//------------------------------// // Keep Calm, You're Choosing One // Story: No Elements, No Harmony // by Fret //------------------------------// Fluttershy stared at them with wide eyes. Her jaw was itching to move, but it didn't seem to respond. She closed it, gulped to swallow her shock, then began to speak. "How can that be possible...?" she rasped, "Even if there are other worlds out there... How can they meet?" "Oh, trust me when I say, our worlds have not met. We're just trapped here," Celestia muttered, her mind flashing back to the time when she caused a rift between her own and another world. Fluttershy looked uncertainly at the ground. "But... how can such magic exist in your world? How can it just fix everything?" she looked up, her eyes sparkling with some sort of emotion that Celestia couldn't identify. "Like I said. They come from something called the Tree of Harmony. The gems, of course, represent all that is harmony. They have powerful magic," Twilight explained. "...No further explanation?" Fluttershy pulled her head back. "As far as I know, I don't think there is," The alicorn shrugged. She turned to Celestia, hopeful for a small explanation, but she shook her head. Slight annoyance flared inside her that she still was the answer to everything. The pegasus used a hoof to scrape at the ground. "How do I know you're not lying?" "If they were, we woulda found out by now," Applejack said. "Aaaaand if they are, I'll make them pay," Pinkamena clapped her hooves together, making Celestia and Twilight flinch. The two glanced at each other, begging the other mare's protection. Fluttershy's ear twitched. "Why did you tell me though?" Twilight moved across the dried out grass over to the mare and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Believe it or not, we need you for what we're gonna do." The yellow mare gave a skeptical glance at Applejack and Pinkamena, but they just gave a shrug. "Don't ask us, they didn't tell us yet," they answered spontaneously. Twilight gave a sigh. "What is it you were gonna do?" Fluttershy asked. "Oh... right. Okay, I know what I'm about to request of you is a big order," Twilight breathed in. "We need your help to stop the queens." That's when time seemed to stop for the pegasus. She stared blankly into the Princess' purple eyes, as if what she had just said was the craziest thing she had ever heard. Then finally, "WHAT?!" The volume of her voice would be a whisper next to Luna's Royal Canterlot voice, but in Fluttershy's case, this deafening. As she lifted herself into midair, Twilight leaped back in surprise, also to avoid getting hit by the mare's hooves that she spread out. Once Fluttershy realized her sudden change in attitude, she quickly reverted back to her shy self, giving a cough to lower the level of sound in her voice. She landed herself back onto the ground, then blinked so her pupils grew back to normal size. "I mean... um... you're serious?" "Yes," Twilight nodded, "I know it's a big task, but let's be honest, nopony who's sane likes how things are around here," her hoof pointed to 'literally everywhere'. "But... how would I possibly help?" she turned her head towards the two other mares already on their side again, who also groaned. "Again... we don't know," Pinkamena muttered. "That's actually what we were sayin' before. We already knew what they were doin'," Applejack pointed out. "Oh my... I'm... I'm not sure I can..." she whimpered, lowering her head to the ground. Next to her, Celestia watched as Discord's frustration grew even more. His clenched fists shook as he groaned through gritted teeth. "You are such a wimp..." he hissed. Celestia guessed he wasn't expecting her to hear him, since when she looked up towards him, Discord's eyes grew slightly wider. But it only lasted half a second. His brows folded in and his groans turned into a snarl. The draconequus' wings carried him over in front of her, and he began his rant. "Perhaps once in your life you should stop being such a doormat. Perhaps once in your life you can stop being forced to abuse the creatures you oh so love. Perhaps once in your life, you can be useful!" he thrust his face up to hers, "you're getting offered that chance now. So you can either take pride in at least trying to stand up for Equestria, or you can let everypony down and stay in the shadows, because you're too cowardly to deny the fate our precious queens had forced upon us." Fluttershy blinked, unsure how to reply. Her mouth was slightly agape, and her pupils had shrunk with the realization. Celestia stepped forward so she could pull Discord away from her with her hoof. The pegasus still remained silent. The four ponies and draconequus awaited for her answer. It felt like forever had passed by the time she finally gulped and took a deep