Harmony's Creed

by Gapeagle

Bearer Chapter: Kindness

(Gore is ahead)

Yearling stretched her neck. The night was late and she barely kept awake. She lazily reached for her coffee mug. She dragged it to her face and took a sip. To her disappointment, the mug was empty of its precious caffeine-filled nectar. This caused her to slump onto her couch. She didn't want to fall asleep. Too much to do, must stay awake. Her laptop rested on the table beside Octavia's writings. Octavia, Elements, Trixie, they were all the same to her at the moment. Wait. Trixie? As in Trixie Lulamoon?

Yearling sat right up and grabbed her laptop. She brought up a search engine and typed the Imperial Captain's name in it. Millions of results popped up. Images of a regal woman with silver hair and sword appeared on the screen. Yearling began to skim through the information that the search got for her.

"Trixie Lulamoon. Born from a poor family. Spent early years on a rock farm....Joined the Royal Guard, first woman to do so. Soared through ranks...Became Empress. Trixie was self-crowned Empress after the reign of the Two Sisters. Known for her just reign and establishing a republic in place of the Equestria Empire. Reigned in the 4th Imperial Era to 1st Republic Era."

Yearling leaned back and sighed. "Oh, how could I have missed that?" She lowered her head to look at Octavia's writings. "Huh, the Den Master met a future ruler."

The door to Yearling's room swung open. This startled the woman and her laptop slid off her lap. Dr. Caballeron walked through the door with a raised brow. Yearling gave him a sheepish smile.

"Hi Doc! I was jus' researching stuff."

"Really? What a surprise." He returned in sarcasm. "Was it on the Elements?"

"Uh...No. It was on Trixie, as in the Trixie that became Empress. She's in Octavia's writings."

"Interesting. But, we can't get sidetracked with history we already know. The higher-ups wanted me to research a specific aspect of the Elements."

"Oh? What do they want?"

"They want to know how the Elements choose their Bearers. I want you to go into a memory of a Bearer right before they were chosen. It will give us an idea of how it's done."

"Wait, Octavia made a discovery in her writings. The Elements are seeds of..."

"The Tree of Harmony? Yes, we know that. You discovered the Tree yourself. That's where the Elements were."

"Kindness told Octavia that they didn't want to go back to the Tree."

"Well, then they didn't get their wish. Heh, maybe we helped them by taking them out again. But anyway, we got to do this tonight. Might as well get it over with."

Yearling sighed. "Which Bearer?"

"You choose."

The woman pondered this. "Fluttershy."

"Alright. Get ready for foggy weather." Caballeron prepared the Animus.

Yearling slowly walked over to the Animus. She didn't really want to do this at the moment. She was tired and wanted rest. But, you can't just ignore the Elements. They could lead to great scientific discovery or better yet, important facts in history. Yearling laid herself on the Animus and closed her eyes.

---

Cloudsdale, Equestria Empire

4th Imperial Era

The old city of Cloudsdale built itself out of memory. Temples and statues of ancient warriors shaped themselves and were hidden in a thick fog. Cloudsdalians went about their ways. One Couldsdalian in particular gently walked through a grassy plaza. The area was mostly empty, except for the small animals that followed behind the Cloudsdalian. This Cloudsdalian was a young girl with long pink hair that covered her left eye. She wore simple garments and a green cloak to keep herself warm. She threw out small bites of food to the critters around her.

"Oh, Angel, you must not eat so much." She told a small white rabbit.

The rabbit stopped and looked at her. The annoyance could be felt from his stare alone. Fluttershy shook her head and he scampered off, as if he understood every word from the girl. Fluttershy then continued her slow walk. The few people that passed her by gave her odd looks. Many of these were returned with an awkward wave from the girl. The young girl sighed.

"They always look at me like that. I don't know why." She said to her animal friends.

