Fragmented Harmony

by Mares-a-Mares

Chapter 3 - The Way of the Humans

Fluttershy couldn’t believe her eyes.

Rainbow Dash hovered down in front of her until her black armored boots touched the ground, but she didn’t lower down onto her fore-sticks. She stood there in front of her, wings folding in as she took a deep sigh of relief she didn’t realize she was holding in.

“T-That was a close one, eh, Flutters…?” The rainbow warrior breathed out.

Blue eyes traveled up and down at her friend’s strange attire.

She wore a black armored dress with rainbow linings on the shoulder-pieces and all along the middle of the base armor. On her sticks, she wore black half-gloves, with red…stick guards over them. The hind legs were covered in black leggings underneath a pair of red and gold armored boots. Around her neck she wore a neck-piece that resembled but was slightly different from the element of Loyalty, a red lighting-bolt jewel. She also held both a sword and a shield that adorned her cutie-mark in her…claws, portraying the perfect guardian warrior.

On top of that, she had gotten her cyan wings back.

It wasn’t too often that Rainbow Dash found herself in an awkward position where she couldn’t really say a word. Hovering a foot off the ground, she felt the start of a blush coming on as she then started to turn away from her timid friend, refusing to meet her eyes. “…Ehh…” She grunted out.

Oh, how lame was that?

Fluttershy got over her initial shock and gulped. “R-Rainbow Dash…what are you…?”

Rainbow Dash looked over herself with a blank expression as she turned back around to face her friend. “Uh…I really don’t know, actually…but at least it looks pretty awesome, right? It’s even got wings!” She grinned, her usual bravado building up.

The timid mare (?) nodded meekly. “Oh, yes…but…what is it?”

The bravado that entered the rainbow warrior faded as soon as it came. “Uhh…It’s…uhh…” She trailed off into a mumble as she turned away from her friend again.

“In making a wish, she has formed a contract with me, and is now a Magical Girl. It is now her destiny to fight Witches, beings of despair.” The creature known as Kyuubey walked towards the rainbow warrior, tail swishing from side to side idly.

Rainbow Dash blinked. She almost forgot the stupid thing was there. “Wait, whadda ya mean, wish? I didn’t-“

The creature’s pink eyes linked with her rose for a second; causing the rainbow warrior to stop in her tracks and take her mind back to what was just a moment ago. Fluttershy was in danger thanks to that stupid clown-snake, and then…that creature was there watching. She remembered…panicking…

‘…Do you want to save her?’ Somehow she heard that voice in her head, and then…she felt a surge of pain…and then…invincible.

‘That time…that’s when it happened…’ Rainbow Dash thought. Rose eyes looked over to meet with her friend’s confused blue ones. ‘I wished…to save…’

Her eyes widened in realization. ‘…I wished to save Fluttershy.’

Fluttershy was confused. Why did Rainbow Dash stop talking? Did she know something she didn’t? Why did she suddenly start looking at her?

“Umm…Rainbow Dash…?” The timid mare (?) whispered.

Retreating back to reality, Rainbow Dash shook her head to re-gather her bearings. “…Huh…?! W-What is it, Flutters? You…you need something?”

Shaking her head slowly, Fluttershy continued to sit there without a word. Honestly, she wasn’t sure of what to say after all that happened…

Those teeth suddenly appeared in front of her…

“Oooookay then…” The rainbow warrior mumbled as she took her attention from her friend, thinking back to what was said recently. Something about Magical Girl responsibilities and…fighting?

Linking eyes with Kyuubey again, her lips turned to a frown. “…So I’m a…’Magical Girl’, now? And I need to fight…what now? ‘Beings of despair’?” She recited.

“Indeed. Since your wish has been granted and the contract has been formed, it is now your destiny to fight Witches. The Witches are known as beings of despair, while Magical Girls are the harbingers of hope. The creature that you just fought was a Witch.” The creature then relaxed its feline body against Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gave a small smile as she scooped up the creature into her sticks and faced Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash cringed. “So…that…was one of those ‘Witches’, huh?” Remembering how creepy that clown-snake looked, she wasn’t so sure if she was looking forward to taking on a whole bunch of them…Looking back at Fluttershy, her eyes flared with determination. ‘Yeah…it’s definitely worth it.’ She thought.

Fluttershy gulped at the sudden eye contact her friend was giving again. In a nervous habit, her eyes looked over for the nearest fascinating thing to pay attention to.

