The Heirs of Harmony

by Diamond_Emblem


Chapter 1: We Interrupt Your Day to Bring You: Shenanigans!

Twilight sighed in relaxation as she heard Pinkie Pie cannonball into the lake, Rainbow Dash snickering as Rarity faced the full wave from Pinkie's stunt, and she laid back on a wooden deck chair.

The Mane Six had the found the small lake nearby the Castle of Friendship in a grassy but clean area, with a few trees for shade, but not too many to block the sunlight. It was their private little area, and the Mane Six not to forget Starlight Glimmer and Spike got to enjoy the area together.

Next to Twilight, Starlight sat flipping through a spell book on a wooden chair. She sighed and closed the book in frustration. "How am I supposed to learn how to perform a fire spell if I'm stuck on step 2, use inner strength?" she asked. "What does that even mean?"

"Oh, Starlight," Twilight said, shaking her head. "We're here to relax. Put that book down!"

"Well, ah'll be," Applejack said, whistling. "Twilight Sparkle, telling' somepony ta put a book down? Ah never thought I'd live ta see the day!"

Twilight rolled her eyes but smiled. "Really, Starlight, relax! The upcoming Magic Masquerade is going to be a walk in the park for you!" she said assuringly.

Starlight frowned as she reluctantly put the book under her chair. "Are you sure?" she asked. "The Magic Masquerade is going to be in Ponyville for the first time in decades. I don't want my performance to ruin everything."

Rainbow flew onto a tree branch above Starlight. "I've been hearing this Magic Masquerade for the past two weeks!" she said. "What's this masquerade about anyway?"

"The Magic Masquerade is an annual ball where the greatest magicians in Equestria gather to show off their skills," explained Twilight. "The maximum number of guests is 500, and I managed to get an invitation! Rumors have it the greatest magician is given a reward that enhances their magic skills significantly."

"Not to mention I have one," said Starlight glumly. "Sunburst managed to get me an invitation, as the Crystaller of Flurry Heart. He sent out recommendation letters to the ponies organizing the masquerade."

"Honestly, I don't see what the fuss is about," said Rarity drying herself as best as possible with her towel. "I suppose the ball will be grand and spectacular and absolutely gorgeous, but competing over who's better at magic? They should be socializing at a masquerade, not performing magic!"

"It's called the Magic Masquerade for a reason," said Starlight.

"There will be socializing," assured Twilight. "The Magic Masquerade has a lot of benefits, such as unicorns from all across Equestria getting to know others better, learning how others rank in the magic world, and schools for unicorns are able to recruit new students."

"But at our ages, would they still go to school?" asked Fluttershy from the shade of a tree.

"Oh, a few would," Twilight answered. "I would've continued my studies back in Canterlot if I hadn't chosen to stay here. Maybe I would've gone to another school. But ponies from our age group aren't the only ones who are going to be at the masquerade. A select number of younger unicorns can be able to perform magic as well as a high-level unicorn."

"Okay, I get it, I get it," Rainbow said, flying above the spot Pinkie Pie had landed into. "This masquerade thing is really important. But what about everypony in Ponyville? What do they do while the party's going on?"

"They stay inside until the masquerade ends," Twilight replied. "It's actually considered rude if they go on about their daily lives while it's on. Oh, I almost completely forgot! We're allowed to have a plus one!"

Pinkie's head popped up from the lake. She grinned. "Do you know who you're bringing, Twilight?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking about inviting Spike," Twilight said. Her eyes widened. "Or I could bring Sunset Shimmer. Could I do that? I think she'd love it!"

"Well, you can always ask her," said Starlight, casually reaching under her chair.

"I think I'll send her a message when we get back," Twilight decided.

Rarity turned to Spike, who was swimming in the lake with Pinkie. "Spikey, wouldn't you like to go to the masquerade with Twilight?" she asked.

"Nah," Spike replied, swimming in place. "Who wants to listen to a bunch of magical theories with a whole bunch of unicorns when you can do that every day?"

"Hey!" Twilight said, glaring as she sat upright.

Spike strategically dove back into the water and Rarity rolled her eyes.

"Well, I wanna come to this masquerade!" Rainbow Dash said, flying onto the tree Fluttershy was under. "I wanna see all the awesome magic everypony's gonna do!"