breath. "Okay..." she murmured just loud enough for them all to hear. Twilight beamed, and she picked up Fluttershy to give her tight hug. "Yes! Thank you!" she exclaimed, unaware she'd cut off the mare's breathing cycle. "Can you please let go..." she choked. Twilight opened her eyes and dropped her, giving a nervous laugh to follow on. "Eheh... sorry," she squeaked, "anyway, I'd love to continue the search for Rainbow Dash or Rarity, but I'm pretty beat," a yawn escaped her. "I don't even know how long I've been awake for," Celestia sighed. "Ever since you found me?" Pinkamena turned to Twilight. "About three or more hours, I'd say." "...How do you know that?" "Comes naturally," she shrugged, "farmers of all sorts have to know how long their shift is," she glanced at Applejack, who nodded in agreement. "Well... we've been awake far longer than that..." Twilight gaze angled to Celestia. "Well, I personally think we should rest, either way," the white alicorn confirmed, "should we go back to the cave?" Fluttershy shook her head. "You can sleep in my cottage... if you want to," she quickly added. "That would be great! Thanks Fluttershy," Twilight smiled. "Yeah... uh... I'd love to stay and all, but I think I better go home before my family notices I'm gone," Pinkamena said. "Oh gosh... I've been gone for hours! I better get back before my family suspects anythin'. I better tell them what's goin' on," she began to gallop her way home, but Twilight called after her. "You can't tell them!" she blurted out. The farm pony turned around and raised a brow. "Why exactly? They're my family." "Because it might put them at risk if they know what you're up to," she quickly answered. "How?" "Well... if the queens somehow figure out what's at stake, they might go after the obvious victims for information." Celestia, next to Twilight, laid a hoof on her own face. "...Twilight." "Yes Celestia?" she looked up to the princess. "When I told you to do that with Tirek around, did it end well?" She thought back to the event. "Well... no," she murmured through gritted teeth. She turned back to the awaiting Applejack, "Alright, you can tell them. Just not too much detail." The mare nodded, then galloped off. Pinkamena didn't say goodbye, just dashed off in another direction. Celestia watched the pink pony until she was out of sight, then turned to Discord. "Do you want to go back to the cave?" Discord, seemingly unnaturally, looked uncertain. He looked back towards the direction of the castle, then back to her. "Well... I could..." he slightly stuttered, twiddling his fingers, "I mean, I guess it would be a good idea and all..." Celestia had heard enough. She laid a hoof on his mouth, then stared at him. "It's okay to be afraid," she whispered, knowing that his pride wouldn't want the others to hear her tell him that. "You two coming?" Twilight called, suddenly further away than she was. Celestia smiled and nodded, following the two winged ponies. Neither of the two ponies ahead said another word, which contrasted from her and the draconequus, no longer letting his wings doing the work, but instead reverting on his two different hind limbs. Celestia felt his warmth increase, despite him not actually touching her. She had to force herself not to blush. "Why is it okay to be afraid?" Discord murmured into her ear. Celestia didn't make eye contact. "Because you're not an outcast," she rasped. --- The ground below Twilight was considerably worse than the cave. Despite looking similar to her counterpart's cottage on the outside, Fluttershy's home couldn't be more different on the inside. The glass windows were smashed, and the little furniture was torn or broken. The floor had no carpet, just wood with splinters poking out of it and into her skin. On top of that, she would of been freezing because of the draft drifting in through the gaps in the walls or glass. Luckily, Celestia had offered her a wing for a blanket. Either way, she couldn't sleep. Twilight tried her best to keep her eyes closed, but they kept blinking open. A small, frustrated sigh escaped her, as she looked at the white figure next to her. She envied how she could sleep so well under this roof. Then she felt her shuffle. "Celestia?" she whispered, "are you awake?" A few moments of silence passed until she finally got an answer. "I'm barely ever asleep," the princess murmured. Twilight flattened her ears, "Why's that?" The larger alicorn turned her head so she could at least see Twilight from the corner of her eye. Twilight could only look straight ahead, and even so her shoulder blocked half of her mentor's face. "Well, why are you awake?" Twilight's head sunk into her hooves. "I guess I'm just... worried." "Imagine your worries times one thousand years." She lifted her head up again, "But... you've gotten