No Elements, No Harmony

by Fret

Faithful Friend

A small purple dragon twiddled his fingers as he trekked through the garden that led to Fluttershy’s cottage. He slowed as he began up the hill until, finally, he stopped at the door. He hesitated before grappling the door’s handle with his claw as the door began to open, a creaking sound arose from it.

The dragon let go of the door and let it finish opening itself. He then stepped inside, and began his search for a draconequus. At first, he imagined it would take forever, since it was impossible to predict where the embodiment of chaos may be. Yet, to his surprise, he found Discord sprawled on Fluttershy’s couch, staring up at notes that he seemed to be levitating.

The little assistant slowly ambled up to him, giving him a tap on the shoulder.

“Er… Discord?”

“GAH!” The draconequus leaped up from his comfortable-looking position, spinning himself around to look at the floor to see who was there. “Dear me, Spike. Did no one ever tell you it’s rude to sneak up on ponies… draconequi… whatever…?” He put his paw on his chest to match his mocking tone.

Spike assumed he was supposed to laugh, but he couldn’t bring himself to. “Err.. yeah.”

Discord pouted. “Something’s bothering the number one assistant. Hey, you try doing Celestia’s job one day, then you’ll know what true pain feels like.”

Spike raised a brow. “I thought Princess Cadance was doing her job…”

The draconequus gave a shrug. “She has her own work to deal with too. How inconsiderate – leaving me with all this infinitely boring paperwork.”

“Eh, that’s princess-hood, I guess.” The dragon shrugged.

“Well, ‘Spikey-Wikey’,” he said in Rarity’s accent. “What is it? I’d prefer to get these done than hear one of Cadance’s lectures, surprisingly enough.”

Spike rubbed his arm with a claw. “Err…” He wasn’t sure where to start. “I’ve been thinking lately…”

“Me too! I think of a lot of things. Usually I attempt to explain it to Fluttershy but, when I do, she just stares at me as if my head just exploded.”

“Well…” His ears drooped slightly. “I’ve been wondering who I am without Twilight.”

Discord paused. “Um… why are you telling me this again?”

“Fluttershy told me to come to you because you’re going through the same phase.” Spike just shrugged. “If she was wrong, I don’t mind leaving…”

The chaos embodiment lifted a talon and opened his mouth, but no words escaped. Spike stood there patiently, awaiting for an answer.

“Err… well... “ Discord’s voice began to tone down . “I suppose I can understand where you’re coming from.”

The assistant widened his eyes. “You do?”

“What is and what’s not…” Discord leaned his head on his two front limbs so that he didn’t have to look straight down at the dragon. “Sometimes I wonder what I am without my friends.” He conjured up a mirror and held it with his tail tip. “I think it’s obvious – the Spirit of Chaos. But is that all?” His tail pulled the mirror out of view.

Spike stared at the ground and sighed. “Yeah… I sometimes wonder – especially now – what I’d be without Twilight… or any of them. Would I just be a baby dragon with no one to care for me?”

Discord’s ears drooped. “Sometimes I wonder what I’d do if something happened between me and Fluttershy…” Something unreadable glistened in his eyes, something Spike didn’t recognize. Was it a distant memory?

“Once, I got a vision… when I went to the Crystal Empire as it returned for the first time…” He tapped his fingers together as the memory became more clear. “I saw Twilight telling me to leave. It wasn’t real, but…”

“At least you could wake up from that…” He heard Discord mutter through gritted teeth. This just raised his curiosity.

“What do you mean?” he asked. The draconequus’ eyes flinched open at the realization that Spike had heard him.

“What does what mean?”

“What you just said.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Spike folded his arms. “I know you said something!”

Discord gave a frustrated groan at the dragon’s stubbornness. “Look. Something happened a long, long time ago. It doesn’t matter now, it’s long forgotten by everypony.”

“But if it’s like my situation, then it could help me…”

“Somepony left me, Spike! A long time ago!” Spike flinched at the sudden raised voice. At first, Discord looked as if there was fire in his eyes, but then he quickly calmed. “Err… Sorry,” he murmured awkwardly, breaking eye contact with him.

