Harmony
“Void!” I shouted, stumbling backwards.
“Yes, now, I would ask why you were here if it wasn’t so painfully obvious.” Void replied sadistically.
“I told you that I would kill you.” I glared at him. “Twi, I want you and the others to go on ahead, I’ll at least hold him off.” I whispered, turning my head to Twilight.
Twilight nodded back, pulling Blade and the fillies away.
“No! I don’t want to leave you!” Star cried out.
“Too bad, I can’t let you get hurt.” I said, holding back a tear.
“How sweet, but futile. After I kill you, that filly that you are so anxious to protect is next.” Void laughed.
I charge at him, thoughtlessly, in a blind rage. You don’t EVER threaten her! It took all of my willpower not to scream a curse at him. As I drew closer, I spun around to buck him in the face, but he threw me away. I slammed into the wall behind me as the others left the room. After a second to recover, I climbed back to my hooves.
“You really do think that you can beat me?” Void said, in a surprised tone. “I thought that you were just trying to inspire hope in your doomed friends before I killed them.”
“I don’t think that you can die, but I know that you can be stopped. After all, how long did it take for you to make it back to Equestria after the Universe banished you from her domain?” I said weakly.
“It took millions of years. How do you know about that though?” Void asked in the tensest tone I’d heard him in yet.
“An old story. It says that she stopped you and your jealous temper tantrum.” I smirked.
“I am not very appreciative of your attitude.” Void replied.
“But judging by your reaction, it’s true. Isn’t that the way that it happened?”
“Close, but not exactly. I was unable to speak, but she was fully capable of communication. She got angry with me for ignoring her, and she took my own energy to make everything around you. One time, one time only, I resisted. Do you want to know what she did to me for that? She ripped me into pieces and scattered me across all of space! Oh, but not before I took a hold of her, she suffered the same fate, but unlike me, she couldn’t piece herself back together. She was too weak, her emotions made her weak, her love and compassion. It was my hate that allowed me to recreate myself, but I still wasn’t at full strength, so I waited.
“You foalish ponies were a great source of entertainment for me in my wait. I quite enjoyed watching Discord’s rule all those years ago, and then those alicorns turned him to stone. His influence still had a grip on the world, turning wreaking his evil across the world. And then he returned, and the foalish friend of yours stopped him, and later, she reformed him. He was my prize pupil of chaos, well, now I have come back to entertain myself, and the Universe isn’t here anymore.”
I stood silently, hoping that the story would continue; anything to delay his pursuit of the others. “So you’re antagonizing the Universe for abandoning you? Why were you so upset at it?”
“She betrayed me. I listened to her every day, her company was enough to make me content for an eternity, but clearly the feeling was not mutual. Take the changelings in their previous state for example; those who retained their morality only needed the company of a pony, just as I only needed her company. But with the like me, the changelings were met with only spite. The ponies are foalish in their inability to understand what looks different, just as the Universe was for hating what couldn’t speak.”
“Even in all of your hate, you still corrected me when I called her it, why?” I said, feeling that there might actually be some hope of reasoning with him.
“I- I…” he paused. “I’m through wasting time with you!”
With that, he shot out a black bolt of lightning, which I managed to narrowly dodge. It grazed my leg at the last second as he changed its trajectory. I spread my wings because even with such a small burn, I was completely unable to use that leg. Magic, I don’t like dark magic, it’s weird, and it doesn’t work like the normal stuff. One small injury in a completely non-vital area could result in instant death; luckily, he was only toying with me. I could survive a few more hits. But not too many, I still didn’t want to get hit.
I floated weakly in the air, my altitude constantly changing. The pain was too much of a distraction; I couldn’t focus enough to keep myself even. Void spread his long, black wings.
“Cower before me.” he said in a ghastly voice.
“How about, no.” I said back, not taking my eyes off of his.
If I could just predict where his next attack would come from, then I could avoid it. The problem was that I couldn’t read him, he was completely unpredictable.
“Alright, time’s up!” shouted a voice from behind me.
I spun around to see six mares; two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies. All but one of them had on a golden necklace, the unicorn who stood in the front most position wore a golden tiara. Each of their pieces of jewelry began to glow and a rainbow formed, connecting them together, and then linking to Twilight’s tiara. The rainbow was then redirected and shot straight out for Void. He quickly became ensnared by the rainbow, which proceeded to close in on him. Then, it faded away.
“That tickled.” came his dark voice. “Now, I will finish it.”
“Oh Celestia.” I said quietly under my breath.
“Run!” Blade shouted, putting up a shield of light between us and Void.
