The Minuet

by Noble Phantasm

May We All be Smiling in the End

Chapter 11: May We All be Smiling in the End

Time and Space Await…

-One cannot make the choice never to be afraid. They can choose only to hide their fears or overcome them.

Rather than a full fledged duel or training with combat magic, Colgate’s lesson was on focus. Sombra had her levitating small crystals that he had given her and channeling magic through them, trying all the while to maintain a steady rate and not break the “conduit” as Sombra had told her. She hadn’t expected to be immediately adept at her energy control, but she broke more of them than she or Sombra might have liked. All the while Ruya slept quietly on the couch Colgate had been on before when she had overexerted herself. Sombra had been confused when Colgate insisted that she be in the same room as Ruya while she trained and raised his eyebrow enough times to make her uncomfortable, but when she persisted he didn’t see any harm in it. As much as Colgate didn’t want to disturb Ruya, she didn’t want Discord to either. While he hadn’t shown his face since he made his last threat, it still made her nervous. Perhaps it was the nervousness that had the small crystals popping in her face when her thoughts strayed too much. Sombra had left her relatively to herself after he had told her what she was supposed to do, but after an interval he came back and upon seeing how many she had broken in her attempts to control her magic he donned a subtle look of disapproval. Colgate didn’t think he meant for her to notice, but she could tell he wasn’t altogether thrilled. Yet he retracted the expression after a moment.

“Keep trying,” he said, and left her to it again. She wasn’t entirely sure how long she was able to channel her magic through each crystal as she had no way to gauge her attempts and there were times when she lost track of herself completely and was only jarred from her reverie by the light snap of the crystal she was levitating in front of her nose as it popped into multiple pieces. On her last attempt she had nearly fallen asleep and had jerked her neck up when she heard the gem clink to the stone floor. She shook her head and brushed her mane back wearily. It was quiet. Colgate looked to Ruya and let out a sigh. The filly’s breathing was the only sound in the room.

Colgate stood up and levitating the glass-like shard she had been working with off the floor, set it on the table with its counterparts. She moved around the table to the foot of the couch feeling a bit like a mother as she raised a hoof and brushed Ruya’s shimmery mane back. The filly shifted, subconsciously trying to burrow her way further into the cushions. Her black hair was surprisingly soft despite its gemlike appearance and her brown fur coat was slightly unkempt from the way she had been sleeping. Colgate gave another sigh, the necklace Ruya had given her catching her eye. She still felt slightly guilty for whatever reason even though Ruya’s gift had been entirely unprompted. There wasn’t anything Colgate could give her in return either. She looked up. Or was there? She took passing glances around the room until her eyes landed on the small group of tiny crystals sitting on the table. There were still several left and the remains of many that she had broken. She smiled at them a little as an idea made its way into her head. It didn’t have to be complex and Colgate was certain Sombra wouldn’t miss a few crystals, especially the broken ones. She moved back around the table and sat down before the pile of gems. Could she even do this, she thought? She had trouble enough doing normal magic. But Sombra had said that transformation magic was easier than projection so doing this shouldn’t be a problem after she had created volumes of dental floss out of thin air right? At least that was the excuse she gave herself to try.

She focused on a grouping of the crystals and brought them together. She closed her eyes and visualized what she wanted the end result to be. She felt her magic do its work and when she was confident she had succeeded she opened her eyes. She frowned. She had done nothing but make a jagged mesh of shiny rocks probably useful for nothing other than throwing at her enemies. The edges were sharp enough to make one’s head bleed and it might have made a good kaleidoscope but that wasn‘t what she had been shooting for. Colgate shook her head and tried again. Opening her eyes this time yielded the same result only a different shape. She tried again and again until her mental exhaustion from training for so long started to catch up with her. Still nothing. She banged her hooves on the table in frustration flinching back and immediately regretting it, holding her breath, remembering that Ruya was only a few feet away. The filly stirred, but only managed to roll away from Colgate onto her side facing away. Colgate set her hooves lightly down to the floor and released her pent up air in relief.

She went right back to it. Trying twice more and still failing. She lowered her head. The crystal had become stubborn silly putty and simply refused to do what she wanted it to. Was making even a simple gift for one of her few friends here beyond her capacity? Colgate’s head was heavy and her mouth was beginning to feel a little dry. She swallowed. Without looking at the lump of crystal she had made, her horn lit up and with a pop, she reduced it to a powder. She slumped her forehead to the table, exasperated. She took as deep a breath she could and let all of it out. Closing her eyes one last time she tried to remember what she had been doing for the last few hours. Her focus was clearer now and she heard the powder on the table merge back together into its crystalline state. She kept her initial image in her head all the while. As she finished, she opened her eyes and lifted her head slowly…Nothing…

It was the same as before. Just a useless lump of rock. She lifted the object up in despair and held it in front of her. She looked past it to Ruya and imagined how the filly would look with it if what Colgate wanted to do had worked. She gave a huff, but it seemed like something clicked. She felt a small amount of magic trickle out and the crystal cracked in half and as the two halves separated and clunked against the wood table like bricks, Colgate was left holding a perfectly shaped crystal bow in front of her. At first she couldn’t believe it. It…It worked, she mouthed to herself. She stood up, a bit excited. Something, she thought, I…I need something to-to tie it on. She looked to the couch Ruya lay on. It was the only source of fabric in the room. It couldn’t hurt and it was her only option. The oversized chair would simply have to do without a few strings. This was important. She slunk down to the bottom of the piece of furniture and unraveled parts of the dress flaps. Only as much as she needed. She fused the pieces of cloth into the center of the bow like a seamstress. Perhaps her focus training was already paying off. She was also surprised to see that as she did this, the crystal took on the faded greenish color of the fabric. It looked like an emerald when she was done. Her eyes glowed with success, the sparkling bow reflecting the light back. It was better than she thought it would be. She quickly got up and moved around the table back to Ruya, who was still sound asleep lying on her left side. The bow Colgate had made wasn’t big by any means, but big enough to be noticeable on a small pony like Ruya. Colgate quietly and gently leaned over her and tied the bow by the fabric into Ruya’s mane behind her right ear. The light on her horn finally vanished as she finished. She sighed this time with relief. It felt good and Colgate couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks best pal…” She whispered. She glanced around to make sure no pony was there and when she was sure, Colgate leaned in and gave Ruya a slight peck on the cheek. A few moments passed and Ruya’s ear gave a twitch. Colgate crinkled her nose and turning her head to the floor turned beat red in the silence. Why why why why why why why why why why why why? It didn’t make sense. No pony had seen. She just felt embarrassed for herself. She didn’t really know why she had done what she did, but it felt stupid and mooshy now. It took several minutes and a little bit of hitting herself both mentally and physically in the side of her head with a hoof for her to calm down and rub off the awkwardness. Even after she did she still thought it was silly. But she didn’t regret it.

