//------------------------------// // From the Cave of Harmony to the Mountain of Turmoil // Story: Consequences of Past Mistakes // by SoaringCoal //------------------------------// Journal entry: 362 I have scoured the Everfree forest for nine days now, yet I have not found a single clue that could lead me to the tree of Harmony. In my journeys around the forest I have come across many uncategorized plants and unknown animals. But I will need to focus on those after I’ve found the tree. Setting up camp at a swamp for the night. Journal entry: 363 I feel like an idiot for two reasons. 1: Turns out the swamp I set up camp at was housing three hydras. They forced me deeper into the forest and I eventually had to stop and regain my breath. That is where the second reason comes in. First now do I realise that the closer I get to the forests center, the more peaceful it becomes. I’m also sensing a strange magic as I get closer to the center. The alicorns told me that the only way I could find the tree was to follow the path of Harmony. It seems they were right. Setting up camp at a large chasm. Hopefully I can actually get some sleep tonight. Journal entry: 364 I have found it! It took forever and a day and also more blisters than I can count, But I found it! Turns out the tree is located in a cave just beneath the chasm I was sleeping at. Funny how those coincidences are. I am standing just outside the cave and I can barely contain myself. Finally I can get some much needed answers. All I need, is to walk inside and... Wait. Something just entered the cave with the tree. I have no idea how it got in there without me noticing. It’s a draconequus. It’s tall, it’s skin seems to be resembling that of a turtles shield, it has no hind legs, but instead a long black dragon tail. Two curved horn go sprouting from the back of it’s white pony head, a blood red lion mane replacing the normal pony mane, pair of brown pegasus wings on it’s back. Its arms were those of a gecko and a tiger, both golden in color. It looks evil. That’s the best way I can describe it. No wonder the alicorns allow them to be hunted, it’s hideous. It seems to be speaking to the tree! This only confirms my former theories. Draconequui are completely… I don’t believe it! The tree is answering! It’s… Beautiful. It’s hard to describe, but it sounds like music. Light is emanating from the tree and beautiful ethereal tones sound in my head as if I am standing right next to the tree! But it’s not talking to me, it’s talking to the draconequus. Wait, why would the tree of Harmony speak to something so vile and feral? No time for that now. I will describe the conversation as best as I can for future generations to come. Maybe it’s important. I’ve snuck closer and I can now hear the draconequus clearly. He is speaking of his race. How they are hunted and shunned for simply existing. He is asking the tree to help them. More beautiful tones sound in my head. The tree is answering that it won’t help as they are not of it’s doing and that his race is the complete opposite of what it represents. No kidding, just look at it. To my surprise, the draconequus is not angered by the tree’s words. It looks saddened. It thanks the tree for it’s time and is now slithering away. I actually feel bad for it… The tree is talking again, stopping the draconequus! It says that he should seek out… Sorry, I dropped my pen, but you will probably be able to understand why. The tree said word for word: Seek out my sibling for he is everything that I am not. He can do everything that I can’t and I do everything he can’t. If he deems your race worthy, he will help. This… This is revolutionary! Marvelous! This could not have gone better! I only have one question.(actually I have more than a millions but I will have to settle for one for now) What does the tree mean with: If he deems your race worthy? The draconequus is answering. He asks where he can find the tree’s sibling. (I would also like to know that.) Harmonious tunes fill the cave and my head. It’s saying… Let the chaos in your heart guide you. Great that just means... … … … You have got to be kidding me. I’ve just realised that it will be impossible for me to find this ‘sibling’. As ponies are drawn to the magic of order and harmony, it is only logical that creatures made from this ‘sibling’ are drawn to it’s opposites. It can take me years to find that blasted thing! The draconequus is leaving. I have come up with an idea. It is risky, but it might be worth it in the end. I will follow this draconequus in its journey to this ‘sibling’ of the tree of Harmony. I just hope it won’t notice me until we are there. I may be a powerful unicorn, but even with all of my years of studying various magics and races, I still have no idea just what an angered draconequus is capable off. Wish me luck. Journal entry: 365 It’s been a week since my last entry. I regret not getting to update sooner, but as it turns out, draconequui(or atleast this particular one) are really fast. Over the last week, I have been trailing it as best as I could with my old worn out limbs. It took the draconequus three days before it took its first break on this journey where it just laid down and began to sleep on the spot. I’m amazed that it could last this long without food, sleeping or drinking. I myself almost lost it several times over those 3 miserable days as I had to make stops to drink and eat. I fell asleep shortly after. It seemed to be leading me north-east. Exactly where, I am not sure. My legs are still aching from the constant straining