We did as Blade said and turned tail. We moved as quickly as our hooves or wings could take us. Soon we were clear of the Town Hall and were beginning the trip back to the changelings’ library. Twilight was making quick trips popping back and forth in a matter of seconds. I refused to go until I was sure that Blade was okay, and once he joined us, Twilight took him there and finally me.
We reappeared in a dark room; no changelings were there other than Blade who was still in his pegasus form. Twilight and I quickly began to brainstorm on ways to explain the situation with the changelings to the others.
“Alright, um, I’m going to explain to you where we are.” I took a breath, “Don’t freak out.” I place a pause between each word.
“Why, is there a reason to freak out?” Pinkie asked, in her usual cheerful tone.
“Alright, we are in a library. This library is…” I tried to think of how to say it.
“We’re working with the changelings.” Twilight said bluntly.
“What?” Rainbow cried out.
“Why the hay are we working with them?” Applejack asked in a slightly less of a scream.
“Because without them we can’t win. Chrysalis has been a big help since we brought her back.” I explained.
“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie said happily.
“Didn’t they try to ruin your brother’s wedding and take over Equestria?” Rarity asked, trying to get us to change our minds.
“Yeah, but they weren’t themselves. If you go out now, you’ll see what they really are.” Twilight answered, showing that she had accepted the changelings for who they were.
“I might even be kind enough to give you a tour of the facilities if Stroke can handle the management. He’s been after my job for a while now anyway.” Blade chuckled.
“I’d take him up on that offer. Plus, maybe this will convince you, Chrysalis risked her own life to save Star.” I said smiling down at the filly.
“That sounds nice. I think that we should give them a chance.” Fluttershy said quietly.
“What do you say Scootaloo, now that you’re here with us?” I asked, turning to the pegasus filly.
“If they saved Star then they can’t be bad. Bad ponies don’t save anypony; they only look out for themselves.” Scootaloo said.
“Alright, Blade would you mind giving them that tour?” I asked, leading the group out of the dark room and into the library’s main room.
“Sure.” he nodded back.
We walked out, moving toward Chrysalis as she was overseeing the progress made by the troops. Stroke was standing next to her, checking something off of a sheet of paper. Chrysalis looked up at us and gave Stroke a nudge, shifting his attention to us as well.
“We have returned your highness. I bring bad news; the Elements of Harmony have failed to even faze the Void.” Blade greeted, bringing up the bad news first. “However, as you can clearly see, we were able to save the ponies who can wield them.”
“One of the two goals met, that’s acceptable. Now, as for our part, during your absence, two more stones have been recovered and six more teams have been sent out.” Chrysalis explained, not shifting in tone or gaze.
“You look different.” Rainbow said bluntly.
“That is because this is our true form.” Chrysalis began. She explained to them what she had to me earlier that day. The story about what Discord did to them and how they were really meant to be. The way that they used to live and the way that they used to love.
“Well, the tour will be commencing shortly. I advise that if anypony wants popcorn, then they should get it now.” Blade said, showing that he had a sense of humor.
“Popcorn!” Pinkie exclaimed, jumping into the air.
“I was just trying to sound like a formal host, there is no popcorn.” Blade said sternly.
Pinkie let out a sigh, but immediately perked back up. “Oh well, maybe later then.”
With that, Blade led them out into the distance. They walked away and I could faintly hear Blade telling them what the changelings were doing in that area.
“We have made some notable progress in your absence.” Stroke said, drawing my attention back. “It seems that there are seven Universe Stones here. We have three, but one of the remaining ones was lost in time and myth. We have yet to locate it; some myths claim its last use was by the sun princess.”
“Princess Celestia used it? Maybe she still has it then.” Twilight suggested.
“Doubtful, it says that Starswirl the Bearded kept the broken fragments after it shattered.” Stroke explained.
“Well then they shards might be in the museum about him.” Twilight blurted.
“I have a list of all artifacts in the museum; it doesn’t say anything about the fragments.” Stroke said, smacking down her suggestion once again.
“Well, maybe six will be enough to pull it off.” I said, trying to keep everything in a positive mood.
“We’ll have to settle for it if we can’t find it by the week’s end.” Chrysalis joined in the conversation.
“Why then?” Star asked before I had a chance to.
“That is when he will wipe out the last of the stars, taking away the stones power.” Chrysalis said grimly.
“What?” I shouted. “They’ll lose their power if there aren’t any stars?!”
“Yes, the stars are a symbol of the Universe’s power, when they are gone, we will have nothing.” Chrysalis continued.