“Err… you’re not mad at me… are you?” the dragon asked nervously. Discord shook his head without turning back to look at him.

“You’ve done nothing. Someone else did… a long time ago.” He lay on his back again, looking up at the ceiling. “She was the cause of my… fall into madness."

Spike’s eyes widened, though he himself was not paying any attention to his newfound knowledge on Discord’s history. “Are saying that if Twilight leaves me, I’ll go crazy?!”

“What? No!” Discord moved his eyes to look at the dragon again. “In all honesty, Spike, if you ever chose to leave Twilight or the other way around, I doubt you’d want revenge. It depends…” He tapped his chin. “Usually the more hurtful the parting is, the more hurt that you’ll get. But I don’t think it will ever come to that, anyway.” Discord flipped on his side to get full view of the dragon. “I think you’ll be Twilight’s assistant for a long time to come.”

Spike shook his head. “But… that’s not what I want to know!” he protested. “I want to know who I am without her! I love being her assistant, don’t get me wrong, but I want to be my own dragon!”

“Oh, is that all? Simple: You’re Spike.”

The assistant blinked. “That’s not an answer.”

“Yes it is.”

“Well, how would you describe ‘Spike’, then?”

“Hmm… loyal; caring; a bit sarcastic; and, overall, a helpful friend.” He looked at his fingers that were all lifted, each representing a feature of his character. Spike stared at the talon.

“But… what about my crush on Rarity? Or the fact that I’m Twilight’s assistant…” He then covered his mouth. “GAH! No! I don’t have a crush on Rarity, that was a joke…”

Discord chuckled. “Those are just parts of you, Spike. What I said about you is what matters. It’s your personality, and your heart. It makes you who you are. But you still need Twilight to help you grow up to be even better. You’re still just a kid, you know.”

Spike blinked at the draconequus. “Is… is that it then?”

“Yep.”

“Well… can I tell you who I think you are, then?”

Discord was about to lay back on the couch when the little dragon’s words caught his attention. “...Good luck with that, I suppose.” He gestured his paw to get the dragon to speak.

“You’re someone who uses his chaotic nature to trick his friends into doing the right thing and, overall, is still learning the magic of friendship in order to make up for his past mistakes and betrayal.”

Spike looked pretty proud at what he said, while Discord just deadpanned, “Well… if that’s what you think, then… I guess I’ll take it.”

---

Rarity continued to stare at the alicorn.

“An alternative universe? How is that even possible?”

Twilight gave a nervous grin. “The universe is full of things we don’t understand, both inside and out. You just never know what you may find once you step outside of your own little world.”

“...Err… repeat that?”

The lavender mare, before being able to give another answer, noticed a draconequus slithering up behind her, causing a surprised reaction from Rarity, who let out a yelp.

“What is that thing doing here?” She took two steps back, keeping one front hoof off the ground and tensed up, just in case he did something unethical.

“How rude. I have a name,” Discord scoffed. Twilight sighed.

“Okay, I’ll be honest. I don’t want any of you addressing him by using ‘it’. He’s with us, and he should be treated just like anypony else.”

“Why should we? All he does is cause trouble,” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“Yeah, just how do ya' know we can trust him?” Applejack added. Twilight opened her mouth to answer, however she couldn’t think how. That’s when Fluttershy stepped forward.

“He may cause ponies trouble, but it’s not his fault. It’s mine.” Her head drooped. “I may not have ordered him to do so but, from the way I treated him, I don’t blame him for wanting to bother the kind that was hurting him the way they were.”

Twilight blinked. Discord was silent. Fluttershy wasn’t finished. The pegasus then turned around to face him.

“And if you don’t want to be my friend or forgive me, I can understand why.”

As the timid mare took a few steps back, the others couldn’t take their eyes off of Discord, who seemed rather stunned by Fluttershy’s speech.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Twilight forced out a cough. “So… er… Rarity,” she continued. “Now that I’ve told you why I'm here, are you with us?” She gave a wide, convincing grin, as did the other ponies. Rarity, being taken back, wasn’t sure how to answer.

