The Balance of Harmony

by The Rising Tide of Night

Chapter 4: Preparations

As I awoke in the dim underground light, I had vague hopes that everything that had happened the previous day had been a dream. However, after sitting up and realizing that I was still in this body, I admittedly let out a disappointed sigh. Levering myself up into a sitting position, I remained there for another minute as I gave myself time to fully awaken. Looking around, the room was much like it had been the night before, though Spike appeared to already be up and out, as his bed was empty. I stood and stretched, yawning, then picked up my staff and walked out into the hallway leading towards the meeting room. As I entered the hallway, I saw Rainbow Dash closing the door to the room she had shared with Fluttershy. She rested her forehead on the door, sighing, before she noticed me and immediately looked away, blushing.

I made as if to move down the hallway past her, but her voice stopped me. “Listen, Twilight, about last night…” She paused, frustration on her face as she felt unable to express what she was trying to say, but I stopped her, shaking my head.

“Rainbow, it’s none of my business. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

“That’s not all of it, though,” she replied, quietly. “She said she loves me, and that I’ve always been there for her, and I’ve been a great comfort, and she’s been feeling this way for a long time…” She trailed off, still looking confused. “And Twilight – this is the tough part – I think I love her back.”

I looked back at her in surprise, then caught myself. I looked into the eyes of this rough-and-ready woman, searching for her feelings, and found the sincerity I was seeking. Smiling, I threw my arms around her neck in a hug, which caught her off-guard. “Don’t worry, Rainbow,” I murmured into her ear. “It’s ok.” Releasing her, I gripped her shoulders lightly. “But if you ever want to talk, you know I’m here. I’ll always be your loyal friend, you know that.”

She smiled shakily, and replied, “You’re right, Twilight. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” I motioned down the hallway. “Now let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starving!”

Rainbow laughed. “You got it.” With that, we headed out into the meeting room, where the others were already gathered. Rainbow went to stand next to Fluttershy, who was looking at both of us apprehensively. Rainbow drew her off to a corner, and while I couldn’t hear what they were saying, it appeared to relieve Fluttershy, as she wrapped her arms around Rainbow once more, though the kiss she gave was much more chaste than the one from last night. I smiled to myself and moved over to the others, who had saved us some food from breakfast.

As I sat down to eat, we started discussing our current plans. We all agreed that we would spend at least a week if possible training in our new weapons and familiarizing ourselves with the world around us, including the remains of the town we were in. Pinkie Pie, who was sitting with the twins, demanded that play time be included in our plans, since, as she put it, “All work and no play makes Pinkie bored.” We all agreed that that was true, and made sure that we would all have free time during the day.

The first thing that we did was prepare a funeral for Trixie. The entire camp turned out for it, as she has been well-known and well-respected. I recognized a handful of people from back home, but I tried to avoid any awkward conversations as much as possible, though some of my friends weren’t as concerned. I watched Applejack reacquaint herself with some of the Apple family, including her little sister Applebloom. I noticed that each meeting seemed bittersweet to her, as I knew she felt like she was playing a part instead of being her true self. The actual burial was somewhat of a rushed affair, as we felt like it wouldn’t be a good idea to expose that many people for that long of a time, as no one truly knew if Discord was searching for us or not.

The rest of the week passed quickly, as our days were all very full. I spent much of my free time upstairs in the library, searching books for information on the world, including some of the dangers we were likely to face during our quest. The rest of it was devoted to practicing spells, including some new ones that I found in a few spellbooks. It amazed me to find just how much differently magic was being used in this world. Much of the magic I had learned back home was of a defensive or supportive nature. Here, there was much more emphasis on attack and destruction spells, like the fire spell I had seen Trixie use. Regardless, between learning how to use a gun, researching, and studying spells, I was exhausted at the end of each day and often fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

My friends spent their time in other pursuits. One thing that we all had noticed was that in addition to our regular talents, we had all gained a certain understanding of this world upon arrival, which aided us in adjusting to our new forms. We also found that our talents had manifested themselves in different ways. This seemed to surprise our hosts, but I put it down to the magic that had brought us here in the first place. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had incredible strength, and were easily able to lift more than even Big Mac on their own. Rainbow Dash was also able to move at incredible speeds, much like she could when she was a Pegasus. Since she could no longer fly, she could no longer perform the sonic rainboom, but her overall strength and speed made up for it.

Both of them spent the most time working with our new weapons, learning their care and use from Big Mac and a handful of others, as well as sparring with each other in hand to hand combat. Watching one of their sparring sessions was amazing. Between their evenly-matched strength and Rainbow’s enhanced speed, their strikes were powerful and quick, Applejack quickly learning to anticipate Rainbow’s speed in order to counter. Applejack’s new ability seemed to be adaptation, as she was always the quickest to pick up on a new technique or a change in approach.

It took us a long while to figure out what was different about Spike.

Pinkie Pie had already demonstrated some of her new talents when we had faced Discord that first time. Her ability to disappear and reappear behind someone when they weren’t expecting it was both strategically useful and extremely annoying, as she often used it to sneak up behind us when we were engrossed in something, accompanied by either one of the twins or some other loud noisemaker. I was very tempted to try out one of the new trap spells I had learned on her, but decided against it. It was really tempting, though, especially after the fourth time.

Fluttershy retained her ability to speak with animals, but her abilities had expanded to be able to sense nearby living creatures, as we found out one morning while the two of us were exploring the town ruins. Since the town was mostly abandoned, the forest has slowly been reclaiming it, including the local animals. Fluttershy was able to speak with a couple of birds that were nearby to get a sense of the overall animal population and their mood. “They’re very anxious,” she relayed to me. “They’ve never liked Endless Forest, and with the packs of timberwolves roaming about, it’s even harder for them to gather food and keep their little ones safe.”

I filed that bit of information away for later, when we were going to head into the forest itself. I thought that her abilities might be useful when facing the timberwolves if she could use the animals as scouts for us. I often snuck glances at her as we explored that day, watching her graceful form as we picked our way among the ruins. There seemed to be more of a certainty to her now, a sureness in her steps and bearing that had never been present before. She and Rainbow Dash had often been sneaking away together, though to do what, I didn’t know. The two of them usually came back smiling and content, so at least they were enjoying themselves.

Rarity had been the most secretive throughout the week. She spent all of her free time in her crafting room, working on what she would dramatically refer to as a ‘secret project.’ It wasn’t until the end of the week that she unveiled what she had been doing, and how her talents had been affected by our transition to this new world. Each of us received a custom-fitted outfit, made of fabric that she had enchanted to be resistant to damage, along with tough leather boots and a warm cloak that would change colors to help blend into the background. As a nod to our past life, each cloak clasp was designed in the shape of our cutie mark. As we all admired our new clothing, she told me about her inspiration. “I had never thought of doing something like this before, but as I was working on our first outfits, the thoughts just came to me, as if they had been there all along. After that, I just knew I had to make something that would protect us out there.”

“Rarity, these are amazing!” I replied, holding up the cloak and watching the shifting colors. “I never would have thought of this!”

She blushed slightly, and replied, “Yes, well, as I said, it seemed as if I had done them before. Perhaps it has something to do with this new world.”

I looked around at our friends, all talking and laughing as if we had never left our home. It had been a busy week, but above all, it had been interesting and fun. It stands out to me as one of the greatest memories I have of this world, as evidenced by the picture we took that day that currently stands on my mantelpiece. Little did I know that that day would be the last that we would all spend together in such happiness.