I looked over to Twilight who was frozen in shock. Star had moved closer to me, curling up against my leg, shaking violently. I took a deep breath; I had to stay strong for both of them.
“Sir, we’ve gotten the fourth stone!” shouted a changeling as he flew in.
“Corporal, what happened to the rest of your squad?” Stroke asked seeing that the new changeling was alone.
The changeling didn’t answer; instead he simply set the stone down at Chrysalis’s hooves.
“I see, take some time off.” Stroke’s tone shifted from uncertainty to remorse.
“With all due respect sir, no. I won’t let them have fallen in vain, I…”
“Listen, you can help when we make our assault.” I said, walking over to the changeling soldier. “Your friends wouldn’t want you to you to do something risky this quickly. Think about it, what they sacrificed to get you here, live for them. See to it that you get to the final battle; that you fight for them there.”
“Alright.” the changeling replied as he turned and walked away.
“How’d you know what to say?” Stroke asked as I returned to Twilight and Star.
“I have some experience. I’m high ranking in the royal guard for the princesses. I was on vacation when this started, but I’ve learned my lesson for this week. Never, ever, take a vacation; things always go to Tartarus when I’m gone.” I laughed lightly.
“Looks like you’re right pony. Things have gone bad pretty quickly; taking a vacation now probably wasn’t the best idea.” Stroke said back, trying to laugh.
“And that concludes the tour of the circular library.” Blade said emotionlessly, leading the ponies back to us from the opposite direction that he had left to.
“What’s wrong with Twi?” Rainbow asked flying to her side. Twi was still frozen in place.
“We got some bad news. If we can’t beat the Void by the end of the week, then we can never stop him.” I said weakly, hating the fact that I had to hear myself say that there would be a time when there was no hope.
“What, but that means we only have one day!” Rainbow shouted out, stumbling backward in shock.
“It’s alright sugarcube, we’ll do it.” Applejack said confidently.
“Yeah, and when we do, we can have a party!” Pinkie shouted.
“Hopefully the whole thing will have blown over by the Gala in two weeks.” Rarity said. She had clearly already made plans for that night.
“I dislike having to interrupt your inspiring conversation, but I have need for your assistance.” Chrysalis said, drawing all of our attention back to her. “There is one stone that we will not be able to retrieve without your help, the city that holds it is protected from everything except ponies. The Void is currently waiting them out, letting them think that he can’t get in, but we actually can’t and that is where the last stone that we know about is. The other one has been retrieved and is on its way back here now.”
“Where is the one that you want us to get?” I asked.
“The Chrystal Kingdom. If anypony can put up a spell to ward us off, it is Princess Cadence. Even without her husband, she has at least put a halt on the Void’s plans.” Chrysalis answered. “And Twilight, I have an elite squad that will be retrieving your brother and bringing him back to the kingdom, they should arrive at the same time as you.”
“Star, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should come. It’s too cold outside of the kingdom for you. I don’t want you to get sick.” I said turning to the small filly who was clinging to my leg.
“Don’t worry Sky Flare; she will be under watchful eyes.” Blade smiled at me, nodding slightly.
“The same goes for you champ.” Rainbow said as she walked over to Scootaloo.
“Sky, I’m not letting you go without me.” Star sniffled.
“Do you really want me to have to worry about your safety the whole time? I would love it if you could come with, but it’s just too dangerous.” I said, putting on a fake smile.
“Fine.” Star huffed.
“Call in the teleportation team.” Blade commanded Stroke.
“Yes sir.” Stroke replied sending a beam of light into the air that curved off to the side.
Six changelings flew over to us and grouped around us. “Are you ready?” asked the one who seemed to be their leader.
“Yes.” Twilight said lifting her head.
A bright light surrounded us all and the next thing that I felt was snow halfway up my legs. We were standing in a desolate wasteland of snow. The sky had only half as many stars as it should have, we were running out of time.
“Come on; this way girls.” Twilight said, taking charge again.
We slowly trekked through the snow, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I flew above the snow, and Twilight had cast a spell to let the others walk on it without sinking. The cloudless sky did two things for us, it gave us clear view of the dying sky and it meant that it wasn’t going to snow on us. The trip was uneventful, the first thing that had been in days, to put it simply, that was a welcomed change.
“Twilie!” shouted a stallion’s voice as the Chrystal Kingdom came into view.
“Shining Armor!” Twilight shouted happily, galloping ahead of us to greet her brother.
“It’s so good to know that you’re alright, Twilie. I was worried.” Shining sighed.