“I’m way too homesick,” she said to herself. Before she could dig herself any deeper the room was illuminated by a blinding surge of light. Colgate put a hoof to her eyes and Ruya’s. The spectacle was accompanied by a low rumble and a hiss like a volcano that was beginning to reach its limits. In an instant, the light was sucked back to a point out the window as quickly as it arrived like a firework. Colgate lowered her hoof from her eyes and took the other away from Ruya’s. She sure was a heavy sleeper. She hadn’t even so much as rolled over again. The crystal bow was still there and Colgate couldn’t help but feel proud of it and the fact that she had finally been able to give back to her friend. But what had just happened?

Colgate looked to the door and then back to Ruya. She didn’t like the thought of leaving Ruya alone, but there was something unsettling about that light. She needed rest just like any other pony and so letting her sleep, Colgate opened the door and swung into Sombra’s study, shutting it lightly behind her. She took no extra time rushing out the next door into what had suddenly become night. Yet Colgate had no trouble distinguishing what she found to her left as she emerged outside. Celestia was lying unconscious on the stone road with Luna on top of her just as conscious. Above them were six hoof sized gems of different colors, glowing in the blueness around them. Colgate went wide eyed.

“The elements…of harmony?” She breathed out. She had only ever seen them around the necks of Twilight Sparkle and her friends and these certainly were not necklaces. There was nothing else that gave off the kind of chilling feeling that these things did. Their presence was so raw and unabating that being so close to them seemed to push in on her with a pressure like the one she felt when she had tried to enter the cave with Luna and Celestia. It was like they were pushing her away because she wasn’t entirely harmonious.

“The what?” Sombra came up behind her.

“Ah!” Colgate nearly jumped. “I-uh…”

“Did you see what happened?” Sombra asked. His tone was rather urgent and Colgate was unsure why he seemed so uneasy.

“It was hard to see anything with all that light,” Colgate answered. Sombra brushed by Colgate swiftly and lifted both of the sister’s heads with a hoof one after the other with a problematic expression on his face.

“They’re not conscious,” He said. “Help me get them inside before they attract any attention.” He moved Luna off of Celestia and using his magic lifted the latter from the ground and carried her toward his study motioning as he passed for Colgate to get the one he left behind.

“What about-” Colgate stopped as she watched three of the elements followed behind Celestia in single file as she drifted through the air like ducklings to their mother. She looked back to Luna and sure enough the three others were still floating in a triangle above her head. How had Sombra known they would follow? Maybe he was just better at rolling along with the situation than she was. She shrugged and using her magic lifted Luna from the ground and just like the three elements that followed Celestia, the ones above Luna followed behind as Colgate made her way back into Sombra’s study. Lifting something that was actually living was much different Colgate realized than any inanimate object that she had used her magic on. Just like when she had stopped time to move the sisters out of danger, carrying even a pony as small as Luna provided a bit of strain. Had she had to move her any farther than the short distance into the study, all the practicing she had done before might have taken its toll.

Colgate walked inside and set Luna gently next to where Sombra had put Celestia in the center of the room. They were rather unresponsive. It was like they were in a fixed state of sleep that just had to run its course. Colgate nudged Luna once or twice with a hoof to no other result than making her think herself strange again.

“I need to check on things outside,” Sombra told her presently, heading quickly past her to the door. “Watch them.”

“Wh-” clunk. The door had already shut behind him. Was he really that concerned with them drawing attention? Colgate shrugged. She turned back to Luna and Celestia her gaze drawn to the relics floating above their heads. A chill ran down her spine. She felt like they were staring at her and not in a curious way, but like they were looking through her to every weakness she ever held or admitted to. She instinctly shrunk back a bit and catching herself doing so wondered why. It was short lived though. As she looked down to shake off the feeling her eyes came back up to find something floating above the elements. Colgate jumped back, her horn giving a spark as her legs stiffened.

“Discord!” She nearly hissed the name. He threw his hands in the air like he had been there the entire time.

“What?” He looked around in a fabricated sense of confusion spinning in circles and twisting himself every which way in the air nearly tying himself in a knot once or twice. “Where? Oh dear not again.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” Colgate scoffed glaring at Discord. He stopped returning her gaze with a disappointed frown leaning his head on a fist supported by an elbow that seemed to be set on an invisible surface.

“You know,” He sighed. “I think you get less fun every time I see you.” In a flash he was in her face with an enormous grin “C’mon! Let’s see those pretty teeth of yours.” He tried to grab at her cheeks, but she swatted at him with a hoof.

“Get away!” She said forcefully. Before she made any contact though he vanished and popped right back where he had been before just above the elements. “Besides, it’s my job to look at others’ teeth. Mine are fine.” She nodded in affirmation of her won statement, but keeping an ever watchful eye on the serpent before her. How could he just hover there like that, she thought? The elements of harmony were right there. Should he have allergies to them or something? They felt imposing enough to her. What about someone as averse to their nature as he was?

“Are you mad at me?” Discord smirked. Colgate didn’t answer, but held his gaze her horn throwing off periodic sparks. She was ready to act if he tried anything funny. She wished Sombra would come back, but Discord seemed to show up at the worst times. “I see you found something for me,” He continued, eyeing the floating gems before him with enthusiasm. “They’re really quite something.”

“You probably can’t even touch them,” Colgate taunted him, still remaining stiffly in place.

“Oh dear,” He seemed to fret. “Me? No. But I bet you can. If you got these for me perhaps you can be a good little pony and take one to the edge of the Everfree for me.” Discord pressed his fingers together with a sly smile.

“What are you playing at?” Colgate asked. “There’s no way I’d do anything for you, especially that. You know what these are.”

“Oh pffff.” He seemed baffled and a bit offended. “Do I!?” Colgate narrowed her eyes at Discord. Did he, she suddenly wondered? She took a step back, self aware and unsure of herself now.

