Chapter 4: Meeting With Harmony
Dawn arrived, bringing with it the Sun and the glorious yellow rays of day. The morning light breached through Dawn Light’s window and into his room, stirring him from his sleep. He awoke with a smile on his face for the first time since returning home. Luna visiting his dreams the night before really helped him get a good night’s rest. He stretched out his limbs with a yawn, climbed out of bed, and made his way to his bathroom to clean himself up. After a quick shower, he put on his royal attire and exited his room to find Silver Spark and Night eye waiting for him. “Good morning your highness.” Silver spark greeted with a straight face.
“Oh, good morning, Silver Spark was it?”
“Yes your majesty.” Silver responded with a nod.
Dawn then turned and looked up at the other unicorn. “And you are Night eye, correct?”
“Yes sire.” He too responded with a nod.
“All right then, let’s go get some breakfast.” Dawn Light was smiling as he walked, feeling much more confident that he truly was back home and with his family.
Meanwhile down in Ponyville, princess Twilight was just finishing up breakfast with her number one assistant and adopted dragon brother Spike. Once they had finished eating. Spike then belched a large swath of green flames, materializing a letter in the air. “Twilight, we got a letter from the princess.” He exclaimed as he waved the scroll in his claws.
“I wonder what she could be writing to me about so early?” Twilight thought out loud as she took hold of the scroll with her magic. “Let’s see……” Twilight went through the letter and finished in a matter of moments. “That’s odd.” She commented with a raised eyebrow.
“What is it Twilight? What did the princess say?” Spike asked, his curiosity peaked.
“It just says she wants me to gather my friends and come to the castle to meet with her. It doesn’t say why.”
“Weird, I wonder what she wants us to come to the castle for.”
“We’ll just have to find out when we get there, let’s start getting ready for the trip.” So Twilight started making plans to come to the castle.
Back in the Canterlot castle, Dawn Light was making his way through the halls to the dining room with a smile and his eyes closed, not really paying attention to where he was going. Without warning, he bumped into some pony. He stumbled back and fell on his haunches. His crown fell over his eyes. “Oh sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Dawn Light apologized as he lifted his crown back up onto his head. He looked up and saw a white coated unicorn stallion with a blonde mane and tail and black lapels.
The stallion furrowed his brow in frustration as he dusted virtually nothing from his chest, “Watch where you’re going you little….hold on, who are you, I don’t recall seeing you around the castle, and why are you wearing royal garbs?” The unicorn questioned with a look of disgust.
“Oh, I’m Dawn Light, who are you?” Dawn greeted happily.
The unicorn turned up his nose at Dawn and spoke. “Excuse me, you must be rather dense if you don’t know who I am, I am prince Blue Blood. You had best be careful where you walk you little urchin.”
Dawn furrowed his brow at Blue Blood. “Urchin? I’m not an urchin, and how are you a prince, I don’t recall having a unicorn for a brother.”
“Excuse me, are you trying to imply we are related? Ugh, you must be joking, how could I possibly be related to a simple peasant pony like you, how did you even get in here?”
Dawn just got madder. “I’m no peasant, I’m a prince, and to me you just seem like some snotty stuck up wannabe rich pony.”
The two guards couldn’t help but snicker at the comment. They were all too familiar with Blue Blood’s attitude and found it funny the young prince was insulting him.
Blue Blood then turned his attention to the two guards with a glare. “You two, why aren’t you doing your job, arrest this insolent cur at once!”
“That won’t be necessary.” Celestia’s voice sounded from behind the guards. They stepped aside to let Celestia and Luna by.
Dawn Light turned to them with a smile. “Hello sisters, good morning.”
“Good morning Dawn Light, I trust you slept well?” Luna asked.
Blue Blood took notice of Dawn Light calling the two princesses sisters, and decided he’d interrupt their little exchange. “Sisters, now hold on, who are you to call them sisters?”
Celestia turned her gaze to Blue Blood. “Good morning nephew, I see you’ve met your little uncle.”
Blue Blood’s face became locked in shock. “UNCLE!? You must be joking, this little runt? How is that even possible?”
Dawn Light glared at Blue Blood. “Yeah, if he’s my nephew, how does that even work?” Dawn asked with equal confusion.
Celestia rolled her eyes. She then began to explain to Blue blood about Dawn Light’s origins. Celestia then went into explanation as to how Blue Blood was Dawn Light’s nephew.
