The Foals of Harmony: Equestrian Rhapsody

by Rainy Meadows

Chapter 4 - The Flip of a Coin part 1

Mama, ooh,
Didn’t mean to make you cry
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
As if nothing really matters

Spike paced impatiently back and forth, the sounds of his feet obscured by the padding of his costume.

“Ugh, c’mon Twilight!” he called up the stairs. “We’re going to be late for the Nightmare Night festival!”

He was stunned speechless when Twilight Sparkle emerged from her bedroom. She had hung a bushy false beard from her ears and it dangled loosely over her neck, hiding the clasp of the star-and-moon patterned cloak which covered her body. The same pattern was sewn into the wizard’s hat perched atop her head, and the cloak and hat were lined with bells which jingled uncontrollably as she moved down the stairs.

“Are you that one kooky grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village?” asked Spike, uncertain how to respond.

“I’m Starswirl the Bearded,” Twilight explained.

Spike just stared.

“Father of the amniomorphic spell?”

Even more staring.

“Did you even read that book on obscure unicorn history that I gave you?” Twilight demanded, feeling her patience trickling away down the plughole.

“Uh...” Spike managed, before there was a rap at the door. “That sounds important!” he said, and dashed over to the door, grateful for the handily timed diversion.

He opened the door and was faced with a ladybug, an astronaut and a princess in a veiled hat. And they all united in a short and simple chant.

“Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!”

“Hi everypony!” said Twilight when she reached the door. “Great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith!” she said to the elderly mare who was accompanying the foals.

“I should have been in bed five hours ago!” the apple coloured senior citizen complained.

The foals were pushed aside as a giant chicken with a pink face and bright blue eyes burst through them.

“Enough chitchat!” she squawked. “Time is candy!”

“Pinkie Pie, aren’t you a little old for this?” asked Twilight incredulously.

“Too old for free candy?” asked the hyperactive baker. “NEVER.” She fell silent when she saw her studious friend’s costume.

“Do you like it?” asked Twilight, adjusting her hat.

“Yeah!” said Pinkie. “Great costume, Twilight. You make a fantastic weirdo clown!”

“A clown?!” Twilight demanded as the group disappeared off to another destination. She and Spike made their way out into the village.

“Look at the borders on these robes,” the purple unicorn complained, holding them up for her assistant to see. “These are hoof stitched!”

“It’s a great costume, Grandpa,” Spike said tauntingly, and sniggered at his own joke.

Neither of them noticed that one of the shadows around the library was a little darker than it should have been, almost as if something was lurking there, biding its time, waiting patiently for the perfect moment to emerge...

“Starswirl the Bearded is only the most important conjuror of the preclassical era,” Twilight explained as she and Spike walked through the macabre festivities. “He created more than two hundred spells. He even has a shelf in the Canterlot library named after him! Maybe I should start up a group to teach ponies about history. I bet everypony would love it. Don’t you, Spike?”

“Mhmm, I love it!” Spike was talking indistinctly, possibly because of the enormous amount of sugary treats he had stuffed into his mouth. He was probably referring more to the candy than he was to Twilight’s history group concept.

“Hey look, we’re here already!” Twilight gestured to the arrangement of stalls and sideshow games that had been set up around the village square. A large stage had been set up in front of the town hall, upon which was a band playing catchy, yet at the same time rather spooky melody.

“Should we get something to eat?” asked the student.

Her assistant responded with a loud and satisfied belch. She started to make her way forwards again, but was stopped by an excitable pony in a very realistic Scootaloo costume.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie cried excitedly. “Look at our haul! *Squee* Can you believe it? And then we went to Cheerilee’s house and got a bunch more goodies! And then we had to stop and wait for Granny Smith, and-”

CRACK.

She was cut off in mid chatter by a sudden flash and crash of thunder mere metres above her. She squawked in terror and vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared, and the foals who had been with her quickly followed in her wake.

Twilight glared disapprovingly at the black clad, rainbow maned pegasus who was rolling around laughing on top of a small storm cloud.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said, “that wasn’t very nice!”

