//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - The Flame // Story: The Code of Harmony // by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch //------------------------------// Screwball really wasn't in a position to be capable of rational thought right there and then. In fact, 'rational' was probably a dirty word to her right now, given that she was channeling enough chaos to turn an Apple into an Orange. The earth pony family, not the fruit she felt compelled to think by some arbitrary rule of the universe. That being said, she was not a mean-spirited sort of pony. Not like some of those other ponies Daddy used to further his games, who were really not that nice at all and probably needed to be punished in some way or another. But none of that was really all that important to Screwball. In fact, very little was important to her beyond keeping her head from turning into a grapefruit, which would probably have made the magic stop - but she would also now be a grapefruit, and thus dead. Dead wasn't fun - or at least, she was pretty sure it wouldn't be fun. She wasn't willing to take the risk to find out, so no grapefruit head. Which was sad, because that would probably look really funny, and Screwball hated seeing a good chance for comedy pass her by. Sadly, it didn't look like she was going to be able to hold on for very much longer. It was getting awfully hard to breathe inside of this bubble shield quite fast, given how much she was screaming. She would stop, but her head did hurt ever so much and when you hurt, you screamed. That probably meant that she was going to cause a very big boom, very soon, which would mean an end to the fun. That too was sad, but she couldn't really do much about it. That being thought, Screwball did wonder, in those last few burning moments, where she'd wake up this time. She hoped it wasn't a hospital again. Those were never fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later, when the excitement had finally come to an end, accounts would differ on exactly what happened in Ponyville at that precise moment. Much of the town never noticed the goings on until things got completely out of hoof - they were either busy working, eating lunch, or simply were nowhere near the town center when what would come to be known as 'The Incident' started. Those ponies who were present were either incapable of giving a rational report on the subject, or were unreliable narrators. Even despite these problems, there were still far too many individual accounts to paint a truly accurate picture. All those involved however, agreed that 'The Incident' was precipitated by a panicking earth pony, who was possibly under the influence of Chaos magic. What precisely happened to that earth pony, no one was prepared to speculate - though it was generally agreed that she had already been given to panicking over the least little thing. The true meat of what happened, however, did not occur until after the riot which her panicking had caused had reached its peak of violence. It would be a small thing compared to what happened next, even though nopony would ever agree on exactly what did happen. Such is the nature of truly momentous events - they have a way of taking on a life of their own, changing and changing again with every retelling of the tale, until the story bears almost no resemblance to the actual event. That wasn't important though - what was about to happen here had less to do with historical accuracy... And far more to do with the birth of a new Legend in Equestrian History ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cheerilee did not know what was happening to Tia, but the poor unicorn was so patently terrified that Cheerilee could not leave her. It didn't matter that she was giving off waves of power that even Cheerilee could feel as they rushed past her body, and it didn't matter that her eyes had gone a pure glowing white. What mattered was Tia needed her, and Cheerilee wasn't going to let her go. The chaos of the brawl in front of her was bad enough, but clearly something was happening to Tia's magic that was far more serious. So serious that Tia felt so incredibly light, as though she hardly weighed anything at all and might float away at any moment! Thankfully, Cheerilee was a stout earth pony - perhaps not as stout as, say, Applejack. But she was still an earth pony, and as such she was not about to let Tia float away. By Harmony, that is a ridiculous thought. She mused idly, wondering if perhaps all this excitement was finally starting to get to her. When she'd seen what was happening with Dinky and the changeling larvae, Cheerilee hadn't quite known what to do. There had been no sign of the young ones guardians or parents, and no sign of any town guardsponies. So she'd done the only thing that made sense - gone to get ponies she could trust before Ditzy got herself badly hurt again. Now she was facing an even more insane problem - what on earth should she do about poor Tia? Cheerilee was no unicorn, she didn't know a thing about magic, and it was beginning to