Fluttershy began to walk down a flight of stairs. Cloudsdale was built on the side of a mountain. This made it be divided into several levels. The lowest level was in the east and the highest in the south. As Fluttershy descended, she passed many old ruins. Cloudsdale had been sacked centuries ago and rebuilt. The surviving structures still remained as new ones were built next to them. This gave Cloudsdale a past to present feel. She enjoyed the city for this. She hadn't been anywhere else in her life, but she felt at home here. This was probably due to her complete ancestry living in Cloudsdale. She could see their way of life even in hers. A song her grandmother taught her came to mind. She began to sing it as the animals followed her. The Cloudsdalian latin echoed off the ruins.

atas sancto ut, ata nam regna
atas sancto ut, ata nam regna
resus animae sat
resus animae sat

She stopped her singing when she heard a noise behind her. She looked back to see a man in white dashing on the rooftops. He vanished in the fog above. She tried to resume her singing but the man's appearance scared her. Who was he? Why was he running on the rooftops? She continued her trek across the city. She became more cautious as the figure she saw stayed in her mind.

Another noise was heard. She turned to see a woman in white robes leaning on an old fountain. The city seemed empty as she was alone with Fluttershy. The strange woman simply gazed at the girl, her face was shrouded by a low, pointed hood. Fluttershy walked pass the woman. The girl noticed that her animal friends had disappeared. Fear gripped her and she began to walk faster. She looked over her shoulder to see the white woman following her casually. There was something not right with this woman, Fluttershy thought. The girl took a turn into a small gap between building and a rock ledge.

"Please don't follow me through here." Fluttershy begged under her breath.

Sure enough, the woman entered the gap. Fluttershy began to sweat. Panic took hold and she sprinted off. This woman was after her, she knew it. She didn't know why, but she couldn't think of such matters right now. She had to get away.

"Hey! Get back here!" The woman yelled at her.

Fluttershy ran with all her might. She didn't know where she was heading. She tried to look for a friendly face, someone she could hide behind, but alas, the city was empty. She had run into an old and sparsely populated part of Cloudsdale. She had to rely on her speed and endurance.

"Why are you chasing me? I'm a nobody!" Fluttershy asked her pursuer.

"You'll be a somebody soon." The woman replied.

"You don't have to run, little one."

The sudden voice made Fluttershy trip over and fall on the cold stone road. She started to desperately crawl away from her chaser. She stopped as she entered the shadow of a man that stood over her. She looked up at him. The cloaked man crossed his arms and returned the stare. Fluttershy began to crawl backwards and bumped into the woman that had chased her. She was surrounded.

"Calm yourself down."

"Who....Who are you?" Fluttershy asked meekly.

The man chuckled. "We would explain, but you'll know it soon enough, that is, if you are our next Kindness."

"Next Kindness? I guess that sounds alright..."

"Oh, it's more than alright."

"Where is that voice coming from?" Fluttershy questioned as she searched her surroundings.

The man smiled broadly. Fluttershy took notice and became afraid again. His smile was that of one who saw another pass a test or accomplish some feat. He pointed his finger to the right. Fluttershy turned to see another man in white approaching with a small chest in his hands. The chest bore the symbol of a golden ornamental unicorn with several circles around it. The chest was old, very old. The man who carried it did not have the same robes as the others. His robes were long and more formal. It looked like what a priest would wear. This also showed the man's age, as he had a thick gray beard. Fluttershy began to scramble away, but the white woman grabbed her arm and held her.

"Don't run, this is your blessing." She whispered in Fluttershy's ear.

The young man took hold of Fluttershy's other arm and held her in an spreadeagle position. The old man opened the chest to reveal a pulsing pink crystal. He walked up to the girl. The crystal pulsed more quickly as it approached.

"Yes, there you are."

"I'm....I'm a nobody, you don't have to do whatever it is that you are doing!" Fluttershy begged.

The old man waved a soothing hand at her. "Girl, do not be afraid. What you are about to receive is the ultimate gift of this world."

"Why me?! I....I am Fluttershy! The animal caretaker....I....Don't!" The girl could barely utter words between her tears.

"Let us begin." The old man muttered.

"Yes. Let's begin."

The old man picked up the shard and placed the chest on the ground. He walked over to Fluttershy and crouched slightly. The girl struggled to get away, but the man and woman held her in place. The old man moved the crystal to Fluttershy's chest. The pulsing became erratic. She could feel the crystal's presence in every way. The sound of its voice, the thumping of the pulse hitting her body, the warmness that emitted from it, it all told signs of something very alive.

"It will go best if you do not struggle." The old man warned her.

"What? What is it going to do?"

"Here, we'll show you."