In this case, it happened to be the armor her friend now possessed. It certainly looked wonderful, but what did QB mean by ‘Rainbow’s wish was granted’? What did she wish for? Why? Could she even remove the armor, or was it a part of her now?

“Um, Rainbow Dash…not to be a bother about your new armor…but is it possible to remove it?” The timid mare (?) questioned.

Her voice caught the rainbow warrior’s attention. “…Why? You got a problem with it?”

Her friend didn’t look defensive or offended, thank goodness for that…but the timid mare (?) shook her head anyway. “W-well, no…I’m just wondering if it’s possible since it’s made from…magic, I think.”

Rainbow Dash blinked before she held a blank expression, looking over herself. Granted she was digging the armor…but it just kinda…appeared out of nowhere. Like Fluttershy guessed, it was probably made out of magic.

In fact, everything from back in the…’Witch’s Barrier’…seemed like a blur to her now…She used some kinda blast, but everything just came on instinct. She hated when her loyal side kicked in and she could do things she normally was completely clueless about. She even did something crazy like using a sword! She never used a sword at all in her life, but…right now she was focused on something else.

Looking back over at Kyuubey, she lowered her body towards the two, keeping her feet up in the air, stomach to the ground. “Hey, Cubes? This armor’s nice and all…but how do you take it off?” She poked the creature’s ear.

In retrospect, she must’ve sounded so lame asking a feline…thing!

Kyuubey’s ear twitched slightly from the rainbow warrior’s touch. “It is actually quite simple. It is a matter of will. Simply will yourself out of your transformation. The rest will come by instinct.” The feline replied.

“…A matter of will?” Rainbow Dash blinked. So…it was a matter of instinct regarding will? What was she gonna do, act like she had a horn like Twilight or…Rarity? Umm…yeah, how’s that going to work? ‘I wanna change out of my armor’ or something like that? Well, here goes nothing…

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes for a moment, a rainbow flash surrounding her very body, and hiding her from sight with its emulating light. The whole process took maybe two seconds tops, but the lasting feeling was a whole other thing entirely. It wasn’t really her thing to be surrounded by magic, or something even similar to it. The closest she got was the rainbow magic the pegasi used, the elements…or something Twilight did…

…So the feeling of what might’ve been her own magic, and not somepony else’s…was actually a little comforting, to say the least...

...If she didn’t suddenly slam into the ground face first.

“Oww…” She winced.

Fluttershy gasped as she saw the armor had gotten replaced by what her friend was wearing before at some point in the radiant rainbow lights. In fact, she didn’t actually have a chance to really look her friend over before…

Rainbow Dash had a white shirt with her cutie mark on the front, a light-blue jacket, and a magenta shirt with white stripes along the sides. On her long hind legs instead of the armored boots, she had a pair of white and light blue boots with white strings on it on top of what looked like rainbow colored…under-boots? Just underneath her left claw, her friend had what might be a rainbow hoof-band. It was a rather…interesting look for her friend, and yet it didn’t look bad on her either. In fact…it looked pretty…cool, actually.

…But what was she doing? Rainbow Dash got hurt!

Opening her eyes, Rainbow Dash grumbled as she picked herself back onto her long hind legs and looked to her back. “My wings…!” She gasped.

Fluttershy quickly moved closer to her friend to inspect any damage, keeping the feline in her hold. Luckily, no damage was noticeable.

Ignoring Fluttershy’s attention, the hot-headed Magical Girl's eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the white feline-thing. “Alright, Cubes…What did you do with my wings?”

Kyuubey blinked as his pink eyes met her angry ones with an empty expression. “I have done nothing to your wings. You did not have wings before your contract, so it would make sense that you only have wings when you wear your armor. If you ask me, wings may be a convenience, but Magical Girls only have them through preference of their style of armor.”

Looking over across the area, the creature stepped out of Fluttershy’s hold. “Anyway, it would be best for you to pick up that item over there and to pick up the one on the floor beside you.” The creature advised.

Fluttershy blinked for a moment until she set her eyes on what looked like a red gem…with a golden frame. Leaning over on her fore-sticks, the curious mare (?) picked up the item with her…claws. “…What is this…? It’s beautiful…!” She exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash blinked as she scooted closer to her friend. “What did’ya find, Flutters?”

Fluttershy held it out for the group to see. It was shaped like an egg, with a shape of a lightning bolt on the top of the frame, to resemble that one gem that looked like the element of loyalty. It wasn’t completely shiny though; some black cloudy stuff swirled inside the red gem.