“Well… eheh…” She rubbed her leg with a hoof. “I don’t know if I should really leave these lands…”

“Pfft… who cares what the queens say?” Rainbow leapt up into the air. “I, for one, have had enough of following orders from those two tyrants! I think it’s time we show ‘em who’s boss!” She finished by clapping her hooves together. Her energy seemed to pass onto everypony else, as their expressions all seemed to lighten up. The rainbow maned mare turned back to the white unicorn, who had seemed to warm up to the idea, thanks to her. “So, what do you say, Rarity? Are you gonna stay here, unnoticed by everypony you walk past, or are you gonna be a hero and help us defeat the queens once and for all?”

The white mare blinked, “I… well...um…” She glanced toward the surrounding dirt and rock and in that brief moment made her final decision. “Yes, I will.” Despite it being overthrown by knots and split ends, her mane bounced on her hoof gracefully. “I am both happy to help you defeat the queens, and get out of this barren land!”

“Now… before I tell you what we need to do, let me tell you why I’ve gathered you all in the first place.” She turned around and began trotting back towards the forest. “I might as well tell you on the way back.”

Her friends began to follow, keeping close behind. And so Twilight began her story about how she met their counterparts, and how they defeated each of the villains that had attempted to take over Equestria or destroy their friendship. While each villain was a shock to them all, they were all the most surprised when she told them about their first problem – Nightmare Moon.

She could sense some uncertainty mixed up with pride as she began her explanation about the Elements of Harmony and what element each pony represented. It didn’t concern her, though, she was lost in her excitement over the fact that she had finally gathered them all.

By the time she had finished telling her tale, they had reached the edge of the Everfree forest.

“So what about all of you? Do you know each other very well?” Twilight decided to bring up the subject.

“Well, I obviously know Fluttershy from our fillyhood,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“I met most of them before, a long time ago,” Pinkamena began. “I just don’t know Rainbow Dash, since she’s lived in Cloudsdale the whole time.”

“That’s a shame.” The pegasus leaned over to look at the pink mare upside down. “I’m sure that anypony would have loved to know me sooner!”

Twilight couldn’t help but cringe a little. Don’t overdo it Rainbow Dash…

“I’ll admit it… I do kind of miss meeting everypony.” The flat-maned mare sighed. “I’m still kinda stumped that I’m the Element of Laughter in Twilight’s world.”

“Well, ya’ woulda wanted to carry on with your dream of makin’ ponies laugh. There was no abusive queen to stop ya’!” Applejack stated.

“I guess…” she replied. It may have just been her, but Twilight was sure she could see the corner of her lips move upwards.

“I don’t really see how I could be the Element of Kindness…”

“Well, you were really kind when we were friends all that time ago!” Rainbow smiled, and after a moment, so did Fluttershy.

It was a joy to see her friends getting along so easily. “Can I ask you all a question?” The alicorn spoke up. Her friends all looked at her.

“Of course, darling. What is it?” Rarity prompted her to continue.

“How is it you all got your cutie marks?”

“Well, I actually tried running away from the farm when I was a little filly. I don’t know how far I got, but all that mattered was the rainbow that I saw pointing me home – to my family. Once I returned, my cutie mark showed up.” Applejack glanced at the mark on her flank, a small smile appearing on her face.

“I fell from Cloudsdale during a race, and found all the woodland critters.They heard an explosion and I realized I could communicate with them when I comforted them. Then my cutie mark showed up.” Fluttershy explained.

“Funny, I heard an explosion when I got mine. My horn was carrying me somewhere – I had no idea where – until I eventually bumped into a rock. At first I was confused, but then there was a huge explosion. So big, in fact, that it broke the rock in half, revealing all these gems. That’s when I found out my horn had a specialty in finding precious jewels!” She may not look her best, but the white unicorn certainly acted just like she did in Twilight’s home world.

“I was just minding my own business one day, when I all of a sudden saw a big, colourful explosion, with a rainbow to go with it. It taught me how to smile, so I decided to share my newfound knowledge. I threw a party for my family, which made them happy. It also gave me my cutie mark,” Pinkamena told them. Once she was done, Rainbow Dash excitedly told her part.