“Oh lighten up, old timer,” said Rainbow Dash, “this is the best night of the year for pranks!”

“But look what you did to Spike!” Twilight pointed at the choking, gagging dragon-dressed-as-a-dragon next to her.

“It’s all in good fun,” Dash insisted. “Oh, oh, there’s another group over there!” She grabbed her cloud, sped away a short distance, jumped on it again and zoomed away cackling.

Twilight watched her departure, and noticed something in the way she was moving. The vibrant maned speedster barely emerged from behind that cloud if she could help it, plus the costume she was wearing was of an extremely dark hue and blended in almost seamlessly with the blackness of the night.

It was almost as if the weather pony was trying to make herself invisible.

“Thank you everypony!” said the Mayor as the band concluded their performance, “and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!”

There followed a short cacophony of cheers and applause as Twilight and Spike mingled with the crowd around the stage in the town square.

“Now,” said the Mayor once the noise had died down, “all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of Nightmare Moon!” She spoke the last two words in what was clearly supposed to be a spooky voice, and concluded with an evil laugh.

“The spooky voice might work better if she weren’t dressed like that,” whispered Spike, causing Twilight to giggle.

The stage became enshrouded in a mass of fog, from which the zebra herbalist emerged, dressed in a black cloak and with her mane combed down and bedecked with spiders.

“Follow me,” she said, “and very soon, you’ll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight and Spike followed the group of foals (and one large, out of place chicken) as they entered the Everfree Forest and-

There was something in the trees.

The purple unicorn broke away from the group. She could have sworn she saw a pony-shaped shadow between the trees, and wanted to see what it was.

“Twilight?” said her assistant. “Where’re you going?”

“I think I saw something,” said Twilight. “You go on ahead, I won’t be long!”

She looked around at the trees towering over her head, and jumped when she stepped on a twig and it snapped underneath her hoof.

“Listen close, my little dears,” she heard Zecora saying in the nearby clearing, “I’ll tell you where you got your fears.”

She whipped around when something flashed through the undergrowth behind her, causing her bells to jingle like crazy.

“Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary...”

“Hello?” Twilight called to the otherwise still night air. “Is anypony there?”

“Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary.”

Twilight could tell the show had begun. Eerie green light was dancing on the nearby tree trunks, giving the surrounding shrubbery a ghostly sheen...

...which flashed as a pony shaped shadow darted across it.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Twilight shouted. “Show yourself!”

“Every year, we put on a disguise to save ourselves from her searching eyes.”

Now she was sure she was being watched. The fur on the back of her neck was standing on end, and she could hear rustling not ten feet away from her, followed by a small yet recognisably masculine chuckle.

“I think I can take you!” the student declared. “I can single-hoofedly subdue an Ursa Minor, so I think I can handle a single pony!”

“But Nightmare Moon, wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!”

“Why so serious?” asked a voice which hissed like a snake and sent shivers down her spine.

Twilight turned around and found herself muzzle to muzzle with a hideous creature which asked “Wanna know how I got these scars?” and she leapt back in fright.

The pony before her wore a purple overcoat, along with a green vest which matched his mane colour and a yellow and brown chequered tie. This alone would have caused Rarity to have a heart attack, but his face...

He had painted it pure white, with heavy black around the eyes and red on his lips that extended onto his cheeks in a grotesque artificial smile.

He was terrifying.

But Twilight could tell who it was by the voice.

“Hex!” she cried. “You scared me to death!”

“Um, isn’t that kinda the whole point of Nightmare Night?” asked Hex. “You know, to dress up as something out of a nightmare?”

“Well, not really,” said Twilight, “but yes, that is one of the traditions.”

“You look nice,” Hex said.

“You think so?”

“Yeah! You look exactly like Albus Dumbledore!”

“I’m Starswir- wait, who?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” said Hex, “different literature in this dimension, right. I suppose the name Harry Dresden doesn’t mean anything to you, either?”

“Not really,” said Twilight. “Look, what is this about, Hex? Why were you following me?”