“Y-yes.” She stammered. “Now go away.” She grit her teeth and set her horn alight as a sort of final warning.

“Hmmm,” Discord frowned. “Fine then. I guess I’ll just be in the next room. I’m sure there are others who could help me.” His demeanor was rather smug and he kept a backward gaze with one eye on Colgate as he moved to the door at the side of the study. At first she was inclined to let him leave, but seeing him turn his back and even begin to depart returned just enough mental clarity for her to remember that Ruya was still asleep in the room he was headed toward. Discord knew this, she thought, or he would not have drawn out his movements waiting for her to realize. As soon as she did she snapped her magic into action and from behind her shot several strands of floss formed into a wall of white that slammed into the wall next to the door barring Discord’s path.

“I said go away!” Colgate growled impatiently. Discord stopped, smiling brightly at the dental strands and plucking at them with his fingers making a sick twanging like a broken violin.

“Ooooo!” The sounds continued as Discord went up the scale pretending he was playing a harp. “This is new.”

“Stay out of there…”

“Oh, but I’m just trying to make friends.”

“You’re a liar.”

“Who me?” Discord lounged back in the air and flicked the floss and it crumbled away into dust and vanished like a crumbly cookie.

“If you want to make friends, leave my friend alone. Besides,” Colgate added. “She’s asleep.”

“Well if that’s the case perhaps we should talk elsewhere,” Discord slithered forward and glared at Colgate eye to eye slowly drawing closer holding a malicious smirk that became overshadowed as he leaned in until they were nearly nose to nose. Colgate stood her ground, returning Discord’s gaze. “I’d hate to…disturb her.”

“What do you want?” Colgate asked, their speech dissolving into a hush.

“You see,” Discord backed off as he began to explain. “I’ve grown rather bored of waiting for you and your friends to give up the Everfree, so I thought you might be able to entertain me.” He paused. “Oh and Screwball has been pining quite a bit for her old playmate.” Colgate had a bad feeling about this, but if all she had to do to get him to leave them alone was play along for a bit, it would be worth it. All she had to do was hold him off or “entertain him” as he put it, until Luna and Celestia woke up. They had the elements. Discord wouldn’t last long against them.

“If I go with you, then you’ll leave them alone?”

“Would I lie?” Discord pressed a hand to his chest in an earnest gesture.

“Yes,” Colgate answered bluntly.

“Well I’m sorry you feel that way, but I stand by what I said.”

“Fine,” Colgate shot back. “I’ll go with you. But you’re not getting any of the elements.”

“Oh?” Discord perked up. “The what now?” Colgate immediately regretted saying anything other than agreeing with him. She tried her best not to show it, but knew she hadn’t succeeded. She shifted, far too self aware standing in her mistake. “Is that what these are?” Discord turned his gaze back to the gems floating above the two unconscious alicorns.

“It doesn’t matter,” Colgate sent a shock through the air in his direction the lightning snapping like a firecracker in front of Discord’s nose. “They’re not part of the deal.” Discord backed off putting his hands up while he drifted toward the far wall.

“Right right.” Colgate stepped between him and the sisters, glancing at the elements again before turning back to Discord. He never actually touched them, but Colgate couldn’t be entirely sure that he was completely unable to.

“Well? This was you’re idea. It’s your job to get us out of here.”

“Oh I’m sure that shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

“Hey y-” Before Colgate could finish Discord snapped his fingers and It seemed like Colgate was pulled through the walls of the castle in blur. It gave her a horrible headache and the only indication that she was in the Everfree now rather than the castle was the freer, cooler air filtering through her mane and across the back of her neck. She was incredibly dizzy at first the green shades of the forest spinning around her. It was a few moments before Colgate managed to gather herself relieved only at first by the knowledge that she was still standing on all four hooves. She shook her head several times to wave off the vertigo, her contempt with Discord returning as her senses did. When she could finally tell that she was looking at the ground she raised her head to find Discord patiently hovering in front her against a nearby poplar. She glared at him.

“I should have known not to trust you when you said you wouldn’t do anything funny.” She said.

“You have only yourself to blame for that one,” Discord shrugged.

“Whatever.” Colgate was beginning to regret agreeing to anything he had said, but if this was enough to keep him away from Ruya then it was worth it. “Which way are we going?”

“This way my little pony.” Colgate frowned, shooting a disapproving look at Discord’s back before following despite his remark. The edge of the Everfree couldn’t be too far, Colgate thought as they walked leaving the wall of the old Canterlot behind them. There was only once that Colgate even hesitated. This was what she needed to do. It was her part and was something she could actually accomplish. She felt, for perhaps the first time since she had gotten here, she was doing something with some kind of purpose. Yet, several minutes into walking she felt a twinge in her head like a nerve that was pulling at her. She felt compelled to stop like something was telling her not to go. Had the feeling persisted, she might have been compelled by it, but just as she felt it and stopped for a moment, it passed. She shrugged and kept going, Discord floating along at a steady pace, not pausing even in the moment that she had. She didn’t speak to him at all. It would have been far too aggravating. She rather decided to at least enjoy her stroll through the Everfree. The soil was soft under her hooves and the taste of the air was loamy, smelling of moist dirt and well nourished leaves.

This feeling seemed entirely broken when her hooves at last met the hard and artificial surface of Discord’s checkerboard landscape. The iced trees were enough to snap her from her reverie and her hooves already missed the feel of the Everfree’s soil when presented with the hard plastic feel. There was a pop and Discord vanished from in front of her and Colgate blinked a few times, disoriented by the flash and looked around as if she had just noticed where she had brought herself. A familiar giggle broke the silence.

“Ahahaha! It’s Clocktail!” It echoed. “She’s here! She’s here! You were right daddy! She came back!” Colgate was immediately set on edge by a sound like huge chunks of ice shattering against the ground, sending tremors underneath her hooves and a noise like a cataclysmic hailstorm through the air. It was delicate like glass, but horrible as it drew closer with each crash.

“HI!” Screwball suddenly popped up face to face with Colgate and she stumbled backwards as the swirly eyed mare bounced about with an indescribable glee. “Tickory tickety tock! She’s got a tail with a clock! Look daddy she even brought us something!” Colgate raised a questioning eyebrow as the mare spun wildly upward in a spiral abruptly stopping as Discord appeared at its peak with a flash.