"Me too!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, jumping up from the lake. "It'd be so much fun!" She then promptly dove back into the lake with a big splash.

"Put it away," Twilight said, raising her shades and lying back.

Starlight groaned and dropped the book. "I guess I'll try relaxing," she grumbled.

"Come on in, Starlight!" Spike invited her. "The water's great!"

Starlight sighed. "Alright," she said reluctantly. She got off her chair and walked over to the lake. Twilight watched as her pupil tentatively stuck out her hoof. She gasped, as it was most likely cold, but before she could take her hoof out, Spike suddenly emerged and grabbed Starlight's hoof and pulled her in.

Twilight and Applejack laughed at the scene. Starlight broke the surface and glared at Spike, who was chuckling. She then jumped him and dragged the drake underwater.

"Aww!" Twilight said. "They are so cute!"

Applejack grunted. "Ah dunno," she said, watching Spike and Starlight splash water at each other. "Ah reckon Starlight and Sunburst would make a better couple."

"I guess their ship name sounds better," Twilight remarked. "I think it would be Starburst, which sounds better than Starspike." She chuckled, wondering if somewhere else, she was being shipped with somepony.

"But think about it," Applejack said. "Starlight and Sunburst are good friends! They'd be a great couple."

"Do you have something against Starspike?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Applejack said, turning away. "Ah just think Starburst is a good couple."

Twilight shrugged. Applejack put on her shades and took a sip from a glass of lemonade. Rainbow Dash bolted into the lake, splashing Rarity once again. Fluttershy rested against the tree. Pinkie Pie swam out of the lake and began rolling around the grass. Spike raced Starlight back and forth.

She sighed once again. This truly was a good life. All her friends together, having a great time by themselves on a summer day, a whole day of fun in front of them. It was good to be an Element of Harmony today.

Twilight rested her front legs on her stomach and smiled as she dozed off in the afternoon sun, comfortable and happy.



"Twilight! You need to wake up! Twilight!"

Somepony was shaking Twilight violently. She opened her eyes and saw Starlight shaking her. Spike was getting a bucket of water. Rarity paced quickly and anxiously. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Where is everypony?"

"Well, Fluttershy went back to the castle with Pinkie Pie to get some more sunscreen," Starlight explained, letting go of Twilight. "And Applejack was going to bring the food so we could have a picnic. But then Applejack came running back and asked Rainbow to follow her. We could hear Fluttershy and Pinkie scream. We wanted to go and see if anything happened to them, but we wanted to wake you up first."

"Then let's go!" Twilight leaped off her chair and started running to the castle, her friends following close behind. They left behind the relaxing day they were supposed to be enjoying.

They found Fluttershy trembling behind a tree and Pinkie Pie hanging onto a tree branch above her.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Are you two okay?"

Fluttershy and Pinkie shook their heads. "Sh-She...she looked dead for a moment," whimpered Fluttershy. "And then she just suddenly flew into the sky."

"Who?" Twilight asked, helping Fluttershy up.

"I don't know," she replied as Pinkie hopped to ground level. "She didn't look like she was from Ponyville."

"Well, duh!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "She just fell from the sky outta nowhere!"

"Out of the sky?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Yeah!" Pinkie replied. "We were just coming back when she just fell in front of us! She looked a little strange. She had red wings and battery blue hair and a white coat. How do you have a white coat with red wings?"

It did seem like strange features to Twilight, but she continued nonetheless. "What about Rainbow and Applejack?" she asked.

"We don't know," replied Fluttershy.

"But we better go see if they're okay," suggested Starlight.

"Agreed," Twilight said. She ran with the rest of her friends into Ponyville. And there was definitely something wrong.

Several ponies were tongue-tied literally. They were sticking out their tongues, which had been tied into knots. They ran around frantically, saying, "Ple helb!" Which most likely meant, "Please help!" Others were walking around blindly, bumping into other ponies and objects lying around.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked the nearest pony.

Lyra Heartstrings poked Twilight's cheek. "Is that you, Princess Twilight?" she asked. "Have you come to help?"

"I don't know what's going on!" Twilight said. "Who did this to everypony?"

