a colour that would have made the elements sparkle. He sighed, and with some more magic, the elements disappeared from sight. “Soon. Soon I shall have them... the birth right denied to me by fate. Will you understand me, brother? Will you understand me, element bearers? Will anypony understand... as I crush the life from them?”