“Oh! I love telling that story. I was defending Fluttershy from these two school bullies by beating them in a race. While doing so, I performed a sonic rainboom and got this thing here.” She tilted her head to her rainbow lightning cloud, a proud grin glued on her face. “Oh, if you don’t know what a sonic rainboom is, it’s a huge, rainbow coloured explo....sion.” Her tone slowed as the realization hit her. The five friends stared at each other in awe.

“It can’t be.”

“No way.”

“The same explosion?”

“It’s highly unlikely…”

“But true!” Twilight laughed. “Your destinies are all connected!”

The five mares were unsure how to react at first. Then Rainbow Dash squealed.

“That is so awesome!” She put her hooves on her face as she did so.

“But wait!” Applejack interjected. “What about Twilight? You’re one of us, did you get your cutie mark at the same time as us too?”

Twilight’s smile faded. “Well… in my world I did.” She stared up at the mountain that would have held Canterlot. “But it would be impossible here.”

“Why’s that?” Fluttershy tilted her head.

“I got my cutie mark from a magical outburst I had while doing an entrance exam to get in a special school. It was the explosion that caused the outburst.”

“Why wouldn’t that happen here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I wouldn’t have gotten a cutie mark to represent magic if I wasn’t inspired to try it in the first place,” she replied sadly. “I was inspired by the most amazing pony I’ve ever met in my world. Here, she’s an awful tyrant.” She lifted her head up, gazing into the forest filled with dead or dying trees. She wasn’t sure if she was, but she was attempting to stare at the castle that was up ahead.

“I thought you said Nightmare Moon was banished in the moon until we were all grown up?” Rainbow Dash raised a brow.

“...She was. I’m not talking about her.” Twilight explained. “I’m talking about Celestia. I already told you she was my mentor…”

“Err… who’s Celestia again?” Rarity asked.

“Queen Solar Flare.” Rainbow told her. The unicorn’s eyes widened with disbelief.

“Queen Solar Flare? How in the name of Nightmare Moon can she possibly be inspiring?” she scoffed.

“You’ll get to meet her once we get back to the cave. Then you’ll understand.” Twilight attempted to assure her, but Rarity refused to believe it.

“Here, Solar Flare is just a coward hiding in her sister’s shadow! There are rumors that she’s the older sibling of the two, but I don’t see where in the world they’re coming from.”

“She actually is. It’s… a long story,” Twilight sighed, her tongue aching from telling so many backstories. “How did that rumor even survive? I would have thought that Nightmare would kill the theory straight away.”

The lavender mare then heard a snicker from a draconequus who she forgot was even there, he was being so silent. “...Of course.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at his antics against the two tyrants.

“I think at one point I spread something about Solar Flare being alive ever since the beginning of time.” A smirk had appeared on his face as he thought of the memory. “She found out though, and she severely punished me for it.”

“To be honest, if you spread some sort of rumor that she was that old in our world, she probably would’ve done the same,” Twilight laughed.

“I don’t remember that happening. When was that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, long before I met you. At least a century ago.” Discord told her. Fluttershy murmured an ‘oh’, before it struck her.

“Discord… how old are you?” She blinked. “I’m not sure why I’ve never asked before.”

“You were too busy ordering me around.” Discord told her. “Either way, I’m almost as old as Solar and Nightmare – and they’re veeery old.”

“Wait… almost as old?” Twilight echoed.

“Yep. They’re a couple of years older than me. You learn something new every day!”

The young princess’ eye twitched. Some things I don’t expect to learn.

After a bit more trotting, they all reached the cave where Twilight expected to find the two other princesses.

“Celestia! Luna! We’re back!” Twilight called into the cave. She waited a few moments, but no reply came when expected. “Celestia? Luna?” She stepped into the cave, scanning the area for either of the alicorns. “Where are you?”

“Twilight!” She heard Applejack call her from outside. She turned around and quickly galloped back over to them.

“What? What is it?”

“Pinkamena hears somethin’.”

Twilight turned to the pink mare, who was holding her hoof next to her ear. “There are voices coming from over there.” She pointed towards the direction of the castle, raising Twilight’s curiosity.

“Should we go and investigate?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

“I suppose. It might have something to do with Celestia and Luna,” the alicorn answered, slightly uncertain. “Just keep your distance.”