"We don't know!" Piped up Derpy Hooves. Her eyes, though normally unaligned, were now like everypony else's. "But now, my vision's perfect!"

"Did you manage to see who did this?" Twilight asked.

"Sure did!" Derpy replied. "They looked like twins!"

"Two stallions?" Twilight asked.

"Nope!" Derpy answered. "A mare and a stallion!"

"Hm..." Twilight tried to think of any fraternal twins she knew, but nothing came up in her head. "Did you see where they went?"

"They teleported away!" Derpy explained.

"Fraternal twin unicorns who both know the teleportation spell?" Twilight asked aloud. "Who are these ponies?"

"Ar you going to ix our ungs o ot?" asked Roseluck.

It took a few minutes to calm down the victims, but Twilight and the other present mares of the Mane Six managed to wrangle all of them to one spot in town and Twilight performed the counterspells. By the time she had finished one by one, her horn was pounding and sweat traveled down Twilight's face. She had taken several deep breaths when she heard yelling. "Twilight!"

"What now?" Twilight groaned, turning to see Rainbow and Applejack bolt towards her.

They stopped abruptly before they could hit her. Applejack's hat was covered in soot and a part of Rainbow's tail had been burnt. "Did you see her?" Rainbow asked, flying above Twilight frantically.

"See who?" Twilight asked once again.

"I dunno, a fire-breathing unicorn maybe!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Didn't she go this way?"

"Rainbow, ah told ya! She went towards the Everfree Forest!" Applejack yelled, taking her hat off and shaking the ashes off of it.

"Well, I'm sorry if I wanted to save my wings from being burnt to a crisp!" Rainbow said, crossing her front legs.

"Saving yer wings meant destroyin' some of the apple trees!" AJ yelled.

"That's enough," Twilight interrupted. "What's more important is that neither of you was hurt. But are you sure the unicorn breathed magic? They didn't cast a fire spell?"

"Let's see!" Rainbow said, flying onto the ground. "We got to Sweet Apple Acres to get the food for the picnic. We see a unicorn with peach fur and a long purple mane and tail hiding behind an apple tree. We come close to her, she suddenly opens her mouth and there was green fire everywhere!"

"Everywhere but yer wings ya mean," Applejack mumbled.

"Exactly!" Rainbow said smugly.

"I think I've just about had enough of who's been doing this!" Twilight exclaimed. "We need a plan to find out where they are before they hurt anypony else."

"How?" asked Spike. "Whatever they're doing, they seem to be trying to avoid all of us."

A lightbulb lit up in Twilight's head. "Then what we'll have to do is make sure they can't!" she said slyly.



"Twilight, I know you really want to find out who's doing all this, but using the Mirror Pool?" Rainbow asked. "That's as far from Twilight Sparkle that I think you can get!"

The Mane Eight were on the border of the Everfree Forest. Twilight stared at the forest in front of her determinedly. The others were exchanging uneasy expressions.

"The Mirror Pool's the best chance we have," Twilight said seriously. "If I were to perform an illusion spell to create other illusions of us, they'd realize the illusions aren't the real thing. It would also cost a lot of my energy to do so many illusions."

"What about the rock Big Mac covered the entrance with?" Applejack asked. "That'll take a lot of energy from all of us."

"Unless somepony else has a better idea, I'm going in," Twilight said. Without hesitation, she walked into the Everfree Forest.

The seven left stared at each other for a moment. Starlight stared at the forest. She had never been in it before but had heard the rumors surrounding it. Was it really safe, especially since she had never been in it before?

"Well, we can't just let her go in on her own," Spike said at last. He walked into the forest and followed Twilight quickly.

"Are we really doing this?" asked Pinkie Pie, who was frowning. "This isn't a good idea."

Everypony but Starlight knew Pinkie Pie had had enough with the Mirror Pool when she had messed around with it before. They understood her skepticism.

"We should go with her in case she gets herself into trouble," Starlight said.

"You mean more trouble than she's already in," pointed out Rainbow Dash.

The remaining ponies walked into the Everfree Forest.


The Everfree Forest was like it's own zone. The sunlight could barely pierce through the trees, which were dark, strong, and thick. Strange sounds resonated from the bushes, trees, and the ground. Though it was the afternoon, it was like nighttime in Everfree. You couldn't walk three steps without discovering some kind of dangerous fungi or plant. Once, Starlight was about to sniff a lovely looking blue flower when everypony pulled her away from it quickly. Nothing in the forest was predictable.