Once explanations were out of the way, Blue Blood started up. “You must be joking, you mean to tell me you had a brother this whole time that was sealed away in some dark void and just now returned?”
“Yes, it is.” Luna answered.
“And we expect you to show him the same respect you show us nephew Blue Blood.” Celestia informed.
Dawn Light gave a smirk and stuck out his tongue at Blue Blood.
“But auntie Celestia….” Blue blood whined, “He’s so much younger than me.”
“Now blue Blood, he is our little brother, and that makes him your uncle. Therefore, I expect you to be nice and show him respect, understood.” Celestia practically scolded.
Blue Blood finally gave in. “Yes Auntie.” He said sadly.
“Good, now come along Dawn, let’s go get some breakfast.”
“Ok.” Dawn responded happily. As he walked with his sisters, he looked back at Blue Blood. “See ya around…..nephew.”
That sent a shiver down Blue Blood’s spine. “Humph, little brat” He said quietly to himself.
As the family of three ate with Discord, Dawn was entertained by Discord’s antics at the table and laughed up a storm with what he pulled. “You’re a lot of fun Discord, I’m glad we can be friends” Dawn said with a laugh.
Discord returned a smile. “Me too, it’s so nice to have a friend I can hang around with at the castle.”
Celestia cut in. “Dawn Light, me and Luna have some company coming over today we’d like you to meet.”
Dawn looked up at Celestia. “Really, who?”
Celestia let out a little giggle. “You’ll just have to wait and see, they should be here in a few hours.”
Dawn grew a smile as he guessed. “It’s the element bearers you told me about isn’t it, you invited them over to come here so I could meet them didn’t you?”
“You are smart aren’t you.” Luna commented. “Indeed, we did, but there are two other ponies coming here at the same time to meet you as well.”
Dawn then turned his attention to Luna. “Two others, who?”
“That is a surprise.”
“So what can I do until they get here?”
Celestia answered. “Why don’t you spend some time with Discord since you two seem to be getting along so well now, he has some free time this morning.”
Discord smiled at the idea. “Wonderful, I can teach you some of my favorite pranks to pull.”
Luna whispered into Celestia’s ear. “Sister, are you sure that is a good idea, he may end up being a bad influence on our little brother.”
“You know I can hear you right.” Dawn stated flatly from under Luna. Dawn was sitting in between his sisters.
Discord cut in. “Don’t worry Celestia, he and I will have a great time today before your guests arrive. And I promise to be on my best behavior.” Discord Stated as he placed his lion paw over his chest with his eagle claw raised.
Once breakfast was over, the princesses went to their royal duties before their guests arrived to meet their little brother, while Dawn Light went off with Discord for a bit of fun.
Over the course of a few hours, Discord played a few pranks on the castle staff that even they got a laugh out of, though there was one prank that enraged the “victim”. Discord and Dawn Light had overheard that prince Blue Blood was due for a grooming today. So they watched quietly as the mare taking care of him started her work on him. Discord used his powers to affect one of the bottles for Blue Blood’s coat.
The two snickered in silence as they watched the mare use the affected bottle to condition Blue’s coat. Once she finished applying the stuff, the effects were immediate, Blue Blood had turned plaid. He freaked out as Discord and Dawn rolled on the floor in fits of laughter. Blue Blood was not pleased. “You little pests, I’ll get you for this!” He yelled as Discord and Dawn ran off with smiles.
A few hours later at the Canterlot Train station, Twilight and her friends just got off the train and were greeted with two familiar faces. “Shining Armor, Cadence!” Twilight happily cheered as she saw her big brother and old foal sitter.
“Hey Twily, fancy meeting you here.” Shining Armor greeted as he and Twilight hugged.
“Hello Twilight, good to see you again.” Cadence greeted as well.
Twilight and Cadence then proceeded with a little song and dance. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake” In perfect unison.
“So what are you two doing here anyway?” Twilight asked.
Shining answered. “Celestia asked us to come, she didn’t say why she wanted us to come, just to come on by for some reason.”
“That’s odd, we got the same request from the princess.” Applejack responded.
“Ooh Ooh, maybe she’s planning a surprise party for us.” Pinkie pointed out.
“I highly doubt it.” Rarity disagreed.