“Why hello there,” Discord greeted her. “It’s so nice to see you again. Did you miss us?”

“I bet she did daddy! I bet she did! She just wants to play again!”

“What do you mean?” Colgate asked, ignoring Screwball and generally trying to address Discord as the mare bounced around in the air twirling her hoof and performing spins that affirmed the propeller on her toyetic looking hat was not the method by which she flew…at least by appearance. “You’re the one that led me here. This was your idea Discord.” She put extra emphasis on his name and he seemed rather shocked by her pointed speech.

“Was it?” He scratched his chin. “But I’ve been here the whole time.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

“But I have,” He said innocently. “I must say, you sure do know a lot. If it weren’t for you I never would have known those silly little gems were the elements of harmony. How silly.”

“How did you…”

“Please Minuette,” Discord smirked vanishing and reappeared next to her, putting an arm around her and pressing their faces together cheek to cheek. “I’ve been in your tiny little head since we first met right outside the Everfree.” He grabbed her nose and yanked it around waving her head back and forth. Colgate shoved him away, but ended up pushing herself away from him rather than pushing him away.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s hard for me to admit but,” Discord put on a false sad face. “I can’t enter the Everfree with those awful gems keeping me out,” his smile returned. “But you can! And you’re so delightfully gullible. Even though no one else could see me but you, you never caught on that someone was pulling your strings the whole time.” Colgate lowered her ears, sinking into a sense of dread.

“Ahaha!” Discord laughed at her. “Isn’t it great? I wouldn’t have been able to touch any of your little friends if I tried, but you didn’t know. You fell for everything!”

“Shut up!” Colgate yelled back at him.

“Oooooo!” Screwball danced around overhead. “She’s mad daddy. Very mad! Seething even!”

“You too!” Colgate shouted in return, immediately turning back to Discord. “Your stupid prank doesn’t matter anyway. If you know what the elements of harmony are then you know that Luna and Celestia have them. It’s too late Discord. They can beat you!”

“Oh?” He suppressed a laugh. “You see Minuette, that’s the best part. They can’t! Thanks to you. You helped me win. Thanks pal.” Discord’s arm extended an abnormal length from where he was and grabbing one of Colgate’s hooves, shook it cordially.

“I’d never help you,” Colgate said yanking her hoof from his grip. “You’re lying.”

“Am I? Why else would you fetch me this?” His extended arm reached behind Colgate’s ear, retrieved something with a clink, and retracted to its normal length with a red gem in its grasp. Her heart skipped beat, dropping into her stomach.

“Ahaha!” Discord laughed. “Your face!” Screwball joined in on the insuring bout of laughter, giggling along with her supposed father at their apparent success.

“She’s stumped!” Screwball jeered. “Positively stunned!”

“H-how…” Screwball was right, Colgate was stunned. This had to be a dream. She was searching for an explanation. An excuse. “I-it’s not…It’s fake!” Colgate stammered. “It has to be…”

“No,” Discord grinned holding the gem up in his hand. “It’s the real thing! One element of harmony. And you know don’t you Minuette? They don’t work without all of them do they?” Discord loomed over her, holding them element in the palm of his hand. His shadow seemed overwhelming even in the pale light of the half night he had created. It hit her hard. He was right. They wouldn’t work and it was her fault. Why had she been so stupid? It was broken, all of it. She had ruined everyone’s future. What would there be for her to come back to now? She had to get that element back. She hunkered down and her horn lit up. Everyone’s future depended on her doing this. She loosed a blue beam into the air at which Discord promptly raised his other hand to and deflected without visibly trying.

“So long harmony…” He clenched the hand the element was in into a fist and Colgate watched as it cracked in his grip and shattered. His fist closed and the jagged remains of element plummeted toward her losing their ruby sheen and turning a dull gray. She wilted, lowering her ears and flopping into a sitting position. The pieces clattered to the earth around her, with clinks that were heavier in her ears than the crashes that sounded like glacier being spliced in half that she had been privy to earlier. Had she tried to raise her ears back up, she assumed she wouldn’t have been able to. The burden was too much. These shards were weights all dropped from a high balcony, slamming into her conscience as each met the end of their fall. Compared to this, burning Berry Punch’s crops seemed simple to remedy and rather trifling not even worth serious contemplation. The last of the shards rolled a stop claiming their places among the checkerboard lines all around her. The gem had been red, she realized. Wasn’t that the color Rainbow Dash wore? Fate was mocking her. The broken element around her had been loyalty. Discord hung over her with a smile and the air was filled with Screwball’s laughter. To Colgate though, it seemed silent. The only echo being the sound of the singular thought running through her mind.

I screwed up…

Interlude 5:

The crystal pony is stirred from her slumber by a thump against the wall. Was Minuette training again? She shifts, trying to tuck her face further into the cushions and sink back into her sleep. She is inevitably drawn out of her slumber reluctantly, unable to retrieve her dreamlike state. She had been in a good dream too. She was stargazing with a friend telling the light blue mare how it was Luna who raised all those lights into the sky. Her friend didn’t believe her, but she said she knew it would be true. She hears talking muffled by the wall that separates the two rooms. It is several minutes before she opens her eyes and as she does the conversation ends and the neighboring room falls silent. She stands up, stretching herself out like a cat to ward off the drowsiness, her hooves sinking into the cushions as she pushes against them. Her mouth gapes in a wide yawn as she finishes and blinking a few time, pans her gaze about the room. There is no one here.

“Dentist pony?” She calls at a moderate volume. She is a bit disappointed when there is no answer. She had wanted to play more, but had fallen asleep after running around so much. She hops off the couch and trots over to the door and opens it into Sombra’s study. As she enters, two ponies are groggily raising themselves from the floor just as she had done a few moments ago.

“Luna! Celestia!” The little filly exclaims as she realizes who the two mares are. “You’re back!”

“Ruya?” The smaller alicorn inquires as she struggles against her heavy eyelids.

“Ooo! What are those?” The jewels suspended over the alicorns’ heads catch the little mare’s eyes and she marvels for a moment at the way they sparkle in the dim light even more than her own crystal coat does.

“These are it, Ruya,” The pink maned alicorn explains rubbing her eyes with a hoof. “These are what Sombra was talking about. They’re the elements of harmony. We can beat Discord with these.”

“Really?” the filly’s face lights up with a hopeful smile.