I have put them through. I haven’t felt this worn out since my last trip to Draconia. Unbelieveable how quickly those reptiles get offended. Oh, how I miss The Beacon. I miss its shining towers, its beautiful hallways, its endless assortments of book and libraries. But most of all I miss Harmonia. That mare brightens my day just by thinking about her. Her beautiful eyes, her golden mane, her sleek gorgeous body Celestia's eyes widened as she deciphered the text Starswirl had frantically tried to conceal and a shiver went down her spine. This was actually the first time she had read all of these journal entries word for word. Normally she had just skimmed through it only catching the important details. For Starswirl to have feelings towards her mother... The thought was uncomfortable to say the least. The sun princess' sudden stop in reading slightly worried the ponies she had been reading to. What had she read? Why did she shiver? "Princess, what's wrong?" Twilight asked and the rest eagerly awaited answer from Celestia. Celestia was pulled from her current thought process and back to reality by Twilight's question. "Huh?" Celestia shook her head. "Oh, its nothing, Twilight. Sorry, it seems I got distracted." She continued reading out loud. Okay, ignoring that last part. Eventually I followed the draconequus to the Neighagra Falls where it made its second stop after another 4 days on the run. I’m not going to lie, the moment it stopped I fell on my hooves from sheer exhaustion and almost instantly fell asleep, but I was out of eyesight of the draconequus so nothing happened. I woke up a couple of hours later to the sound of wingbeats. To my horror, the draconequus I had been following had decided to take flight, so I would no longer be able to follow it. Given the situation, my following action might not have been the smartest at the time. I’m amazed it worked. I revealed myself to the draconequus and ran up to it before it could take off and started yelling. I pleaded it to stop, wait or at least listen to what I had to say before it left. I will never forget its face. It looked at me with a mix of surprise and annoyance. It told me to make it quick and I did so. I told it I had been following it over the last week and that I desired to travel with it to meet this sibling of the tree of Harmony. It looked at me and stroked its chin with its tiger paw. I was afraid it would attack me or even worse leave me, as I was so close to one of the biggest discoveries in pony history! To my surprise, it actually landed and said I could join it as it needed some company. I later found out his name was Eracul. At first I was very reluctant to staying close to him or even talk to him as we kept journeying east. I had read that draconequui could be very violent at times, but Eracul seemed calm at all times if not a little sad. To my pleasant surprise, he turned out to be really friendly. Looks like I might have made a friend. Journal entry: 366 After another week of travelling, with more breaks than before, we have arrived at the edge of the crystal mountains. I had asked Eracul several times as to why we were here. It doesn’t seem like the kind of place for a tree or whatever The tree of harmony’s sibling is. Every Time I had asked Eracul, he just answered with the same words: “Something is pulling me here.” I just wish I had brought a warmer robe. Of course, lucky as we are, a snowstorm came as we entered the frozen dessert that was between us and the crystal mountains. We’ve found a cave and will continue our journey in the morning. We’re close, I can feel it. Journal entry: 367 We have been walking for hours through this frozen wasteland. The sky is darkened by clouds and I’ve never felt so cold before. Eracul seems to be leading me towards a mountain clearing that is shaped like a crescent moon. I hope we have finally reached our destination. We have just entered the clearing and it is like a completely different land. The sky is clear of clouds and the ones coming seems to be going around the clearing and mountain alike. What an odd phenomenon. I feel at peace and warm. I can’t describe it better. The crystals of the oncoming mountain fills the clearing with colors as the suns light is reflected off of them. A hymn is going through the air. It reminds me of the way the tree of harmony spoke. Such a beautiful place. I notice now that the sharp sunlight reflecting of the snow, ice and crystals should be blinding me, yet they don’t. Now I look to Eracul and he looks… Sick. He kept his arms in front of his eyes to keep them from blinding him, his scales around his body seemed loose and were falling off, his mane was falling off and his skin seemed to be burned by the sharp sunlight. I have no idea why it wasn’t affecting me, but despite my protests, he insists we go on. I had to support him most of the way by dragging him while he slithered as best as he could. When we reached the end of the crescent moon clearing, as I would like call it, Eracul seemed to be getting better. He could now support his own weight again. I still have no idea what happened but i’m just glad he’s getting better. I really wish I had started on this trip 20 years ago. I'm too old for adventuring. Eracul had pointed to a dark point above us in the mountain in front of us. I assumed it was some kind of cave and now we are about to climb the mountain. Wish us luck. Journal entry: 368 It has been another two days since my last entry. Eracul and I have just reached the cave and I must point out it wasn’t an easy trip. I don’t know