“I...” Even through the thick make-up, Twilight could tell that he was blushing.

‘Awww,’ she thought, ‘he’s nervous!’ She then wondered why in Equestria she would think such a thing.

“I kinda wanted to give you something,” said Hex, apparently not noticing the hoof he was twisting in the ground. His horn glowed with magic, the same jade hue as his eyes, and something levitated out of an inside pocket of his coat.

It was... beautiful. It sparkled in the light of the full moon like a star, illuminating the trees and glinting off the bells on Twilight’s costume. She shielded her eyes and waited for the glow to die down before examining the brilliant object.

It consisted of twelve different types shining jewels (and a couple of pieces which resembled jewels) in a thin, delicate golden frame, in the shape of two hexagonal pyramids joined together at the base. She recognised a diamond, a sapphire, a piece of obsidian, and some other gems that she made a point to research upon returning to the library.

“It’s amazing,” she said, taking it with her magic. “What is it?”

“The Heartstone of Aetheria,” Hex explained. “Amber gave it to me just before we parted. She told me to keep it safe, and that if I was ever to give it away, it would have to be to someone I trusted with my life. On that note, don’t tell Rainbow Dash about this because I don’t think she’d ever forgive me.” He smiled nervously, and Twilight couldn’t help but giggle.

“I’d better get back to the shop,” said Hex. “It’s not exactly a short trip.”

“I understand,” said Twilight. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And, Hex?”

“Yes, Gandalf?”

Damn that cheeky grin of his, it had no business looking so cute on somepony so freaky...

“Thanks.”

His grin softened into a grateful smile and he said “No problem,” before disappearing into the trees.

“Watcha got there, Twilight?”

Twilight hastily shoved the Heartstone under her pillow saying “Uh, nothing. It’s nothing. Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?”

“But I’m not tired!” the baby dragon insisted, but reluctantly buried his head under his pillow after a Look from Twilight.

Once she was certain he was asleep, she withdrew the Heartstone and continued to admire it; how whichever way she turned it, it caught the light in a different way, shining and sparkling in the light of the moon, and she could swear it was glowing and felt slightly warm in her hooves.

Somehow, “thanks” didn’t quite cover it.

It was strange how when she had been talking to Hex, all other sounds – Zecora’s narration and the screams that accompanied it, noises of creatures in the forest, the festivities of the Nightmare Night celebrations in Ponyville – had all faded into the background. It was almost as if he and she were the only beings in the whole world, and to tell the truth, she didn’t mind one bit.

Wait a minute, what was she thinking?

Did she want there to only be herself and Hex? Not that it would be a bad thing, of course...

Twilight simply put these thoughts out of her mind as she settled down to sleep, hoof still resting upon the Heartstone.

“What is it? What is it?”

“Come on, this way!”

“But what is it you want to show me?”

“You’ll know when you see it!”

Twilight could tell this was a dream. How could it not be?

She was running down a street after a bipedal creature taller than she was. She could tell it was male by the voice, which spoke with the same unusual accent as Hex. His skin was a sort of tan/pink colour; he wore odd, loose clothes which flapped about his body as he ran, he had hands rather than hooves on his front legs, and he turned around to look at Twilight with big, brilliant green eyes behind black rimmed glasses, underneath a shock of brown hair.

They were very familiar eyes.

The person she apparently inhabited was following this biped down a road lined with shops. Looking into windows nearby confirmed that she too was a male, also with brown hair and clothes slightly too big for her. Him. Whatever.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” asked her host.

“Don’t make me tell you, Jasen!” said the other biped. “It’ll spoil the surprise!’

“Is it that jellyfish we found the other day? Does it have a mate now? C’mon Haydon, just tell me!”

The two young bipeds soon reached a beach. The taller one, the one Twilight’s host had referred to as Haydon, pointed at something in the water.

“There,” he said.

“Where?” asked Jasen. “What am I looking for?”

“Come with me!” Haydon grabbed Jasen’s hand and pulled him onto a jetty, and pointed down into the water at something below the surface.

