The eyes fluttered open. They were golden; her eyes. Her hair, that was as black as darkness itself, almost covered her eyes. She gloomily lifted the blue covers off of her white body; the only pureness of good she had. She walked over to her dresser and reluctantly put on her dark red shoes and cape. She was depressed, useless, and helpless. Not even the warm welcoming sun that shown through her window could help her problems. She was to be married of to a mysterious suitor, she can't clean, or cook, or bake even with her abilities. As an alicorn she should have been able to fly and perform magic. But after her mother died in a severe storm while she was flying home, Harmony couldn't bear to fly. And all magic she was supposed to be able to do wasn't found and no teacher could fix her. And top it all off she was useless at all the tasks she was given besides calming down her siblings!
"Harmony! I need your help with your sister and your brother won't stop reciting tragic poetry," her father called. Lord Chancellor was waiting for Harmony as she walked down the steps slowly, as a lady was supposed to. She didn't like the fact that as a lord's daughter she had to act like a princess, but she what was she to do?
"Father," she said as Chancellor greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
"Harmony!" Morning Light, her sister, whined. Morning Light was faded dark blue pegasus with dark blue hair and light pink highlights. Her muzzle was faded pink like her highlights and her eyes were light green; like our mother's eyes. She wore her white shoes and in her hands were a white bow. She was only a filly. Harmony walked over to her younger sister.
"Yes my Morning Light?" Harmony asked her, putting on the most convincing smile.Her sister had calmed down and handed her sister a bow.
"Will you put my bow on for me?" she asked in her baby voice, which she hadn't grown out of yet.
"Of course I will," Harmony told her as she made the bow in her hair. "Anything for my flying queen." Even though Harmony wouldn't fly, her sister didn't have a second thought about it. She was too young to remember her mother so she was told her mom died from disease, instead of a storm. She already had her cutie mark at such a young age; it was a cloud with the morning sun shining behind it, Harmony smiled at her sister as she sat down at the table and ate her breakfast.
"Harmony, your brother," her father said as he continued to pick up around the house a little bit. Harmony trotted over to her brother who was staring outside with a glum look. Folio was a dark green unicorn that was also faded. He had spiky light green hair with white highlights. And his eyes were dark blue.
"She was there-and then she was gone. She stole my heart with her claws and I turn deeply cold. Nothing will ever bring back to happiness as she continues to steal hearts," Folio kept repeating. Harmony knelt by him.
"Folio, Folio look at me," she commanded softly. He sadly looked at his sister. "Did you and Jasmine Tea break up?" He nodded sadly.
"She found someone else," he said, his lip trembling. Harmony stood up and hugged him.
"It will be alright, You'll find someone better than that wench. You're going to be fine. And guess what?" Harmony asked as she broke from the hug.
"What?" Folio responded still frowning.
"When you get to the top with the books you write, you won't have to give anything to her," Harmony told him. He gave her weak smile. Folio was a writer and a book keeper. His cutie mark was even a book being written with a quill.Harmony hugged him again and smiled. "Why don't you go eat something?" Folio nodded and went to the table to eat. Chancellor got up from his seat and went over to Harmony. Chancellor was a light greenish-yellow faded unicorn with just plain dark blue hair and dark orange/brown eyes. He wore his black fancy suite and glasses.
"Thank you," he said as he hugged her again. Harmony smiled and sat down at the table, hoping to have a nice morning without worrying about her problems. She seemed very functional and that was the image she wanted her family to see. "Harmony." Harmony looked up from her breakfast.
"Yes father?"
"Three weekends from now, you will be meeting your betrothed," Chancellor told her. Well there goes Harmony's plan to not worry today. She frowned. Her father scowled at her. "Darling, I understand why you are frowning, but we need this to work out."
"I'm disappointed in you father for using your children to make business deals," Harmony told him.
"Yes, but without this deal, we might loose everything," Chancellor said. Everything went quiet as Folio and Morning Light stopped talking to look at us. Tension formed, but nothing broke out when Harmony got up from her chair and placed her plates in the sink.