“Elements of harmony?” A voice questions. The three ponies in the room look to the door and sure enough Sombra is standing in the entryway quickly closing it behind him looking a bit on the uneasy side.

“Yes,” The older alicorn confirms. “That’s what they said they were.”

“They spoke to you?”

“Sort of I guess. How did we get here anyway?”

“There was a bright light,” The gray unicorn explains. “I carried you in here with Minuette’s help so you wouldn’t draw attention and then went to make sure no one got suspicious. That’s not what disturbs me though. You said these things spoke to you. Just you?” The pink maned alicorn nods, her sister still trying to get the sleep out of her eyes. “Then it is odd that Minuette would call them the same name.”

“She knew what they were?”

“I knew dentist pony was a smart pony,” The crystal pony chimes in, pleased with her friend’s insight.

“It takes more than smarts for that,” the gray unicorn cautions her. “Also, were there not six of these gems before?” The older alicorn looks above her, confused as she still finds three of them hovering over her until she hears a gasp from her sister next to her.

“Tia…” The smaller alicorn says slowly as she comes to her realization. “I-I only have two…”

“What?”

“We’re missing one Tia!” The midnight blue mare begins to panic.

“Luna calm down,” her sister tries to reassure her.

“I swear I didn’t lose it! We had all of them right? I mean we just woke up. I-I…I didn’t…”

“Shh shh,” The older alicorn places a wing around her sister trying to reassure her. “You didn’t do anything wrong Luna. Don’t worry, we’ll find it.” The smaller alicorn breathes a heavy sigh, calming down, but still visibly upset at losing something she felt she had been responsible for.

“Hmm,” The gray unicorn contemplates. “Minuette was here when I left. That wasn’t too long ago. She might know. Where is she? Was she with you Ruya?”

“Nope, nope,” The crystal pony answers. “I just woke up too. But I’ll find her. Friendship radar go!” With that she scampers out the door, confidently shoving it open and peering around the corner before moving outside.

“Ruya wait,” The pink maned alicorn calls after and gives chase.

“Hey Tia wh-” The midnight blue alicorn protests, but stops as she watches the three elements that had been above her sister’s head follow her out the door after Ruya. She tilts her head, but promptly follows them without complaining any further turning back to see her two remaining elements follow her. The unicorn remaining in the room eyes them as she passes and heads through the door after her making sure to close it. This wasn’t as bad, he thought. At least they were awake now. If they attracted any attention they could at least deal with it.

The filly stops before the stone wall around the castle and points up at it as the pink maned alicorn stops beside her.

“Up!” She says with enthusiasm.

“Ruya…” The alicorn looks at her with a look of disapproval, but the crystal pony pays no attention to it.

“Up.” She repeats. The alicorn rolls her eyes and using her magic she lifts the filly onto her back and spreading her wings pushes her way against the air up to the top of the wall. The filly hops down before the alicorn even has a solid foothold and turns to look out over the city for her friend.

“Dentist pony!” she calls across the town now lit by what seems like a static dawn, more light than a normal night, but far too dim to be considered day. The wind brushing across stone is the filly’s only answer even as she calls a second and third time.

“Why do you call her that?” The alicorn asks her.

“Well I’m the only one. She’ll know it’s me. Besides, she said she was a dentist so I call her dentist pony.” She calls a few more time to no effect not even the sleepy citizens hiding away in their beds come out to see what she’s going on about. The younger alicorn presently joins them after flying above the castle trying to get a better view. She lands next to her sister, puzzled, unable to find the mare they are looking for.

“I don’t see her Tia. M-” She says and stops. Her sister is looking out over the wall into the Everfree squinting. “Sis?”

“Luna…Look,” She points and the smaller alicorn looks at her sister and then to forest trying to follow her sister’s gaze to what she is pointing at. Her eyes land on a pony. A pony walking away from the castle.

“Is…Is that…?” She trails off.

“What? What?” The crystal pony turns to see what the two are looking at. She pokes her head over the top of the wall looking back at the two alicorns and then back to forest twice before finally seeing the lone pony among the trees in the distance. In a flash of red magic a gray unicorn teleports to the top of the wall where they are standing.

“Was this really necessary?” He asks. But looking to his friends reveals that their gazes are all fixed on the same thing.

“Is that her?” The crystal pony blurts out? “Minuette!” She called. “Minueeeette!” The pony in the distance stops. Her expression brightens. “I think she heard me. Minueeeeette!”

“Is that really her?” The unicorn’s horn lights up an eerie green and his eyes follow casting a smoke like shadow near the corners. The pony in the distance continues walking, hesitating only for a moment before vanishing into the thickness of the Everfree. The pink maned alicorn looks to the unicorn and seeing the magic he is using proceeds to scold him.

“Sombra!” She moves toward him, but he stops the spell before she can intervene and she halts in place as all of them fall silent. “You know dark magic is dangerous. E-even for simple things…” Neither of the other two ponies says anything, the crystal pony looking to the others, puzzled, unaware of what her uncle has done. The atmosphere seems to have changed and Sombra’s curious demeanor has darkened.

“Do you know what that spell was?” He asks.

“Of course I do,” Celestia affirms

“Tia…” Luna seems to want to stop her, but sinks back under the pressure she sees in her sister’s gaze at Sombra.

“Tell me…” Sombra begins. “This entire time…have I been training a thief?”

“What?” Celestia looks back to the forest and then to Sombra whose gaze is stern and serious, but there is something boiling beneath it. His eyes betray that he is holding back.

“Hey!” Ruya jumps in. “Don’t say bad things about dentist pony!”

“She has your missing element,” Sombra says bluntly to invalidate Ruya’s protest.

“What!?” Luna looks to her sister as if to ask if what Sombra is saying is true.

“Is that what you saw…?” Celestia’s expression darkens.

“Where did you originally run into this pony again?”

“Right after Discord beat us the first time…” Celestia seems to know what Sombra is getting at.

“Sis you can’t be serious,” Luna glances between the two of them trying to suggest there has to be some other explanation. “She wouldn’t do that. She helped us…She helped me…”

“Do you think that Discord could have perhaps placed her there?” Sombra continues, ignoring the complaints on the side “To follow you…?” Celestia expression is resolute, pained, far from the face filled with hope that she had worn when all of the elements had been spinning around her and her sister and she was faced only with the prospect of finally reclaiming Equestria from Discord’s grasp.