look like Tia had completely lost the ability to so much as speak. So all she could do was hang on and try not to think too hard about her close friends involved out there in the wrack. Cheerilee squeezed her eyes shut tightly as her hooves tried to keep Tia comforted as best as she could... and she began to pray. Glorious Harmony, please... I'm begging of you, this poor child doesn't deserve any more pain. Please, help us. Help her... Cheerilee silently begged, wondering if she was going to start crying.... Then... then a soft calm settled over her. It was like nothing Cheerilee had ever experienced before in her life, like being wrapped in the soft wings of a pegasus so large she could scarce believe such wings existed. The world seemed to slow around her, as a pure white dome of energy began to spread out from Tia's horn. It felt like a wave of heat passing over her, like... like... like stepping out into the sunshine after a gloomy day. Like the entire world is reborn in a single moment... She thought, awe slowly overtaking her... when she realized in that moment, the wings were not just a feeling. They were real. For the briefest of moments, Cheerilee could see white wings spread out from Tia's back, as broad and powerful as any pegasi could dare to dream of - and then they were gone, transmuted into the purest of white energy. Cheerilee's heart soared as the dome began to expand at an incredibly rapid pace - slamming into and through the riot of angry ponies and sending them crashing into the ground unconscious, but leaving her friends and the caped mare untouched. Tia's mouth opened and she spoke in the gentlest of tones - words filled with infinite determination... and infinite sadness. "I will.. protect... my friends..." she said and her eyes flared a brighter white. The mare in the cape and hat stood stock still, staring in awe as the shield enveloped all of them in a tightly woven dome of white strands that shimmered and pulsed to some kind of slow beat. "By the skies..." Cloud chaser whispered softly into the all permeating, all-consuming silence they found themselves wrapped in. Ditzy hovered in the air, her hoof lifting up to touch the white pulsing shield gently as if she could not entirely believe it was there. Bon Bon swallowed audibly, and Vinyl bobbed her head slowly to the same beat at the shield above them... and she grinned. "Yeah... Can't you ponies hear that?" Lyra had turned her head to stare at Vinyl - and slowly, everypony else did too, even as Vinyl's grin widened. "Yeah... That's the beat, right there. Ain't nothin' like it, baby." She said in a happy sort of voice, her head still bobbing in time to it. For a few long moments, they simply stood together as the slow pulse continued to some unheard music. Cheerilee noted that Tia was becoming heavier... and then the light winked out of her eyes, returning them to their bright and vivid violet color. Tia gasped out painfully and fully collapsed into Cheerilee's careful hooves, looking like just a normal every day pony now as the shield dome all around them slowly faded away.... To reveal a scene of devastation all around them that had fully wrecked the town square interior and what was left of Ponyville town hall. Somehow though, there was no damage to the buildings directly surrounding the hall - nor apparently were any of the ponies now staring at their little group in awe in any sort of distress or pain. Cheerilee's eyes quickly scanned towards where the madpony had stood... trying to peer through the thick dust where a single figure stood over a totally collapsed form. A figure whose cape billowed in the breeze that rushed through the square, tattered and shaken....but unbowed. ~~~~~~Several moments earlier~~~~~~ Trixie snarled in frustration as another wave of chaos energy battered up against her shields and drove her back yet another step. This is getting ridiculous! Any other unicorn would have completely burned out by now! Maybe it wasn't magic she was channeling then, but some other kind of force Trixie was only just beginning to understand. It was rapidly becoming clear that she was very much out of her depth here but... No other choice, I've got to either contain this or... or something! Options were limited, though. Trixie certainly couldn't transmute it, she wasn't that kind of unicorn. She wasn't going to be able to contain it for very much longer, that was pretty obvious just from the strain on the bubble shield - she didn't want to think what her invocations of Harmony were doing. That left her with only a few choices... none of them ideal. Protect as many as you can. Deal with the fallout later. Was her next immediate thoughts. There was no way to help the group trapped in the mob of insane ponies...hopefully, they'd see Trixie's shield go up and protect themselves. It looked from this angle like they were already doing just that, so there was little else Trixie could do but... get to it. Okay, This is... going to hurt. Trixie thought dubiously, then hardened her willpower - planting each hoof as strongly as she could, she