Kyuubey hopped on the back of Rainbow Dash’s neck to loom over her shoulder, causing the hot-headed Magical Girl to wince. “Ah. This was one of the items I instructed for you to pick up. This is called a Soul Gem. It is the source of your power Rainbow Dash, and you must take responsibility to care for it.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the gem. “Wait, so this thing is mine? Why’s it called a ‘Soul Gem’?”

“It is the core of your very being. If it is shattered, then you will die.”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat in silence. Her life…depended on some…gem? Shaking her head out of dark places, Rainbow Dash gave a puzzled expression. “…So what’s the black stuff in the gem? Is it normally like that?”

Kyuubey shook his head. “The ‘black stuff’ so you call it, is corruption you receive from exploiting your magic around Witches. Since Witches are beings of despair, they expose this corruption to challenge your ‘hope’. The other item I told you to pick up, the Witch’s Grief Seed, can fix this problem.”

Fluttershy looked around until she spotted a ball with spikes on the top and bottom. The design on it was rather interesting, but simplistic. “…Is this it?” She asked the white creature, the item in her other claws.

Kyuubey nodded. “Indeed. That is a Grief Seed. Place it against Rainbow Dash’s Soul Gem.”

Rainbow Dash took both items from Fluttershy. “So…like this?” She held the Grief Seed against the Soul Gem. Blinking out of astonishment, she witnessed the ‘corruption’ inside the Soul Gem slowly leave and seep into the Grief Seed instead. On top of that looking awesome, she suddenly felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off her shoulders.

Was it due to being exposed to that Witch that did it?

“Always remember to cleanse your Soul Gem to keep your magic in good shape. If you do so, you do better fighting Witches and avoid the risk of wasting too much magic.” Kyuubey noted, keeping his balance on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.

Fluttershy nodded. “So as long as you keep it clean…you should be fine, Rainbow.” The timid mare (?) smiled at her friend.

Rainbow Dash held the gem towards her face as she dropped her shoulders, briefly knocking Kyuubey off balance. “What? I gotta keep track of this thing like I’m foal-sitting some foal?”

Fluttershy gave a small giggle. “…You heard me.”

Kyuubey blinked for a moment. “…Why did you use the term ‘foal’? Is ‘foal’ not the word to describe a baby horse?”

Rainbow Dash cringed. “Uhh…” Was it safe to let Cubes know they were actually ponies? “…Let me get back to you on that.”

Huddling towards Fluttershy as she knocked Kyuubey off her shoulders, she dropped her voice to a whisper. “…What are we supposed to say?”

Fluttershy blinked as she moved closer to her friend. “…Maybe…we can tell him the truth?”

Her friend dropped her mouth. “..Are you crazy?”

“…It’s better than leaving him out of it. Besides…QB might have an idea of what we are.” Fluttershy suggested.

Rainbow gave a deep sigh as she broke the tight huddle. Fluttershy seemed to know what she was doing, and they were kinda grasping at straws here, so…

Kyuubey cocked his head to one side, maintaining his empty expression. “Is something the matter?”

Rainbow Dash gave a head motion to her friend.

Fluttershy gulped. It was her idea to tell the adorable creature…Turning her head towards Kyuubey, she sighed.

“…Umm, the truth is…we…don’t actually look like this…um…whatever we are.” She mumbled.

Kyuubey blinked for a long moment. “…Whatever do you mean?” He still kept the empty expression, but his voice held a curious tone.

“…We’re actually ponies. We don’t know what the hay we are.” Rainbow Dash finished, meeting the creature’s pink eyes.

The creature sat for a moment before it finally nodded. “…I see. You two are not normally from this world. In that case, you know not of the human culture, is that correct?”

Both mares (?) held a puzzled expression.

“Human…” Rainbow Dash breathed out.

“…Culture?” Fluttershy finished as her head cocked to the side in confusion.

Kyuubey nodded once more. “Indeed. Your form is that of a human, and their anatomy is different from a pony’s anatomy. For starters, humans walk on two legs.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. ‘So…kinda like Discord does…?’ The mare…human…thought to herself. “So…what would you call a filly?”

“A filly is a female young horse. In this case, ‘filly’ would be replaced with the word ‘girl’. If you say ‘mare’, it would be ‘woman’.” The creature translated.

Fluttershy looked at herself in her white sleeveless shirt with a green skirt that had her cutie mark on it. “…So…instead of a mare…we’re woman?”