It was a large, boxy object made of rusting metal, with broken windows in the sides and a large hole in one end. Twilight had no idea what it was, but apparently her host knew full well.

“It’s a car!” he cried excitedly. “There’s a car in the water!”

“Wanna toss?” asked Haydon. “I pick heads.”

“Heads? But you always pick tails! Why do you want to pick heads when you’re always tails?”

Without answering the question, Haydon produced a small silver coin. As he tossed it into the air and caught it on the back of his hand, Twilight realised how young he was. If he were a pony, he would still only be a foal. He probably wouldn’t even have his cutie mark yet! And he was taller than her, so how old was this Jasen supposed to be?

“Sorry,” said Haydon, “looks like its tails.”

“Bastard,” Jasen muttered under his breath. He breathed in deeply and dived into the water.

The cold temperature hit Twilight like a tonne of bricks. Along with the pressure of the water around her, which stung her eyes and made her ears burn, it tugged at her chest and tried to force her to take a breath. She felt and saw her host surface, gasping for oxygen.

“You alright, Jay?” asked Haydon.

“I’m good, Hay,” Jasen replied, “but this water’s bloody freezing!” He took a second deep breath and dropped beneath the surface.

Once again, Twilight felt the water wrenching at her chest. She saw Jasen’s hand reach out and pull his small body through an open window. The inside of the “car” was rather cramped by a pair of rotten chairs, one of which had something underneath it.

Jasen dived down to see what it was, when a loud crunching noise caught Twilight’s attention. She screamed at the boy to leave whatever it was and exit the car, but he didn’t hear her.

The car gave a sudden lurch to one side-

-and Twilight sat bolt upright, choking and gasping for air.

While sucking in great greedy lungfuls of oxygen, she noticed she had not only wrapped herself up in her quilt, but also rolled off her mattress and onto the floor, and during her struggle to free herself she unknowingly knocked the Heartstone under her bed.

“Hello?”

Twilight froze.

Who had said that?

Never mind. She must have just been hearing things.

“Spike?”

“Yeah?” said Spike, halfway through shoving a pancake into his mouth.

“Do you ever feel like you- I dunno forgot something?” asked Twilight nervously.

Spike considered the question for several seconds.

“Nope,” he said simply. “You gonna eat that?” Barely leaving enough time for an answer, he snatched Twilight’s pancake and stuffed it down his throat to join its friends.

“I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean,” said Twilight. “I just feel like something really important just happened. Something... bad.”

“Ipfs frobably nuffing,” said Spike through a mouthful of pancake.

“You might be right,” said Twilight as she stood up, “but I think I need to clear my head.”

“Well if you meet Jinx let me know,” said Spike, “the guy owes me four bits and a sapphire.” It was then that the purple unicorn froze.

“Who’s Jinx?” she asked.

Her draconian assistant stared at her for a few seconds, before bursting out laughing and sending soggy pancake crumbs everywhere.

“That’s a good one, Twilight!” he practically shouted. “Not knowing who Jinx is; what a laugh!”

Twilight tried to shake some sense into her head as she left the library.

Halfway to the town square, she realised something must be horribly wrong. It wasn’t just the fact that the sky was crowded with clouds, when it was supposed to be sunny today: call it a gut feeling, instinct or just a unicorn’s intuition, but something was definitely not what it was supposed to be.

“OOMPH!”

That was the noise she made next because she was so deep in thought, she had lost track of where she was going and crashed into another pony.

“Oh my goodness,” she said as she picked herself up, “I am so sorry!”

“Why don’t you watch where you’re- Oh. Hey there, Twi.”

Twilight stared at the unfamiliar pony who somehow knew her name. He was a golden brown pegasus. His mane was spiky and black, edged with red, his eyes a greyish blue colour, and he wore a loose shirt which was strictly red. His cutie mark was of some sort of metal cylinder with a coloured substance spraying out of the top.

“Uh...” Twilight was unsure how to respond. “Hello?”

“Watcha doin’?” asked the pegasus. “Out for an early morning walk? I dig that. Mind if I join ya?”