---

The six ponies and one draconequus eventually made it to the edge of the Everfree, all stopping at the point where it cut off. They all kept behind what was left of the vegetation, doing their best to stay out of sight.

Below, in the gorge, ponies all from the what-would-be Ponyville were gathered, all staring up to the other side of the cliff. There, Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare both stood with smirks on their faces. It seemed liked Twilight and her friends were just in time to hear their speech.

“We assume thou art wondering why thine are–”

“For your sake, Nightmare, just use modern day language,” Solar Flare hissed. Nightmare Moon gave an irritated snort, then started again.

“We are both assuming that you’re wondering why you’re all gathered here,” the black alicorn announced. “Both my sister and I are looking for a certain draconequus and a little yellow pegasus, who seemed to have… disappeared.” She began to trot along the edge of the gorge. “This, of course, was an act of betrayal...”

“Err… Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash whispered to the pink-maned mare next to her.

“Um… yes?”

“Didn’t you say that the queens didn’t allow you to stay on the ground before? Why are they acting as if they know?”

The yellow pegasus paused. “Uhh… they’re talking about how I… uhh… left Cloudsdale…”

“The yellow pegasus should be known by you ponies, since she lives nearby you all, next to the Everfree forest. Usually a mere pegasus would be of no concern, but I can only assume that she knows where Discord is,” Nightmare Moon continued.

As Nightmare Moon spoke, Fluttershy’s lie became clearer to the blue pegasus.

“Fluttershy… what aren’t you telling me?”

The timid mare gave a whimper and flattened her ears. “Err… I…” She gulped. “I… was forced to stay on the ground. That’s why I never came back to Cloudsdale to say goodbye.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Why did you lie to me...? I-I’m your best friend.”

Fluttershy sighed. “I… I didn’t want to–”

“Quiet, you two! We’re trying to listen!” Pinkamena scolded them. Her harsh tone silenced them for the moment.

“And so, does anypony know where to find them?”

Only a few quiet mutters reached them from the bottom of the gorge, most of which were confused. The rest stayed silent.

“Of course none of you do,” the queen grunted. “Surely some of you have at least seen a light purple alicorn walking around?”

Twilight gasped as her heart seemed to stop. How did she know about her?

“Let’s try this again. Find me these ponies, or you’ll never see your precious sun again!” A cackle escaped her throat, followed by panicked and even more confused ponies from below.

“What do we do?” Applejack whispered to Twilight. “Without the sun, we can’t grow our crops!”

“We can’t grow them anyway,” Pinkamena pointed out.

“We grow enough get by,” Rarity stated. “What do you suppose we do, Twilight? You are a princess and all…”

“I…” The alicorn’s nerves made her bite at her hoof. Before she could think of a plan, the queens resumed their speech.

“I see… well, just in case those ponies are watching…” Nightmare Moon carried on. “I just want them to know I have two of their friends.” She turned around, watching her sister drag out Celestia and Luna forward, down on their knees. From what Twilight could see, their horns and hooves were all locked up in chains, which would also explain why they weren’t fighting back.

“I doubt they are, but if any of you ponies find them… tell them they need to come and rescue their damsels in distress.”

“You have quite a way of describing yourself.” Luna snorted, only to get a slap in the face by Solar Flare.

“Don’t you even think of doing that again…” Celestia threatened.

“Oh, shut up,” Solar Flare groaned lazily.

“Ooooh, great comeback. Literal burn, right there!” Luna gasped overdramatically.

“...Oh for my own sake, JUST ZIP YOUR MOUTHS!” Nightmare Moon screeched at the three of them. Almost immediately they obeyed. “Good. Now, for all of you…” The queen expected to still have a crowd of ponies at her hooves, but they were already scattering towards the stairs. ”How rude…” she huffed. Luckily for the six ponies, they were far from the path the crowd was taking back to the village.

All except for one.

One pegasus decided not to follow the rest, and ended up crashing right into Pinkamena, since she didn’t spot them hidden among the dead bushes.