formed the image in her mind. Explosive force dissipates the farther away it gets from the detonation point, so... all I really need to do is keep the chaos from getting out of the square. Simple enough. Just build a really... big containment shield. Yep. Simple. Nothing complicated about that at all for a unicorn who specialized in illusions. Oh, stop whining Trixie, and just do it! she admonished herself mentally, and then called as much harmony power as she could. Now I'm starting to realize why Luna wanted me to do all those damn strength exercises! She began to spin out the power as she'd been taught, thread by sinuous thread of power. It was rather like building something - you laid the foundation where you stood, to give the power somewhere to hold. Then you built the frame of what you sought to create... then, you gave it power so that the frame would fill in with power. A simple enough process for most things that didn't involve simply blasting away with the stuff... but Trixie had never built something quite this huge before. Even keeping the top of the dome shield just above the height of the town hall, it was still a dozen times larger than any shield she'd built. Sure enough, she was straining to draw every last shred of the power she could. It was enough... if only barely. Holding it was another matter entirely. Trixie could feel the burning energy coursing through her veins and limbs - completely unlike overcharging your magic, drawing upon Harmony (and Trixie supposed, Dissonance) was a lot like using your whole body as a horn. It could take a lot more abuse, sure, and if you were careful it was a lot easier to build up strength... but the consequences when you did something monumentally stupid like try to build a shield the size of an entire town square were much higher. Of course, Trixie wasn't leaving herself entirely unprotected... she was just going to use her own magic for that. Gotta work fast... The pressure on the other shield was just about unbearable at this point. There was no time for finesse or expertise - all she could do here was throw up the most potent barrier she had energy left for just before the whole thing went kaboom and hope to Harmony it would be enough. Trixie grit her teeth and waited... the shield of energy surrounding the mad unicorn cracked and crazed with a network of glowing energy lines... Trixie's threw her hooves up over her face and braced for the impact as the shell exploded in a torrent of light and sound and colors.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ For a few long moments, the mare in the cape and hat could only stare at Trixie's battered form. Shock, that was what it was that held her paralyzed. Shock, awe... and pride. A pride that was fit to burst clear out of her chest and soar into the skies like a phoenix on the wing. Then concern took over from shock and she ran like she had never run before, her horn blazing with bright pink magic to provide Trixie with support until the mare in the cape could give it herself. She no longer cared about secrecy... The mare in the cape pushed under Trixie's forehoof and held her up. "I've got you..." she whispered softly. "I've got you.." she repeated, Trixie still in too much of a daze to say much back to her, but obviously still hearing her. All around her shock and screams were beginning to take hold of the crowd of ponies who had gathered around the blazing white shield at the center of town - but the mare in the cape did not care. Her throat shut with a lump and tears came with no rhyme or reason to her eyes. She sunk down to her knees and carefully, oh-so-very carefully wrapped her hooves around the singed form of the other pony in the cape... and the hat. They were so obviously careworn, so obviously much beloved and patched... they had not sat in some musty trunk for years. No, this was the wear and tear of the road on those garments, and the mare wondered how far the little filly had traveled. How long did you try to follow in my hoofsteps, little one? She thought, as the young filly started to stir in her forehooves. Sense returned to her eyes and the world flowed around the pair of them, heedless of what was happening. Trixie swallowed softly, and then whispered in a half hopeful, half disbelieving voice, "Momma?" she queried, almost childlike for a moment... then hurried hooves ran all over her body. "Trixie... Trixie isn't dead. Trixie hurts too much to be dead so...." Trixie slapped herself once, then pinched her flank, then stared at the mare for a few more moments. "Trixie isn't hallucinating so... so..." Her voice, as strong as the mare could hope for trailed off into whispers... "Please be real... please..." she begged, tears rolling down from her eyes and spattering upon the dirt below. The mare... no. Phantasma Lulamoon nodded a little, as gentle tears of her own fell, holding tight her daughter for the first time in such a long time. "Of course I am..." She said softly, embracing the young filly tightly against her - two capes pressed against one another, two hats brushing up and