how tall this mountain is, but we have at least climbed 9000 feet and it isn’t exactly easy to climb a mountain made out of pure slippery crystal with hoofs. I’m excited to say the least. Eracul and I are about to make history. I’m getting a strange feeling as we are nearing us the cave. As if something is drawing me in there. There is a very dim light inside. The cave itself doesn’t seem very deep. I-I don’t know what is happening! I took one step inside the cave and became overwhelmed with emotions. Negative emotions. Voices are sounding in my head and my emotions are conflicting. I feel like i’m boiling alive and freezing to death at the same time. This doesn’t make any sense! I just told told Eracul to go on without me. I have a feeling that if I fully enter that cave, I may never get out. I can hear Eracul talking to something. I can’t hear what he is saying. My senses are getting sloppier. The boiling and freezing part has stopped but the voices keep sounding and so does my conflicting emotions. I can hear what Eracul is saying. “I have come here in search of help.” He says. … … … Huh, nothing is answering him. Honestly i’m kind of reliȩ̷͚͕̳̦͉̭̗̬̖̟̤̗́͟v̛̕͞҉̶̮̩͓̮͙̦͍͚͖̫͚ͅè̵̴̛̗͉̱̗̤̲̘͍̤d̠͖̙̹͖́͜ I-I hear voices. It sounds like a thousand voices mumbling at the same time and it is hurting my ears. I feel so… Angry and I want to steal all the books there are in the beacon’s library and why shouldn’t I? No stop thinking like that. So many emotions and they only get worse when the voices talk. It has to be the tree’s sibling. I’m looking inside. I see Eracul and in front of him I see some roots sticking up from the ground. It would look like the bottom of a tree if the roots didn’t look so weird. They were in many colors. Purple, poison green, pink, silver and polkadotted? From some of them’s tips I see liquid falling towards the ceiling? I can’t see what the liquid is, but I wouldn’t drink it if I had the chance. I also see spikes on some of the roots, flowers on the rest and black smoke covering the ground around them. The longer I look at it, the stronger my emotions are getting. It’s maddening. I also feel a strange sensation in my ears and I hear something slowly breaking. It sounds like glass. The tree answers: “We know.” It voice sounds like thousands of male and female voices, children and old voices slammed into one and some of the voices are repeating its words as it speak for seconds after like an echo. The cave is rumbling under it’s voice and some of the mumbling voices are now screaming. Eracul seems completely unaffected by the noise and voices. He asks the tree or whatever it is: “Will you help us?” I-I don’t know what is happening. The voices of the tree are getting clearer and the strange sensation in my ears are getting worse. I feel as if the ground beneath me is collapsing, yet when I look down its the same crystal floor. I see the smoke at the tree's roots make out shapes. Shapes of ponies writhing in pain, screaming. Some are laughing and I see other creatures aswell, but I cannot describe them, they are too odd. What is happening to me? The tree is answering. It says: “Depends if your race is ready, are you?” What does that mean? Eracul seems to know what the tree is talking about. He nods. The tree is continuing: “Very well. Your race represents the purest of what I am, therefore I shall grant you my essence. Take it to your people and the power of chaos shall protect you, nourish you and aid you throughout your life.” I am so very confused right now. What is the tree about to do? Giving them its essence? I am trying to write as much down as possible, but the continuing sound of breaking glass is getting worse and I feel dizzy. Eracul nods and thanks the tree, but it looks like its not done talking. I-it keeps talking: “But know this, my creation, this power comes with a price. It will transcend your abilities and your potential above all others, but beware, the mind is easier to break than the body. Take great care in this gift, for it will become as much a part of you as your own soul.” The tree looks to be evaporating into smoke. I-I dont know whats- T-The voices, they are getting worse. The glass is so close to breaking, but how do I know that? My head hurts, I-I can’t! I’ve just reaquired the journal. I don’t know what happened but I almost fell down the mountain. Luckily, I landed on a small ledge only 20 feet from the cave. My headache, the voices, the conflicting emotions, the weird sound, they are all gone. Although i’m pretty sure I know what sound of breaking glass was now. It was the sound of my sanity breaking under the tree. What terrifying power. I have never felt so miserable. So much conflict, pain, inner Turmoil is the best way I can describe it. I am climbing back up, but there is no way in Tartarus i’m going close to that cave again. I am seeing Eracul coming out of the cave, he’s carrying some sort of sphere. I feel dizzy and my sight gets blurry when I look at it and can’t make out the details, but it seems to be changing color and shape with no sign of stopping. I asked him what it is. He kept staring at the sphere with a manic grin. I am genuinely afraid of him right now, he has never smiled like that on our journey. H-he answered and I quote: “Our Salvation.” He shortly thanked me for the company and hoped that we would meet again someday and then he flew away, leaving me here… I am confused to say the least, but I will have to ponder on today's events later, now I have to get back to the beacon and inform the alicorns about this amazing discovery.