“Oh! Sorry… huh?” The blue-grey mare looked at who she had tumbled onto in surprise. “Pinkie-I mean, Pinkamena!” she yelped. “I haven’t seen you since…” Her sentence faded as she turned her head away. Then she looked up, and spotted everyone else. “Uhh…”

Twilight laughed nervously. “You’re Derpy… right?” She tried to keep her distracted, but it was no use.

“You’re an alicorn! A light purple alicorn! Err… the queens have a message for you…”

“Yeah, we know,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “We were listening.”

“Oh…” Derpy stepped off of Pinkamena, then looked back at the castle.

“Do you happen to know what will happen to our friends?” Twilight asked her. Derpy looked at her, then shook her head.

“But I need to tell them that you’re here....” she whimpered. “Or there’ll be no sun…”

“NO!” Pinkamena stood straight up and shoved a hoof in her mouth. “You can’t do that!”

The blue-grey mare removed Pinkamena’s hoof from her face. “B-but if I don’t…”

“We know… but we’re gonna try and fix this,” the farm pony explained. “Please don’t tell them, Derpy. It’s them who are in the wrong, not us.”

The yellow-maned pegasus tilted her head uncertainly. “Does this mean you’ll be happy again?”

Pinkamena blinked. “Huh…?”

“Happy. Will you be a happy pony like you were all those years ago?”

The pink mare stared at the ground. “Well… uh…”

“If whatever you’re doing makes you happy, I’m not going to stop you.”

With that, Derpy flew off into the forest, out of sight, leaving Pinkamena lost in her own thoughts.

Twilight felt a tap on her shoulder. She flinched, then spun around to meet Discord.

“I think I know what they’ll do to Celestia and Luna,” he said to her. She blinked at him.

“What? What will they do?”

Discord twiddled his fingers. “Well, you see…” His attention started to fade from the six mares in front of him, and focus more on the queens on the other side of the gorge.

“So, what exactly is it you’re going to do to us?” Luna scoffed. “Kick us repeatedly in the face?”

“Better we show you. It’s far more entertaining!” Nightmare Moon patted the blue alicorn on the head before turning around, facing away from the cave that should have housed the Tree of Harmony, towards an unknown sight. The black mare lifted her hoof to her mouth and blew, creating a whistling sound

After a few moments of silence, a loud stomping was heard from underground. It seemed to shake the earth below them, causing them to stumble a bit.

“What’s that…?” Celestia was only just heard over the loud crashing coming from ahead.

No one but the noise answered. The loud crashing grew louder, until finally a creature came into view. A scaled being, crawling out of the gorge after making its way out of a cave that Twilight could only assume didn’t exist in her own world. Her eyes were glued to the beast as it climbed out of the gorge with ease, and stood on its two hind legs to look all the taller and more menacing. Its sharp eyes glared at the two captured princesses, as a fork tongue licked the outline of it’s lips. While everyone apart from the queens, Discord, and, for some reason, Rarity stood in awe, Twilight was frozen for a different reason.

She wasn’t shaking because it was big. She wasn’t shaking because it was most likely a weapon against Celestia and Luna. She wasn’t shaking because it was scary.

She was shaking because she knew who it was. And she couldn’t stop herself from screaming out the name for everyone to hear.

“SPIKE!”

Author's Note:

"...WHERE HAS YOUR COUNTERPART BEEN THROUGH THESE 23 CHAPTERS?!

SHAME ON YOU!"

Did this chapter pay off for the last few boring ones?

It's 4000 words...

Oh right, chapters will be longer from now on. Mostly because I have more to right about now :D

Comments

[MehWasAlreadyTaken]

When was this posted? Didn't come up in any feed for me...

[Fret]

5626162 A while ago. Here, I'll give you a story on what happened.

I do these chapters in google docs, but out of curiosity I copy and pasted this one into fimfiction to see how many words I had. I would've done it on Word, but I don't have it.
I then wrote in my authors note, and I went to click save.
I clicked the publish button by accident.
Of course I unpublished it, but once the chapter was finished I re-published it again.
And then I realized I should of just made a new chapter entirely to publish it.

And then the idiot award goes to me.

[Iamawesome]

5628141 Well, this way we get two great chapters at once, so I don't really care.