falling away. "I told you... that I would see you again. And you are even more beautiful than I had ever possibly imagined..." was all she could choke out, and the pair simply held one another as two flames ignited in the world around them. They would be flames of hatred and anger, but also of compassion and hope. They were the flames of a new world igniting into being, reborn from the ashes of the old. Anypony with a mind could tell you many were going to be consumed by those flames... but for the mother and the daughter, none of it mattered. One had found the other once again, and they had a flame of their own to rekindle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Even now, Vinyl could hear it pulsing gently in her ears, as if she'd just turned up the volume on an amplifier the size of a world. She'd been mixing music her whole life practically, ever since she'd run away from the Orchestra all those years ago and she'd always had a knack for feeling the beat. This beat? There was somethin about this beat that just put Vinyl's head to bobbing, a slight grin stuck permanently on her face. Oh sure, things were gettin' a little cray cray right now, but damn that beat was sick as fuck. She'd have to do a little somethin somethin with that beat later, mebbe with Tavi. Right now, she knew this kind of situation better than anypony. Crowd was pissed, the stage was about ten seconds away from gettin rushed. Luckily - it looked like security was getting ready to wade in, so all Vinyl had to do was keep things from going completely bananas. "Cheery, Bons, you two get the kids outta here. They don't need t' see any of this..." She said firmly, trotting forward to get ready for the inevitable crowd control. "That won’t be unnecesssssssary." Trilled a chitinous black form that landed with a quiet buzz of its changeling wings. "We would... like to thank you all for the defensssse of our little onesss... It wassss most brave." He bared his fangs in what had to be his idea of a friendly grin, as all the little changeling foals swarmed up to him happily. "We shall ensure their safety..." And when he said 'We' - almost a dozen more of the sleek and smart looking changelings landed around the little group of kids. And then... Vinyl watched little Dinky Hooves hold up her hoof and smile happily at one of the little changelings. "I'll see you in school, kay?" She brightly chirruped... and for a moment, the little changeling looked confused. Vinyl wiggled her hoof at her from behind Dinky's head and tapped her hooves together firmly, winking. The little changeling filly.. filly? Looked kinda like a she, so that's what Vinyl would go with. The little filly gave Dinky a hoofbump, and then scampered off into her swarm again. "Vinyl!" Came a cry, and the DJ whipped her head around to focus on the bigger problems... Ponyville was lightin' it up. Aw buck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the crowds that had gathered around the massive glowing shield, nervousness was the primary emotion... followed more immediately by resigned frustration. Any major damage in the town square was going to set back countless construction schedules. Fortunately, most of the working ponies were pretty phlegmatic about that sort of thing. There was a bigger thing to consider though - everypony outside the shield had heard some kind of riot was going on over the changelings moving into town. With nothing else to discuss, and no idea what was going on in the town square, the idea that somehow the changelings had already caused a problem became the prime subject to talk about while everypony waited for things to calm down. Unfortunately, it became very clear, very quickly that the town was rather sharply divided on the subject. About half the ponies (most of those who provided the town with non-farm related services) were calling for patience and understanding - obviously, somepony had gotten the wrong idea and panicked. It happened, and there was no need to get into a tizzy about it. Unfortunately, the other half of the town was quite bitterly convinced that this was but proof of what some of the more alarmist citizens of Ponyville had been saying all day. Disagreement became argument, argument became bitter division - soon, there were grumblings and glares between the two factions... and when the shield finally came down, all of those feelings began to come to a head. The crowd ignored the sight of the two mares fiercely embracing one another on the ground - well, most of them did. Some offered help or sympathy, but it was refused by the older one. Instead they converged on those figures who had clearly been involved - the unconscious form of Lily Valley, still cradling her head and weeping in silence. The body of Screwball, who lay in a blackened circle of ground, and looked like nothing so much as a burned corpse. The crowd of ponies who lay unconscious on the ground, some of them having been directly assaulted... and the changelings who were landing to take the young ones into their care. The yelling began immediately - those who