“Actually, I-”

“Oh c’mon, Twi!” He was getting uncomfortably close. “This is your pal Jinx we’re talkin’ here! You know I’d keep you safe. If any bastards tried to jump us I’d take em’ down like that.” He stomped his hoof, apparently proving a point.”

“What are you talking about?”

The pegasus, apparently named Jinx, seemed to lose his patience, if ever he had any.

“Fine,” he said, “be that way. But ya know, I’m not gonna say goodbye. You know why?”

He moved in very close to the lavender unicorn, who felt herself cringing away in surprise and disgust as Jinx said “Because that makes it sound like I don’t want to see you again. And you know I’d like to see you again. Catch you later, babe.”

And with that, he flew away, and Twilight was extremely glad to see him go. Maybe paying a visit to Hex would clear things up.

By the time she reached the top of the mountain, Twilight was exhausted. She made a mental note to ask Hex to install one of those teleport gates in the library.

She froze when she saw the sign above the shop.

“Jinx’s House of Awesomeness?” she read out loud, feeling slightly annoyed -insulted even - at the lack of creativity, and cautiously walked through the door.

The shop was absolutely nothing like she remembered. Instead of assorted gadgets and electrical devices, it was piled high with things like skateboards and cans of spray paint, baseball caps and hoofballs.

The pegasus named Jinx was standing behind the counter in the back.

“Hey,” he said. “Hi there, Twi. Guess you just couldn’t stay away any longer, eh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Twilight said flatly.

“You know,” said Jinx, once more moving uncomfortably close to the purple unicorn. “How you dig me? How you couldn’t stay away from me if you wanted to? C’mon...” He pressed his forehead against hers, “...just one little kiss?”

He narrowed his eyes, presumably intending to be seductive, but that only repulsed Twilight further. She narrowed her own purple eyes, glaring hard into his blue ones, and spoke with a voice as solid as Tom:

“Where. Is. Hex?”

There it was. Just for a moment, the pegasus’ gaze had faltered.

“You’ve done something to him, haven’t you?” Twilight asked. “I know you know him. I can see it in your eyes. Who are you, and what. Have you done. With Hex?”

It was almost impossible to decipher the mix of emotions that flashed across Jinx’s features. There was shock, alarm and surprise mixed together to create some kind of ultrashock: anger was definitely there, and even a little bit of fear, but they eventually settled into an expression of pure, undiluted hatred.

“Get out.”

“I’m going to find out what you’ve done,” Twilight stated, “and I’m going to bring Hex back. I don’t care what anypony says, but you are out of here!”

And with that, she turned and left the shop.

What she didn’t see was the brown pegasus pressing a hoof into his forehead and moaning “Please. Not him. Not now...”

Spike was bored.

Mega bored.

Ultra bored.

He had wondered, when Twilight hadn’t returned as she usually did, if she had gone to visit Jinx – maybe to finally accept his constant and never-ending offers of a date – and decided that maybe he should get on with some chores, but she still wasn’t back.

He sighed and got back to sweeping.

“I don’t suppose you know where Twilight went, do you?” he asked nopony in particular.

“Who?”

Spike turned and looked at the horned owl which had provided the answer to his question.

“Twilight,” he said, “You know, the boss? Most magically gifted unicorn in all of Equestria? The pony Jinx has fancied since they first met?”

“Who?”

“Twi- Awww!” The baby dragon groaned. Hadn’t he made a mental note not to fall for that?

Clink.

While brushing under the bed, his broom hit something metallic.

‘What’s that?’ he thought. He knelt down, reached under the bed and pulled out the object.

Spike had never seen anything so stunning in all his life. It gleamed, glittered, sparkled, shone, glinted and twinkled all at once. The frame of it was gold, but what really interested him were the gems.

He ran a claw across an emerald in one half, and then hesitantly tasted the claw.

Strange.

It had no flavour.

Oh well, surely Twilight wouldn’t mind if he just borrowed it for a while. He put it aside, with the intention of conducting a closer examination when he was done sweeping.

Twilight was lost.