“Well what are we waiting for, we won’t find out just by standing around, let’s go.” Rainbow Dash pointed out as she started hovering up and lead the way to the castle.
Once they entered, they were greeted by one of Celestia’s guards. “Greetings your majesties” He addressed Cadence, Shining, and Twilight, “And hello to the element bearers. The princesses are awaiting you in their throne room. Right this way.”
As they walked, Fluttershy’s curiosity got the better of her, so she walked up next to the Guard they were following and asked “Um, excuse me sir, I don’t mean to be a bother, but do you know why the princesses summoned us?”
“I’m sorry miss, but that is something for the princesses to reveal, not me.” The guard answered.
“Oh, ok then, sorry to bother you.”
Cadence then trotted up next to Fluttershy. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I doubt its anything bad.” She said with a smile.
The group soon came to the entrance to the throne room. The guards on duty opened the door for them. They walked in and found the princesses sitting at their thrones at the other end of a long red carpet with gold embroidery on the edges. Celestia and Luna walked up to them to greet them. Twilight and her friends all bowed. Celestia gave a smile as she greeted. “Twilight, you don’t need to bow, you’re a princess too now if you’ll recall.”
Twilight gave a sheepish smile. “Right, force of habit I guess.”
Luna came in. “We are pleased you could all come, we have great news that we wish to share with all of you.”
“I knew it, it is a surprise party!” Pinkie cheered out.
“No, it is not a surprise party.” Celestia responded with a laugh. “There is a very special pony here we would like you all to meet.”
“Really, who?” Cadence asked.
The two sisters looked between them as Dawn Light came out from behind Celestia. “Um, hello.” Dawn Light greeted shyly.
The ponies looked on in a bit of confusion and silence as they looked upon this new alicorn. Cadence was the first to break the silence. “Dawn Light, is that you?”
Dawn cocked an eyebrow. “Do I…..know you?”
Cadence’s smile grew wide. “DAWN LIGHT!” She cried as she charged forth and wrapped him in a hug. “I can’t believe it, where have you been all this time?!”
“Um…..you’re kind of squishing me.” Dawn gasped out.
“Oh, sorry.” Cadence loosened her grip. Then looking down at him she simply said “Dawn Light, it’s me, Cadence.”
Dawn Cocked an eyebrow again, staring up in confusion at Cadence. “Cadence…. As in cousin Cadence?”
“Yes, don’t you recognize me?”
Dawn Light soon grew a smile of his own. “Cadence, it is you!” Dawn then gave a hug that Cadence was all too happy to return. “I missed you so much cousin.”
“I missed you too, but where have you been, what happened to you?”
“Something terrible.” Dawn leaned away again and took a good look at her. “Look at you, your so……big now.”
Cadence let out a giggle. “Heh heh, well it has been a long time since we saw each other.”
“Tell me about it” Said dawn as he rolled his eyes.
“Uh, hello, someone want to clue us into what is going on here?” Rainbow asked, irritated that she had no idea what was going on.
Luna began to explain. “My friends, this is our little brother, Dawn Light.”
Silence filled the room for a few moments before Applejack broke it. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me get this straight, did you just say little brother?”
“We did.” Celestia answered.
“But….I don’t understand, since when do you two have a brother?” Twilight questioned.
“Gather around and we’ll explain everything.”
“Um, Cadence, you can let me go now.” Dawn said as Cadence was still holding on to him.
“Sorry, I just missed you so much.” Cadence finally released her grasp.
“I missed you too.” Dawn Light said with a smile. He then took notice of the purple alicorn in the room. “Hold on.” He walked over to Twilight and walked around her a bit while eyeing her. “You’re an alicorn too.”
“Yes, I am.” Twilight simply answered.
Dawn then turned to his sisters. “Luna, Celestia, did we get a new sister?”
The two sister’s couldn’t help but laugh. Celestia answered. “No Dawn Light, that is Twilight Sparkle, she is the bearer of the element of magic. She is also a princess, whom I appointed, she has proven herself worthy of the title and as a result I made her an alicorn.”
“Oooohh, Ok.” He then turned to Twilight with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight smiled back. “It’s nice to meet you too Dawn Light.”
The others began introducing themselves. “I’m Applejack, pleasure ta meet ya.”
“I’m Rainbow Dash, best flyer in Equestria.”
“I am Rarity, a pleasure your majesty.”