The old man let go of the crystal and it floated over to her. It then latched onto her chest and began ripping her clothes off. It did not have any arms or legs, so Fluttershy did not know how it was doing this. Once it reached skin, it started ripping that off as well. It took a moment before the agony reached her and she began to scream. The shard did not heed her and continued drilling itself in her. It reached the ribs and began pulling them out with an unequal force. It was trying to reach the heart. Once it had butterflied all her ribs it grabbed her heart. Her veins and arteries became severed as her heart fell out of her chest and splatted on the ground. She was in utter shock by now and simply watched. The heart made a couple of beats before stopping in its dead state. The crystal attached her veins and arteries to itself. Her blood became a light shade of pink. Her ribs started to fold back in place. Since the crystal was larger than her heart, some ribs broke off when they tried to cover it up. This left the shard jutting out of her in a horrid angle. Once the ribs were down, the skin regenerated and sealed her wound. The man and woman let go of Fluttershy and she fell on the ground.

"Ah yes, I made a good choice."

Fluttershy did not feel any pain. The pulse of the crystal gave her strength. She got to her feet. Her clothes were still torn and she could see the shard embedded in her chest. Flashes of images filled her head as the crystal's knowledge and hers became one. These men and the woman were Assassins. She was the new Bearer of Kindness. Must establish Harmony. Templar.....The Templar. Starswirl, the Tree, the past, the present, the others. The other Bearers. All these made her feel light-headed and she became imbalanced. The Assassin woman caught her before she fell. All three Assassins looked at her with worry.

"Are you alright Bearer?" The young man asked.

"We haven't felt better."

Fluttershy nodded. "We feel fine. Actually, We feel great."

"That is good to hear." The old man said.

---

Yearling awoke with a start. Her time with the Animus was cut off manually. This always made her head swirl. She lifted her head to look at Caballeron who was typing some notes on his tablet. The doctor lifted a brow at her.

"Interesting isn't it?" He asked.

"Interesting? That was brutal! Are you sure we should be using things that do THAT?" Yearling returned.

Caballeron shrugged. "I see nothing wrong."

"WHAT? That thing ripped Fluttershy's chest open and replaced her heart! We can't use that, it's inhumane!"

"Miss Yearling, this is scientific progress. These things can get us through a whole new era of technology. If they want a Bearer, they can have one. So far, the Elements can only communicate to us verbally via Bearer. These crystals know knowledge beyond us. We must access it."

Yearling spat at this. "These Assassins were sick! Why would they use such things?"

"Desperate measures. The Assassins and Templar are gone now; we can use these for good and not harm."

"Say that to a new Bearer."

"Heh, they won't have a choice, but the Elements may never pick another Bearer."

"Why you say that?"

"You came into contact with them, they didn't embed themselves into you. So they are either very particular in their Bearers or they don't want to deal with humanity anymore. If it's the latter, well too bad for them, if its the former, we'll find one for them."

Yearling got up and walked away. She was not happy with Caballeron's calm nature toward the Elements. She didn't want to deal with the Elements after that. History and all be damned. The gruesome ceremony left her in complete disgust. And they did it to a poor girl as well. She entered her bedroom and slammed the door. She needed sleep. She pulled the covers off her bed and simply fell on it. She was far too tired to even change into nightclothes. She cursed and closed her eyes. Hopefully her night will not be filled with nightmares of what she had just witnessed.

~

Author's Note:

Ouch....Ouch.....It hurt writing this (I'm sorry Flutters!)

Is Yearling giving up too soon? Are the Elements evil or simply misunderstood? Are the Assassins wrong in using them? Would the Templar use the Elements the same way?

Who knows.....

-Cheers for That!

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

we can_____these for good and not harm.

Thanks for the gore warning, though after working on you know what, this is pretty tame in comparison but still a very brutal, albeit an oddly bloodless display coming from the way you described the whole thing.

I guess it's the Element's magic keeping her blood from splattering everywhere from the violent 'merging'.

[Gapeagle]

5162239 Man, I still had trouble finding the mistake. My mind kept hallucinating the word "use" in there.

Yeah, it ain't Kriss level gore. But I don't have a gore tag on this story, so I am more careful.

And yeah, the Element doesn't want to kill the Bearer, so it had to do the ceremony pretty fast as well.

[Noctus Umbra]

From what I've read so far I'm guessing that Starswirl took the elements from the tree and found a way to manipulate their feelings or warp their nature in a way that caused them to have views not quite in alignment with their values and hate the Templar with a burning passion. Am I close?