“It’s possible…” She replies resolutely. Has he really been that many steps ahead of them from the very beginning she asks herself? Was Minuette really nothing more than a pawn to gain their trust just to swindle them in the very end when victory was finally in sight?

“Tia…” Her sister walks up to her, pressing a hoof to her side.

“I thought you never liked her anyway,” Celestia answers coldly.

“I…” Luna lowers her hoof and hangs her head. “Yeah…”

“Hey,” Ruya forces her way into the conversation addressing Sombra. “What are you saying?” Sombra approaches his niece, no intention of hiding the truth or being soft in any way.

“I’m saying your dentist friend was never your friend.”

“Wh,” The little filly starts to tear up. She feels that she is being pressured into doubt and ganged up on. Luna falls silent only looking at her with a crestfallen eyes that tell her to forgo her faith in her friend as Sombra is standing over her casting a shadow that seems to flatten her presence, and Celestia won’t even glance at her keeping her gaze fixed on the spot where she saw Minuette disappear into the trees. “Yes she was.” Sombra simply shakes his head in response.

“She was!” Ruya begins to cry. “We- we played together. She laughed with me… S-s she…” She takes a gulp trying to swallow her tears back into her eyes only to find her throat has no control over them. “She’s a nice pony.”

“Ruya…She stole one of the elements Luna and Celestia found. She’s taking it to-”

“No!” Ruya interrupts her uncle. “You didn’t actually see. You’re lying!” Sombra glares down at her and begins to slowly step toward her. Ruya sinks to her stomach gazing up in terror as his eyes flash green.

“Don’t ever-” He starts.

“Sombra!” Luna dashes in between the two, sheltering Ruya with one of her wings and locking eyes with Sombra. Ruya presses herself against her. The alicorn’s knees are trembling.

“Stop,” her words quiver off her tongue. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.” There is silence while the two join in a deadly stare-off. The thing that breaks it is a whimper from underneath Luna’s wing and the squeaks of a filly who can’t stop crying. In the face of Luna’s persistence Sombra backs down, clearing his throat as if to correct himself.

“We still need that element,” He says and turns his back on the two. Luna lifts her wing from over Ruya only to find the filly sobbing into the cold stone beneath her.

“I-I’m sorry Ruya,” Luna tries to console her. She looks up, her vision blurred by the water in her eyes.

“She didn’t,” She tells herself. “She wouldn’t do that. You believe me right?” Luna finds it hard to look Ruya in the eye, but she finds it harder still to lie to her. She can’t.

“I want to…” she replies. As the filly buries her face in her hooves again, a glint from something in Ruya’s mane catches her eye. It contrasts the sheen of the rest of her hair and there is something distinct in the sparkle it emits. Taking a second glance, the alicorn finds a small green bow made of crystal tied into the pony’s mane.

“Ruya?” Luna asks. “Where did you get this?” Luna clinks a hoof against the object and Sombra stops, turning his head upon hearing Luna’s question. Celestia turns as well, her eyes meeting the object next to Luna’s hoof. Ruya reaches up with both her front hooves to where Luna put hers. They meet the object and she clicks them against it several times as if testing its existence.

“Huh?” She wipes her eyes. “Wh-what is it?”

“Here, it’s tied into your mane,” Luna explains. “I’ll get it.” She uses her magic to untie the accessory and places it in front of Ruya after unraveling the knot that bound the object to her mane. “Where did you get this Ruya?”

“I…” She wipes her eyes again and sniffles. “It’s pretty…” She seems entranced by it, pressing it against the stone with a hoof, feeling its smooth, yet bumpy surface; a beautifully lucid emerald bow. “She made this…” she whispers softly.

“Ruya?” Luna leans in and tries to make eye contact with Ruya, but the crystal pony stands up with a sudden sense of urgency.

“Something’s wrong,” Ruya says as she lifts herself up.

“Ruya what’s wrong?” Luna asks. “Where did the bow come from?”

“She-…” Ruya pauses choking on tears that she thought she had gotten rid of.

“Ruya?” Luna stiffens, sensing something is aggravating the filly.

“She wouldn’t have made this for me if she didn’t care,” Ruya sobs.

“How do you know it was her?” Sombra asks finally turning around as the conversation piques his interest. Ruya doesn’t answer her uncle.

“Put it back,” She says trying her best to swallow her sadness.

“Ruya what’s wrong?” Luna asks again. Without warning Ruya plucks the bow from the stone surface of the wall with her mouth and bolts, running toward the edge of the wall and throwing herself over it. Celestia’s eyes widen and neither Luna nor Sombra can react fast enough.

“Ruya!” She shouts as the filly plummets into the Everfree. She spreads her wings and with all the speed she can summon soars down the expanse of Canterlot’s castle wall, swooping in like a falcon catching Ruya only meters before she meets the soil. But as soon as the filly sees her chance, she tears herself away from the alicorn and kicks off her side onto the ground. She tumbles, doing several summersaults before a bush catches her in its thicket. Celestia arcs back around and meeting the forest floor turns to retrieve Ruya. But even before she is able to break into a run, the filly has torn herself free of the bush, without a scratch to be seen. The little pony doesn’t look back, the crystal bow clenched firmly in her teeth as she gallops into the Everfree after her friend.

Interlude end…

It was horrible. Colgate lowered her head in defeat. What was she supposed to do now? Any hope she had of ever fixing her mistakes now lay in shattered pieces on all sides of her and there was no way to put them back together. None, she told herself.

“Ahahaha!” A piercing laughter bit her ears. It had been going on ever since Discord broke the element, but it was only now that Colgate was really hearing it. “She’s so sad. Can I cheer her up daddy? Can we play now?”

“She’s all yours my little fiend,” came Discord’s answer. He swirled back up into the sky and lounged on a pink cloud, reaching into it and pulling out a glass of chocolate milk, sipping at it with a straw. It was just a show to him.