"I'm going to take Morning to school and look around for materials," Harmony said quietly, trying not to start an explosion with her father. They had fought many times before, but it was never in front of Morning Light. She knew talking with her father was like a minefield, ever since her mother died. Morning Light grabbed her books and followed Harmony out the door of their home and into the streets of what would later become Canterlot. They trotted down the busy streets, playfully chasing each other. They slowed down a bit to catch their breath and so they wouldn't reach the school breathless.
"Why don't you have a cutie mark Harmony?"
Harmony looked at her sister. "I just haven't found anything I'm good at yet."
"But you're such a great sister!" Harmony smiled and they kept walking. After a few minutes Morning Light looked up at her sister again, "Why don't you fly?"
"I told you..." she said softly.
"I know, but why won't you ever answer?" she asked again.
"Morning Light," Harmony said growling. Morning Light stopped and continued to walk in silence. Eventually they were at the school at the edge of the city. Many young ponies ran inside and were playing before morning classes started. They said their goodbyes and Morning Light ran into the school. Harmony turned around and began to walk back so she could gather some supplies. Many ponies were there, lively trading and selling goods. Talking and meeting they were all doing as they went on with their busy days. She walked all around the market looking at all of the goods that were there. Harmony felt like she was being followed at one point.
She definitely knew after her fifth stop at a merchant. She could see at the edge of her eyes a stallion with a grey coat and white hair following her. She made a quick twirl and looked pass him to get a better look. He had dark blue highlights and green eyes. He wore a cape with stars on it and he was in fact a unicorn. As soon as he was out of her sight she bumped into someone. She fell and her plan to be unnoticed was terminated. The mare she bumped into scowled and helped Harmony up. "Watch where you are going," she said with a glare.
"Sorry, I just thought I heard a bee," Harmony lied. The mare's eyes widened.
"A bee! Where? Where is it? I'm allergic to bees!" she asked very loudly. Everyone started to look over at them.
"No, there isn't a bee, it was just a fly," Harmony told her calmly. The mare stopped hyperventilating.
"I apologize for my actions, I was just afraid there was a bee," she told her. Harmony smiled and they parted ways through the market. Now that Harmony knew someone was following her, she went to get help. She slowly trotted down the streets to the home of her earth pony acquaintance Red Hoofed. Red Hoofed was known for her ability to get away with anything making her name redundant (Red Hoofed as in Red Handed as in caught red handed.) Harmony knew her because she indeed was caught red hoofed when she tried to steal Harmony's diamond necklace. Harmony was interested in her line of work so she met with her every now and then learning about her trade. She didn't want to be apart of organized crime, but she was intrigued on how a female pony was able to live so independent in these times. Red Hoofed was surely able to know how to get him off of her trail. Harmony knocked on the door. It creaked open and Harmony uneasily went inside. No one was there and the whole space was vacant.
"Red Hoofed?" Harmony called but there was no reply. Harmony went over to the table and read the note on it.
Dear Harmony,
You are the only one who cares about me in this city, which will make this painful when I leave. I fear the police may know where the thief empress, as in me, is. So I must relocate, but I will always be somewhere in the shadows taking things for myself. I hope you find yourself and forget me. I will make sure that none of my employees or anyone in this business will steal from your family. That is all I will be able to do for you, but I hope to find you some day in the future when it is safe to meet again.
-Red
P.S. If you don't want a visit from the cops, I'd suggest burning this letter.
Harmony sighed and crinkled up the letter and went over to the stove. She turned it on and watched the letter burn. She looked around and wondered if she was going to be able to see the mysterious stallion from the house. With no luck as usual, Harmony turned off the stove and walked out of the house. Suddenly when she saw the pony, she got an idea. "The forest!" she whispered to herself as she galloped to the forest as fast as possible, She could tell the stallion wasn't far behind and continued to run. She began to cover up herself as much as possible with her dark red, almost brown, cape over her white fur. she hid behind a tree when she was far enough for him not to see. He ran past the tree and stopped in the clearing. He looked around for her. He was breathing heavily and began to look up and turn to search for the mare.
"How did I loose her?" he asked angrily as he punched a tree with his hoof. He winced before looking around again. While he wasn't looking, Harmony took a chance.
She leaped towards the stallion.