paid attention to the injured ponies were calling for doctors. Others called for the guards, sure that some kind of crime had ended up committed here. Others still began to crowd around the changelings - some trying to guard them, some trying to scream epithets. Half the town was beginning to crowd into the town square - and everypony had an opinion. Everypony was yelling or trying to over the general din. In the middle of the square, a small knot of ponies had retreated close to one another - all of them standing sentinel over a single silent form that had gone forgotten by nearly everypony but they. She lay in Cheerilee's lap, her mane softly stroked back by a careful hoof while Lyra and Bon Bon applied what first aid they could and all of them waited for the medical help that would inevitably come. Spike held a limp white hoof in his claws and was silent - though nopony could quite figure out why. Cloud Chaser watched on morosely, holding Tia's other limp hoof and Ditzy hugged Dinky close to her. The Baron did or said nothing, simply watching over them all with a brooding sort of silence. Every time somepony tried to get close to involve them in the discussions, debates and angry yelling that was going on all around them, they were buffeted away by a pink and cerulean blue shield projected by two mares wearing matching capes and hats. They stood side by side, their hooves wrapped around each other’s and kept out a determined eye for the doctors. Fortunately, they did not wait long. The entirety of Ponyville's local hospital staff came barreling through to the center of the square, guarded and guided by the town guard. ~~~~~~~~~~~ "What a bucking mess." Valiant Struggle ran his hoof through his thoroughly grayed out mane. "Bugger me, this is gonna be all kinds of a problem." He muttered softly, as the white-coated unicorn who was supposed to be the new town Librarian was getting hauled off on a stretcher, followed by a knot of other local ponies and... "Trixie! Bugger me, of course yer at the center of this horsepucky." He growled out, stalking over from his startled officers in front of her. "Good thing too, reports say you prolly saved half the town. You know anything bout what actually went down here?" Trixie shook her head mutely... and that was when Valiant noticed the taller and more mature mare that was wearing a cape awfully similar to Trixie's. Some kind of mage order? "Neither of us were here when the initial conflict began, Captain Struggle. You're better off talking to those ponies." She nodded towards the ever-distanced Tia and her friends, before continuing to prop up Trixie's shoulder. "If you will excuse me, I'll happily file a report once Trixie has gotten some medical attention." Valiant opened up his mouth then shut it with a snap - somethin about the way that mare had said those words made him think twice about giving her any lip. Buck my life, this shit is bananas. He thought, gently rubbing at his nose. Focus, Strugs. Get this shit under control and then worry about what actually happened. That was easier said than done, but that was the definition of his entire job. Right now, he had to focus on getting the changelings out of the bucking square and break out this incipient riot. "Arright you bucking twits, move along now!" He growled at the gathered ponies - directing his well-trained militia guards to start breaking up the groups and push them out of the town square. "This here is a fucking crime scene! We don't need a buncha slackjaws gadding about like its fucking winter wrap up!" The Captain decided a couple of F-words might shock some of the more prim folk in town into starting the exodus. "Git! Geddoutta here! Move it ya louts!" It took time, it took work - it took a couple of well-placed spear butts to the flanks, but Struggle cleared the square. That meant he could focus on Problem Number One and Problem Number Two. Number one was easier than number two was, anyway. Lily Valley sat huddled up in a blanket provided by one of the medical ponies, and was sitting and sniffling back tears on a randomly acquired bench. Number two.... well. She sure as fuck wasn't going anywhere. "Lily... I ain't a violent pony at heart. I know you've got problems with yer fear and panicking and shit." Valiant Struggle began, slowly easing in front of her. Lily was obviously completely emotionally off her rocker, but Struggle was not feeling terribly sympathetic right now. Not with one corpse on the ground, and Celestia fucking knew how the Librarian was. "But you've put me in one big fucking pickle jar with this one. So, this is what I'm gonna do. I'mma give you ONE chance to tell me yer side of the story before I go ask anypony else any questions. If your story don't match up with what was really goin' on here, if it turns out you started a bucking riot over nothing, I swear to bucking Harmony I'm going to lock your flank up for the next decade for this." Some officer of his brought him a stool, which he sat down on with a thump. "So. Talk." Valiant Struggle said, and wished he'd had more coffee that day.