“Yay!” Screwball exclaimed with glee. “Hey there playmate!” Colgate looked up, finding the pink mare glaring down at her with her spiral eyes bouncing around in their sockets. “Remember that last time?” Colgate didn’t answer her. She knew what Screwball was talking about and couldn’t really blame her for holding a grudge. “You got pretty mad. Tried to kill me.” A malicious smirk snaked its way across the mare’s face, something that would have normally inspired fear or set Colgate on edge. It didn’t though. It was a given now. She deserved this. “Time to fight for your life Clocktail!” The air around Screwball seemed to vibrate with a deadly intensity and next to her small frame suspended in the air she began amassing an enormous column of ice, forming it into a shaft with a pointed blade at the end. It was a giant frozen spear nearly twenty times her size poised and ready to impale Colgate with swish of a hoof. Colgate stood back up on all four hooves, getting her balance and readying her magic. She may as well at least try to defend herself. Anything was better than giving up entirely. Screwball twirled proudly around her new weapon chanting another one of her rhymes as it rotated like a drill slowly winding up in the opposite direction.

“Ena, Dena, Dinah, Dock,” She chanted. “There was a mare whose tail was a clock. The clock struck one, and through she was run! Ena Dena, Dinah,” The mare stopped raising a hoof and relishing the moment before the last syllable. Her eyes lit up. “Done!” Her hoof came down and the great javelin shot from its place like a harpoon at a nearly perfect forty-five degree angle. Colgate’s horn flared with electricity. She would brute force this. She would put so much force into a forward spell that the spear would have no choice but to break. Even if the projectile was indestructible, she would just have to make her magic immovable and see what happened. This was it. It was now or-

“Minuette!” A voice came faintly into her ear. Bump. Suddenly she wasn’t standing. Something hit her that wasn’t the spear. Funny…It hadn’t seemed like that much of a push yet, she found herself falling to the side. She hit the ground and felt the pop of her magic as she let her spell loose. There was a bang like a bombard cannon as her spell soared off into the sky simultaneously with the clashing of the spear and the earth. Yet as she tumbled, there was something else tumbling with her. The fall left her only slightly disoriented yet uninjured. The spear had missed. But when she stopped something wet hit her hoof. It was a drop of something. It was the first thing Colgate saw from her tilted view on her side. She looked at her hoof. Was it starting to rain? No. The drop had left a little tear of red on her fur, it wasn’t rain not even Discord’s kind of rain. She sat up only to find more of it sprinkled on the ground about her, standing out in the white spaces of the checkerboard.

Colgate lifted her head and before her, only a few feet away between her and the titan spear whose blade was now painted the same red, was another pony. A crystal filly lying on her side in a pool of blood. The permeating smell hit Colgate’s nostrils with a sting and in that moment Colgate was sure her heart stopped. Her eyes widened in horror and the realization made it feel like the spear really had hit her. She ran to the filly as fast as she could with Screwballs laughter punching the air like a horsewhip.

“AHAHAHAH! Dead pony! Dead pony!” She sang out in delight.

“No no no!” Colgate lifted the pony into her hooves and the last face she wanted to see met her eyes. “Ruya? Ruya!” There was a huge gash in her side and a smaller one across her face out of which blood was still flowing. The light blue fur on her hooves was quickly stained red, red with blood that she didn’t want on her, on anypony. The pony opened her eyes weakly something falling from her mouth with a clunk. It was the bow Colgate had made earlier, but it was cleaved down the middle and fell in half when it ended its short fall.

“Hey… you’re okay…” came a feeble voice. “I made it…Dentist pony…”

“Yes…Yes it’s me,” Colgate assured her. “You’ll be okay. I-I can fix this. Colgate frantically tried to get her magic to work. Heal! Heal! She screamed in her mind. Fix it, do anything! Nothing. She couldn’t close the wound. No one ever taught her any form of healing magic. Running out of options she managed to conjure some of her dental floss, the one thing she seemed to have perfected. She used the strands like bandages to bind the wound.

“There,” Colgate said. “You’re gonna be okay. Stay with me.” Her reassurances were more for herself at this point. It was what she wanted to believe. The floss quickly turned red though and it wasn’t working like she wished it would. Why wouldn’t it just work? It had to; it needed to.

“You…” Ruya winced clutching her side. “You made that for me…didn’t you?” Colgate’s eyes were starting to cloud up, but she knew Ruya was talking about the bow she had brought with her.

“I had to…to,” Colgate swallowed. “R-Repay you somehow right? F-for the necklace.” Ruya smiled faintly.

“Thanks…” Her speech was nearly a whisper. “Sorry I broke it.”

“No no. It’s fine. It wasn’t the best anyway. H-here.” Colgate used her magic to undo the gold necklace and moved it toward her. She was trying everything now, anything that would make her feel better. Just get better, she kept thinking. It’s not so hard right? Juts get better.

“No silly,” Ruya tried to laugh, but winced again and stopped.

“Hey, stop,” Colgate told her.

“I didn’t give that to you so I could have it. Keep it.” The filly abruptly began hacking, splashes of blood coloring her tongue as she coughed it up.

“Stay with me,” Colgate pleaded trying to lift Ruya’s head up so she could breathe easier. She was practically cradling her now.

“Hey…” She started, but another bout of coughing stopped her.

“Shh shh,” Colgate brushed Ruya’s mane back with a hoof, fidgeting in panic. “Don’t talk. I need you to breathe. Don’t…Don’t die on me.”

“Sorry I made you cry,” Ruya apologized, her voice was hoarse now and her eyes seemed to be losing their sheen.

“No it’s fine,” Colgate told her. “It’s fine. Just keep breathing,”

“Hey…when Tia and Luna become princesses…wish them luck for me.”

“Don’t say that. You can do that yourself. You’re gonna be fine.”

“Shhh,” Ruya hushed her. “Hey…Colgate?” Colgate stopped, rather shocked that Ruya had used her nickname. She had never told anyone in this time what it was, but that was Ruya. She always knew things she wasn’t supposed to. In this time, they were a lot alike in that sense. “There are still so many lights around you. They’re even clearer now…So many…”

“What? C’mon we need to get you to-” Colgate was about to get up and run with her, but Ruya raising a hoof stopped her and she shut up so the filly could talk. Ruya put her hoof to the necklace Colgate was still holding in front of her and pushed it back against Colgate’s neck. She smiled using whatever life she had left in her eyes to make it glow, holding Colgate’s teary gaze.

“Of all my lights…you were the brightest.” The necklace clicked into place and the small frail hoof that moved it fell limp against the filly’s dirtied crystal fur. Colgate held her there for a few moments waiting for her to breathe again. There was nothing.