Dawn interrupted the introductions then and there. “Well well well, hello there.” He gave a sly look as he approached Rarity. “A pleasure to meet such a fine lady like yourself. Don’t let my appearance fool you, I’m much older than I look. What do ya say you and I grab some ice cream later?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Rarity smirked. “Hmm, nice try your highness, but I don’t think so.”
“Aww.” He dropped his act. The others laughed at the display.
“Hi there, I’m Pinkie Pie, I’m super-duper excited to meet you!” Pinkie bounced in front of Dawn. “I love meeting new ponies, so where did you come from anyway?”
“Pinkie Pie…….Oh yeah, your one of Discord’s friends, he’s told me a lot about you.”
“Yep, that’s me. You know Discord?”
“I do, he and I have been getting to be friends too.” Dawn then turned to Fluttershy at the back of the group as she tried hiding behind her mane. “You must be Fluttershy then, right?”
“Um, yes, I am….your majesty.”
“It’s very nice to meet you. My sisters told me that you’re the one that helped to reform Discord, and I take it he and you are good friends, right?”
“Yes….that is right…um, your majesty.”
Dawn gave her a smile. “Just Dawn Light is fine. I’m really glad to meet you. So then you’re the bearer of the element of kindness too?”
“I am.”
Dawn then turned to Pinkie. “And you bear the element of laughter right?”
“Yep, that’s me because I love to make ponies smile. And I love to throw parties. HEY! We should throw you a party to welcome you here from…..wherever it is you came from.”
Dawn then turned to Twilight. “And you bear the element of magic, so what about the rest of you?”
Rarity started. “I’m the bearer of the element of generosity.”
Applejack followed up. “Mine’s honesty.”
Rainbow Dash finished. “And I’m loyalty.”
Spike finally made his presence known. “I’m Spike, Twilight’s number one assistant.”
“And my little brother.” Twilight added.
“Cool, a dragon! I’ve never met a dragon before. How did you get a dragon for a little brother?” Dawn questioned.
“It’s a long story, but I’ll tell you later if you’d like me to.” Twilight responded.
Dawn then turned his attention to Shining Armor. “And who might you be?”
Cadence started. “Dawn Light, this is my husband Shining Armor.”
“A pleasure to meet you your majesty.” Shining greeted.
“You’re married?” Dawn asked in surprise.
Cadence answered. “Yes I am.”
“Awe, and I missed the wedding.” Dawn whined, but then perked up. “Hold on, since you two are married, that means I have a cousin in law now doesn’t it.”
“Why yes, it does.”
“COOL, I have a new cousin! So I can call you cousin Shining right?” Dawn asked Shining.
Shining let out a laugh. “He heh, I guess so.”
Cadence cut in. “You know, Twilight there is Shining’s little sister too, and Spike is his little brother as well, so you have three new cousins.”
Dawn’s smile grew wider as he looked over at Twilight. “So I can call you cousin Twilight can’t I?”
Twilight had a confused smile as she responded. “Well, I guess so.”
Dawn then ran over to her and hugged her. “YAY, I have new family.”
Twilight couldn’t help herself as a real smile came upon her face and returned the hug.
“This is great, I may have a stuck up snobby nephew, but I also have three new cousins that are nice, and one of them is a dragon, this is so cool!” Dawn Light finally broke his embrace with Twilight. “I can’t wait to get to know you all more.”
“Well I’m glad you’re happy, but I think we’re all still a little confused right now, where did you come from?” Twilight asked.
Cadence walked up behind Dawn. “Yes Dawn, please tell us where you have been all this time, what happened to you?”
Dawn’s face became melancholy, he walked over to his sisters and hung his head. He turned back around and took a seat between them. The two sisters placed a wing on his back to comfort him. “It’s…..something I really want to forget, it was horrible.”
Celestia began. “You see, our little brother here vanished without a trace a thousand years ago before we sealed Discord in stone with the elements of harmony.”
Luna continued. “As Dawn Light has told us, Discord was the one responsible for his disappearance. While my sister and I went off to find the elements of harmony, Discord appeared at the castle and sealed our little brother away in a dark void for a thousand years.”
Rainbow Dash leaned over to applejack and whispered, “seriously, what is it with a thousand years?”
Applejacks response was just as confused, “Ah know, It seems like every week we’re hearing about something that’s been gone or hidden or somethin for that long.”