Not physically, of course. She knew Ponyville and the area surrounding it like the back of her hoof, but she felt like her mind had broken into irreparable fragments scattered across Equestria.

She made her way to the area of the Everfree Forest where she had last spoken to Hex.

There was no trace of anypony having ever been there or anywhere near there in fact. Sure, on the ground there were a few strands of white hair from her fake beard, but that was about it.

“Where are you, Hex?” she asked. “What’s happened to you?”

“Twilight, help me!”

Okay, she had not imagined that. It had sounded like he was right behind her! She spun around-

-and found herself alone.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to blink back the tears brimming in her eyes, and made an attempt to clear her head.

Okay, so this was what she knew so far:

Last night, Nightmare Night, she had met Hex (right here) and he had given her a gift compiled of gemstones, precious metals and other incredible things, and it had been the most beautiful gift anypony had ever given to her. She thought back to the way it had sparkled, and those sparkles had reflected in his amazingly green eyes...

Focus!

Upon arriving home after the celebrations, she had removed her costume and gone to bed, examining the Heartstone further, and then...

She had gone to sleep, and when she woke up Hex was gone and this obnoxious jerkass called Jinx had replaced him. And apparently, he had a thing for her, as if it weren’t the most obvious thing in Equestria at the moment.

Wait a minute...

Of course! The Heartstone must have protected her from whatever – or indeed whoever – had taken Hex! He must have known something about what was going to happen, and he trusted Twilight to bring him back!

In a way it was rather flattering, really.

Twilight put this thought out of her head. She needed to get the Heartstone, talk to Jinx (she shuddered at the thought) and do whatever it took to bring Hex back!

But then she felt... odd, as if she were slipping away...

Well, it had been ages, and Twilight still hadn’t returned, so Spike took out the gemstone-thing for a closer look.

It really was beautiful (although not quite as beautiful as Rarity). It was amazing how whichever way he turned it it’d catch the light in a different way. Spike felt privileged: whatever this thing was, it was truly a phenomenon to behold.

And the whole thing put together must have been worth millions of bits...

WHOOSH.

If what happened to Spike next could have made a sound, it would have gone “whoosh”. He felt like he was caught in another of those portal storms from a couple of weeks ago, but this time, as well as feeling like he was inside out and upside down, he felt like he was the right way up and the right way out at the same time. He screamed soundlessly as his mind was pushed, pulled, stretched and distorted-

-and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

The baby dragon blinked his way back into being.

Hang on a sec – why was it night time? How long had that stretchy whirly mind thingy lasted? He glanced at the clock, which proclaimed that it was 11am: exactly what it had been.

Spike ran outside and looked around. There were quite a lot of ponies in the street – of course, it was Market Day! He ran over to where a familiar fruit stand was being set up.

“Applejack!” he called. “Boy am I glad to see you! Have you seen Twilight anywhere?”

“Twilight?” asked the apple pony. “Who in the hay is Twilight?”

Okay. Now Spike was really confused.

Not to mention scared.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded. “Everypony knows Twilight!” He looked up at the moon overhead, the stars that speckled the indigo sky and the cold wind which blew clouds in from the Everfree Forest.

“And why is it night-time?”

NEXT TIME: The Flip of a Coin part 2

“I’m here. Don’t know about the pony bit anymore though.”

“Where’s Twilight? What have you done with her?”

“He was my brother, Twilight. My kid brother. And I killed him.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I. Want. Twilight. BACK.”

Author's Note: It's finally finished! If there's one thing I hate, it's writing myself into a corner: I came up with the idea for this while watching an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, but once I got started I had almost no idea how to put it into writing - I hope I'm not alone in saying this. Also, this particular episode of Equestrian Rhapsody has given me a good idea of what to draw for the new cover image. Hope you enjoyed this latest instalment, and I want to give another shout out to the bronies tracking this story - you guys rule!

Comments

[clap2times]

Interesting...

ALTERNATE UNIVERSES FTW

[Rainy Meadows]

253834 I WAS having a rather bad day. Thank you!

[Darkness_take_you]

100 universe's........god knows how many versions of them.