over the whole Nightmare Moon thing. Luna's back..." Celestia had to move her whole body in order to face her head on. "That doesn't change the past though," she murmured, a hint of noticable regret in her voice, "you can heal mistakes like your wounds heal themselves, but that doesn't change the fact that your skin is different than it was." The younger mare moved closer to her. "But after the wound is healed, it's better than before." Celestia let out a slight scoff, "Then maybe I'm still bleeding." Twilight tilted her head. "Celestia, I can't name one mistake you've even caused." The white alicorn raised a brow. "Would you like me to go through the list, Twilight?" The purple mare shook her head. "Er... just tell me one I don't know much about," she suggested. Celestia glanced over to a torn sofa across the room, which held a sleeping draconequus, "you've been curious of our past, as I understand it." Twilight gave a slow nod, prompting Celestia to begin. "Me and Discord were good friends - no, scratch that, best friends. And we were like that for a very long time." "But... if that was the case, why would you never mention it in your journal?" Celestia's eyelids drooped. "Our friendship was... forbidden. At least, from my point of view," she added. "Allow me to explain - I had no idea what a draconequus was. So, of course, I asked the only pony around who was most likely to know. That pony was Starswirl the Bearded. Apparently draconequi... err... draconequuses... whatever... were evil, and that was that. Of course, I didn't see any evil in Discord, and I was right, there wasn't." "Well there clearly was, since he betrayed you." A shimmer of light sparked on Celestia's cheek, enough to make Twilight realize it was a single tear drop. She reached out her own hoof and wiped it off, seeing it was heart wrenching to watch the tear complete it's journey. "Sorry," Twilight mused. "No need," her mentor told her, "but he... he didn't betray me. I betrayed him," she scraped her hoof on the floor, "it's ironic really. I told him our friendship was 'forbid', and he understood. It's when I had to give up our friendship, that's when he snapped." "Why did you have to give up your friendship?" Celestia huffed, "I didn't. I just thought I did. I knew very well he wasn't evil, and he would stay that way if I had just stayed his friend. But no, I just went with everyone else's thoughts. I was his only friend, and I fired back at him because I didn't want to take the 'risk'. What a wonder that he was so hesitant when it came to excepting anyone as a friend." Twilight stared at her, unsure what to say next. "...I thought Discord said he never had a friend before," she murmured quietly. "Why would he consider a traitor a friend?" she muttered. The smaller alicorn looked at the ground. "I didn't think of it like that..." she whispered, "I...I'm sorry that happened, Celestia." "Don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be apologizing," Celestia swung her head the other way, out of Twilight's sight. "Apologizing for what?" "Every single thing." --- Celestia trotted through the castle, staring at the rusted pillars, wondering how they were still standing after all these years. But it wasn't this place's appearance that had drawn her here. In fact, she had no idea how she got here in the first place. Yet she didn't stop to think about it, she just kept walking to wherever her hooves were taking her. Her hooves should have been echoing throughout the halls, but they weren't. Instead, another voice seemed to be calling her. It seemed familiar, but she couldn't yet tell. It was too faint and vague. She tried to gallop, but she couldn't even trot. Take your time Celestia, you have many, many years left. Eventually, she came to the door where the yells were coming from. She slowly lifted a hoof to make it ajar, allowing her to see who was in here. And what she saw made her heart drop. She saw herself, standing over her sister with a smirk on her face. Her horn was glowing her gold aurora, while Luna was lying on the floor, seemingly helpless. Then, Celestia realized the voice wasn't calling out for assistance. They were cries of pain. "Sister! Please stop hurting me! Just stop! I haven't done anything!" Luna screeched as another blast of magic hit her on the wing, followed by hooves kicking her so she'd stay down. Celestia tried to move forward to stop herself, but she couldn't. Her hooves still had a mind of their own. "No! Luna! I don't want to! Please!" she began to yell, but Luna didn't hear her. Horror stuck her - if the other her kept this up, she was going to die. By her hooves. And she knew this wasn't just a dream. Celestia woke up, screaming. Her heart was pounding, but unlike usual, it didn't slow down. She knew it wasn't just a dream. "LUNA!"