Rainbow Dash grinned inwardly. Finally, some questions were being answered! “So what would you call a stallion, then?”

“A ‘stallion’ is a male horse. For a human, he would be called a ‘man’.”

The timid girl smiled. “What are these claws?” She held out the ten claws for the creature to see.

“Those are called ‘hands’. The five points on there are called ‘fingers’. Humans use them to grab and lift items. It is certainly a convenient part of their anatomy. The section underneath the hand is called a ‘wrist’, so what Rainbow Dash is wearing is called a ‘wristband’.”

Rainbow Dash held up the sticks. “So, these aren’t fore-hooves. What the hay are these?”

“…Those ‘fore-hooves’ are known as ‘arms’. They hold the advantage of wrapping around objects, adding insurance when humans use their hands."

Looking back at the arms, Rainbow Dash felt her mouth dropping open. Suddenly everything was starting to make sense again! Maybe letting Cubes know wasn’t such a bad idea!

Fluttershy clasped her fingers together in silent fascination. “So…what did you mean before about humans walking on two legs?”

Kyuubey faced Rainbow Dash. “Do you remember how your posture was when you first landed after defeating the Witch? That is how a human is supposed to stand. To use a human’s definition, your form of standing is known as ‘on your knees’. The concept of ‘knees’ is allowing the human to bend their legs. This is convenient for wanting to get in a lower space, without actually sitting on the ground.”

The two girls looked at their knees for a moment. The idea of walking on two legs actually reminded Rainbow Dash of some of Pinkie’s weird quirks sometimes when she would stand up on her hind legs for a few moments. In this case, humans always walked like that…

Humans were tall.

Fluttershy gave a small awkward smile. “…Could we see how a human walks?” She asked the creature. “…T-That is, if…you don’t…mind.”

“…Certainly. There are plenty of humans in this world that would set a fine example.” Kyuubey started down the paved sidewalk, looking back to see if they would follow.

Rainbow Dash nodded towards Fluttershy until she frowned at her ‘hands’. They were both pretty full… “Is there a way I can put this in a small space or something? It’s gonna get annoying pretty quickly if I hafta carry it with me everywhere.”

Fluttershy blinked. “…Are there pockets?”

Kyuubey gave an empty smile. “As transforming out of your armor was by will, it also takes will to change your Soul Gem into a more compacted form.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “…Sweet! So there is a way!” Closing her eyes, the Soul Gem in her left hand glowed before the form swirled into a rainbow light before it gathered on the middle finger on her left hand, materializing into a form of metal, a red gem on the inside while symbols were on the outside. Looking at it with a puzzled expression, she held it out for Kyuubey to see. “So…what…the hay is this thing?”

“That ‘thing’ is known as a ‘ring’. It is an accessory that humans often wear as a sense of beauty. It is also used in weddings.”

Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding. She knew what it was now; they just didn’t go on horns. Instead, they put rings on fingers. “’Kay, I got it. Let’s get going and see some humans, then!” She grinned as she put the Grief Seed in a tiny pocket on the magenta skirt she wore.

To be honest, she wasn’t THAT excited about seeing others that looked like what she was…but they both had to learn about these things, especially if she was going to be fighting Witches in a human form.

If only she still had her wings though. That’d make this trip all the more easier.

…Nope.

Giving an inward sigh, she followed Fluttershy after Kyuubey as they made their way away from the white building they were behind.

They’d eventually find a way back. And then this weird adventure would be all over. Fluttershy could tend to her animals, she’d be resting in the clouds, maybe see if the new Daring Do book was out yet…it’d be home sweet home.

…Or would it? Did her making a contract for Fluttershy cause a difference?

…Would she have to stay behind?

Shaking her head, her rose eyes locked onto her filly-hood friend. Best not talk about this with Flutters…

No matter what, she had to make sure Fluttershy was okay. If Flutters was safe…then it’d be fine, no matter what outcome. Even if she had to be left behind, she wouldn’t mind. After all, she could take on those Witches any day! No problem!

…Right?

Author's Note:

Mares-a-Mares: Here's chapter 3! Not as long as I hoped for it to be, but that seemed like a fine place to end the chapter.

Also, FINALLY I can stop saying 'sticks' and 'mare (?)'! They know stuff now! XD I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for your support so far!

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Moooooore.....

If you can write it that is No pressure

[Mares-a-Mares]

4854366
I'll see what I can do. I probably won't have the next chapter up until during the weekend or next week. I won't have time to work on it today. Thank you anyway for your support!