“They got you here in time, that’s good.” Twilight said, wiping a tear away from her eye.
“I don’t know who they were; they just dropped me off here and told me to wait for you. They healed me and saved me from the caverns below Canterlot.” Shining explained.
“No offence Captain, but could we move the family reunion inside the barrier? It’s kinda cold out here, and as fun as hypothermia sounds, no.” I laughed.
“Sky Flare, what are you doing here?” Shining asked upon seeing me.
“I’ll only tell you if we go inside. Hypothermia is not very fun.” I replied, flying past them and entering the kingdom.
“Tell me.” Shining asked as he passed through his wife’s shield.
“Well, Captain Prince Shining Armor, I got caught up in the middle of this. I’m going to help stop the Void, but we don’t have time to waste.” I explained, bathing in the warmth of the artificial light that was a byproduct of the shield.
“You’re going to need help.” Shining Armor said firmly.
“First off, would you prefer Captain Prince or Prince Captain; I’m a bigger fan of the first one. Secondly, we have an army at our disposal already, you worry about protecting yourself.” I said, jokingly for the first part, but adamantly for the second.
“What army?”
“The changelings.” Twilight answered.
“You can’t trust them! All they do is lie, they’re just using you!” Shining Armor shouted back.
“You took that better than I expected.” I muttered under my breath.
“We need to find a stone, it looks like this.” Twilight ignored her brother’s tantrum and pulled out a paper that had an illustration of a Universe Stone on it.
“How can you trust the changelings?” Shining asked, his fit, starting to die down.
“Because we know the truth about them, what not even Princess Celestia knows. I would trust one of them with my life from what I know about him. Also, you should be grateful to them; after all, they broke you out of Canterlot and bought you here.” I explained.
“I still don’t trust them, they’re up to something.” Shining muttered. “I have seen that rock before, there is a spell protecting it inside of the castle. Neither Cadence nor I have been able to get into it.”
“Leave it to me, BBBFF.” Twilight smirked.
Shining Armor led us into the castle and, after getting Princess Cadence, we went to a room in the back of the castle. Shining stopped us a few feet in front of the enchanted glass case that held the Universe Stone.
“Some of the crystal ponies say that this rock was used by King Sombra to terrorize them. It’s supposed to be full of dark magic, are you sure that you want to bring something this powerful to Chrysalis?”
“Just trust me, alright?” Twilight attempted to calm her brother’s fears.
“It’s either this or we let the whole world get destroyed by the Void, ‘cuz I doubt that he cares about keeping us alive.” Rainbow said bluntly.
A dark energy started flowing from Twilight. Her horn and eyes emanated with a dark aura. She sent out a blast of that dark magic to the case of the stone. The case began to crack until the fractures caused it to shatter.
“Got it.” Twilight pulled the stone toward us in her magic.
“Good, we need to get back; we only have the rest of the day to beat the Void.” I yawned, the exhaustion starting to kick in.
“What do you mean you only have the rest of the day? What’s going to happen?” Cadence asked, finally speaking.
“We only got until the last star goes out, after that, nothin’ can stop him.” Applejack explained grimly.
“We’ll do it, so don’t worry. If- if that’s alright with you, not worrying I mean.” Fluttershy added.
“Worry, of course I’m worried, not only are my sister and her friends fighting something that beat both Celestia and Luna, but they’re working with changelings.” Shining complained.
“Relax Captain.” I said firmly, trying again to ward off the need for sleep.
“We’ll be back as soon as possible. Once we beat him, you’ll see that you were worrying for nothing.” Twilight said confidently, not seeming to suffer the lack of sleep that was affecting the rest of us, except for Pinkie.
“I hope that you’re right.” Shining said quietly as Twilight left the room.
Twilight did her thing, teleporting back and forth to get all of us where we needed to be. I was first, then Rainbow; this was probably because of the fillies. When I reappeared in the library, Star galloped over to me.
“Sky!” Star shouted happily.
“Hey there. I hope that you were being good for Blade.” I said smiling down at her, pretending to be wide awake.
“You need to sleep.” Star said looking into my eyes.
“No I don’t, I’m fine.” I replied, trying not to let on that she was right.
“You’re really bad at faking stuff like this.” Star said nuzzling up to me.
“She’s right, but I figure that you plan to catch up on the lost sleep after we take out the Void, right?” Blade said as he approached us. “Luckily for you, we just got the last known stone and are calling all squads back.”
“Good,” I yawned again, knowing that hiding it was pointless, “I don’t know how much longer I can take this, not sleeping.”