After about what seemed like an eternity, Twilight stopped. She looked around and sighed.

"I think we're lost," she said bitterly. She stretched her wings and frowned.

"Lost?" demanded Rainbow. "What do you mean we're lost?"

"Lost as in I think we don't know where we are," Twilight replied. "What else could I possibly mean?"

"Ah don't think we've ever been in this part of the forest before," Applejack commented, taking a look around. "We might definitely be lost."

"Darling, we can't be lost," Rarity said, frowning. "How are we supposed to find our way back home?"

"We just retrace our steps!" Pinkie Pie answered. "It would have been a teensy tiny bit better if I had brought my red paint Uh, Fluttershy?"

All eyes turned to Fluttershy. She was frozen in place, shock on her face. It was like she was a statue.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, walking towards her.

Suddenly Rainbow's eyes widened. "Don't move!" she yelled in a whisper.

Twilight turned to the direction Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were facing and froze.

One by one, they began to freeze up and stare in utter shock towards what seemed to be a clearing. It seemed slightly brighter than the rest of the area.

"What's wrong?" Starlight asked in a clear, loud voice.

"Shh!" the rest hushed at her.

"I will be quiet when you tell me what's wrong," Starlight said, walking over to where they were. "Why do you have to be silent? There can't really be anything bad in the forest, right?"

"No!" they whisper-yelled, staying in place.

Starlight turned in their direction. She paled significantly as she saw the scene in front of her.

Three ponies sat in the clearing, or what seemed to be one. Two of them wore ragged brown dresses, tattered and torn from wear. The pony in the middle wore a white dress, in much better condition than the other dresses. But the ponies had green ivy reptilian scales for fur. They had brown furry wings and talons that they couldn't have possibly have. Most frighteningly of all, they didn't have tails. Their manes consisted of tiny slithering green snakes, hissing, and biting. Their eyes looked directly at Starlight.

The three ponies rose simultaneously. They began to turn around, the snakes hissing louder.

"RUN!" Rainbow Dash screamed.

The group started running as quickly as they possibly could in the direction they came from. Starlight managed to keep pace with Twilight. "Who who are they?" Starlight yelled.

"The three Gorgons!" Twilight yelled in response. "Three sisters who are so hideous, looking at them will turn you into stone! And there's no counterspell!"

Suddenly, they heard flapping overhead and Starlight nearly tripped. They were nearing a cliff when a gorgon shot down in front of them.

They screamed in terror and tried turning away. Unfortunately, the other two gorgons were behind them. The Mane Eight began backing up against one another, the gorgons hissing and coming closer

Twilight tried teleporting but felt the Everfree Forest work against her magic. She spent a great deal of energy trying to, ending with no energy at all. She could fly out, but she would leave her friends behind, and a gorgon would surely follow her.

"This is it!" Twilight cried. "We're done for!"

"NO!"

Out of nowhere, somepony swooped from the trees down onto the gorgon near the cliff. Twilight dared a glance and saw a mare standing where the gorgon had been.

The mare turned to face the gorgons remaining.

"Wait, don't !" Twilight tried to warn the mare.

"Don't come any closer or you'll be tumbling down that cliff with your sister!" the mare said boldly. She glared fiercely at the gorgons straight in their eyes.

Suddenly, the gorgons started freezing up. They screeched and hissed as Twilight watched in amazement. The gorgons began to turn to stone. Seconds later, they were just mere statues.

The mare looked to Twilight. Paying more attention, Twilight could see this mare was an alicorn. She had light purple fur, short straight mane and tail, the color blue, and beautiful sea blue eyes.

"I don't have the power to turn ponies to stone by the way," the mare said. "A counterspell I've always wanted to use! It's called ah, I think you'll know soon enough. They're not going to stay like that for long. Maybe half an hour or so."

"I'm very grateful for you saving my friends and I, but who are you?" Twilight asked, standing up and walking to the alicorn.

The mare seemed to shake as Twilight approached. But she swallowed hard and replied, "My name is Princess Evernight. I am your daughter."