“Ruya?” Colgate’s eyes jumped around the mare’s body, scanning for signs of life, but her eyes had lost their shine and were empty and her labored breathes ended. “Ruya!” She yelled. “No…no…” Suddenly, in an instant, the crystal pony’s body dulled to a complete gray, becoming hard like stone. Cracks spider webbed through her frame and she crumbled to pieces, falling from Colgate’s hooves in chunks and powder joining the fragments of loyalty that had already been there. She had broken everything and as she stared at the dust that used to be somepony who cared for her, her brain only echoed one thing. My friend…She was gone. Did all crystal ponies die like this she wondered? Did they all just crumble to dust like old statues? Colgate’s hooves were frozen in place still acting they were holding the crystal pony. She wanted to believe they were, but even the slight weight of the filly’s small body was gone. Colgate’s hooves were empty

“Ruya…” She choked on the name, her legs smacking heavily to the ground barely able to hold the burden of her own body.

Colgate plummeted into uncontrollable sobs, crying in torrents. Her selfishness had killed the best friend she had made in a place she had assumed she was never meant to make friends. Her cries escalated into screams, screams she let loose because there was no other way for her to vent the horrible vice in her chest. She was shrieking at the ground, the horrible echo of it coming back to ears to retell the depth of her anguish. Everything before this had been nothing. If there was ever a time she thought she had felt broken before this she had been wrong. This is what being broken felt like. There was no her, no Colgate, just the ashes of her mistakes and a pony too lost in the hell of grief to remember her own name.

“HAH! Dead ponyyyyyy!” Screwball seemed elated, but when Colgate looked up through her tears she seemed to be the only one. Even Discord seemed slightly disturbed. Even though he was still lounging on his cloud, he had thrown away his drink and was just watching, not laughing or even smiling. Just seemingly indifferent. The whole scene was rather quiet to her as well. Despite Screwball’s mockery she felt nothing from it. There was no fire for her to light now. Her spirit felt dead.

Presently, Colgate heard the clatter of hooves approach and turning in their direction saw Luna, Celestia and Sombra and through the blur in her vision five colored shapes floating around them. The rest of elements Colgate knew, but they wouldn’t do them any good. The three observed the scene and she could tell they didn’t know what to make of it. Neither did she. Her face was flushed red the fur on it soaked and her eyes weary of everything. All the fragments of her mistakes lay around her and they could see it all. Look she thought as she saw their gaping expressions, your world, my world, it’s gone…here is the mare who ripped the stone of reality and here are the pieces.

“M-Minuette?” Luna took a tentative step toward her, uncertain.

“Where is she?” Sombra asked. New tears welled up in Colgate’s eyes at this question. Could she give anymore? All the water she had would be gone before long. She wouldn’t say anything…she couldn’t. “Where is my niece?” Colgate flopped to the ground and could only cry.

“Sombra…?” Celestia took a step back from him.

“Where is Ruya Minuette!?” He began to raise his voice. She still couldn’t answer. She was still lying in the filly’s remains after all. Sombra eyed the scene.

“No…” It was dawning on him. Even in her state, Colgate could tell. “Was I not fast enough?” He looked down and then back to Colgate. “You…”

“Sombra…” Luna started. “I’m sure-”

“You worthless bastard horse!!” He bellowed and burst into a rage Colgate didn’t think he was capable of. His eyes lit up a poisoned green, shadows snaking their way around them and his horn. Colgate leapt to her feet, scared. She was broken and now frightened out her mind. “I’ll destroy you!”

“Sombra wait!” Celestia pleaded. Her horn lit up and she used her magic to hold him back. She wasn’t strong enough alone. He pulled against it, dragging himself forward like an enraged behemoth. “Luna! Help me!” Luna joined in, but even with the sister’s combined might they still struggled to keep him still.

“You!” Sombra roared. “You steal one of the elements, give it to our sworn enemy and then you lead my niece to be slaughtered with it!? You soulless pawn!” His horn surged with a green aura, strands of blackness coursing through it. He was no doubt, trying to kill her. The sisters held it back, but only for now. What was she supposed to do? She deserved it she thought. For all she had done was Sombra’s reaction really that unreasonable? It seemed that way, but a laughter from above changed her mind. Screwball was still giggling like a giddy school girl that thought it was funny when she snapped her doll’s heads off. She was more on board with Sombra that she knew now. His rage was suddenly contagious. It was what she had needed all along. This was the switch, the spark from the lighter that would ignite the furnace. She found who to blame and her cold tears soon became hot with a wrath that welled up in her and surged like a wildfire.

“Screwbaaaaaalll!!” She shouted with all the air she had to the sky.

“Hm?” The mare stopped, confused at her sudden change of tone. Colgate’s horn lit up in a fierce light, emitting a force that began to push everything around her away the initial shockwave ripping through space like a palpable sonar wave. The ground began to rumble and eventually even the sisters along with Sombra couldn’t push against the outward force the ball of light was exerting. It was like a reversal of a black hole, the pure concentrated energy at the tip of her horn was like a star preparing for its demise as a supernova.

“You’re dead!” As she yelled, a huge column of lightning split the air from above and striking the ball of light sent everything around her into a spiraling tornado of pure power. Discord had even back away and Screwball tried, but found herself bound by the swirling mass’s outer perimeter as it rose to the heavens. Colgate could hear the frozen trees shatter around her and some of the checkerboard tiles were ripped from their place and zipped into the air spinning like saw blades past Screwball. She avoided them now in a clear state of panic. That’s right, Colgate found herself thinking, panic. Be scared like I was.

Screwball, whether by lapse of judgment or sheer bravery, charged down at her. This is it then. She’d finish her here. There was nothing she couldn’t do and there was nothing more she could take from her now. In her head, Colgate had nothing to lose.

“Come on!” Colgate yelled as Screwball soared straight for her. Colgate directed all her power at her. Screwball met the glowing catastrophe at Colgate’s horn and all at once every ounce of energy around them imploded crashing in on them and swallowing the space they occupied whole bending, their existential plane and as Colgate watched her whole world bend like a rubber toy, she was devoured with the mare she swore to kill. This is the end of you.

As everything went to nothingness, the last thing Colgate heard was a breaking sound, the clang of a magic atom bomb cleaving the ground at its site of impact and decimating everything in its radius. In her wake not even the remains of the element of harmony are left, only two stunned alicorns and an enraged unicorn. When Colgate wakes up, the first color she sees is blue.