A single tear ran down Dawn’s cheek at the memory. “It was horrible, there was nothing around me, no light, no sound, no anything, just nothing. And every once in a while, my mind would fabricate illusions, making me think I was back home when it was all just my imagination. It was all lies and I got tired of being tricked. So I stopped believing what my mind showed me.”
The group had solemn looks on their faces. “Oh my, you poor dear, you were in that place for a thousand years?” Fluttershy asked.
Dawn Light just nodded his head. Celestia continued. “One of the castle staff found him first, followed by a guard. I happened to be walking by at the time and recognized him after getting a good look at him.”
Dawn Light continued. “It’s been two days since I got back here, three counting today. For the first two days, I wasn’t sure if I really was back home because my first night, I didn’t sleep, I was too afraid that if I fell asleep, I would wake up back in that void. When morning came and my sisters found out I didn’t sleep, Luna used a spell to help me go to sleep for a few hours. I….I…..” Dawn closed his eyes at the memory of the nightmare as a few tears escaped.
Luna continued. “Dawn Light had a nightmare that he was back in the void, poor Dawn was terrified to go back to sleep after that. So last night, I visited him in his dream to assure him it was just a nightmare.”
“I am a little more confident this is real, but I’m still not a hundred percent sure.”
Celestia lowered her head and nuzzled Dawn Light. “Don’t worry little brother, you’ll accept it soon enough, just give it time.”
Dawn gave a sad smile.
Fluttershy stepped forward. “Excuse me your highness, but did you say Discord was the one who did that to you?”
“Yes, but he apologized for it and he and I have been getting along now.”
“Oh Dawn Light, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Cadence stated as she stepped forward and once again took Dawn in a hug.
“Cadence……..you’re hugging……too tight again.” Dawn managed to wheeze out.
“Sorry.” Cadence released her hug.
Once Dawn was freed from Cadence’s death hug, he then noticed her royal attire. “So Cadence, are you a princess now too?”
“Yes I am, Luna and Celestia put me in charge of the crystal empire.”
“The crystal empire, you mean that kingdom made out of crystal with all those crystal ponies?!” Dawn asked excitedly.
“The very same.”
“COOL, I don’t suppose I could come visit you and cousin Shining there sometime? I’ve never been to the crystal empire before.”
“That would be nice, we’d love it if you’d come.” Shining answered.
“All right, can I go Celestia, Luna, please please please!?” Dawn begged.
“Now hold on Dawn, we still haven’t figured out the safest way to introduce you to the kingdom.” Celestia said.
“Just let it out already, I won’t mind a few reporters coming at me. I’ll have you two with me or a pair of guards won’t I? I’m bored here in the castle, I want to see the kingdom and how it’s changed in the last thousand years. It should be easy to explain with you two and Discord doing the explaining, PLEEEEEEEASE?”
The two sisters looked at each other with worry. Celestia finally caved. “Oh very well, since there doesn’t seem to be a better way, I suppose we might as well get it over with. Then you will be free to visit Cadence and Shining in the crystal empire.”
“YAY, Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Dawn Light hopped up and down in joy. A thought then crossed his mind, he stopped his jumping and got in front of the bearers of the elements of harmony. “Before anything else happens, I would like to say something to the six of you.”
“Yes, what is it?” Twilight asked.
Dawn Light bowed before them. “Thank you, thank you so much for what you did for my sister Luna.”
The six mares were surprised by this. “What do you mean prince?” Rainbow questioned.
“For what you did for Luna when she was Nightmare Moon. She told me all about it. I can’t help but think that if I was still around when it happened, I might have made a difference and prevented it from happening. And because of that, Celestia had to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. All this caused our family to be splintered. And now, thanks to you six, Luna was restored when she came back as Nightmare Moon. So I thank you for what you did for her. I am most grateful.” Dawn Light rose from his bow and looked at the six with a smile.
“Well shoot, yer welcome yer majesty.” Applejack responded.
“Just Dawn Light is fine.” So for most of the day, Dawn Light got to learn more about the new bearers of the elements of harmony and heard about some of their adventures. Not only did he have three new cousins to call family, but eight new friends as well. Celestia noted that tomorrow, they would make the announcement of Dawn’s return to the kingdom. The royal family had finally been reunited and was back together; and bigger too.