The Game of Shadows

by Zytharros

The Guardians of Harmony

The Guardians of Harmony

The ticking continued into the next morning.

When I came down the stairs, I found one entrance of the library blocked by a mountain of books. I could barely squeeze through the other door and its multi-topic’d obstructions.

How many books did Razortongue go through last night? I asked myself, bewildered.

When I finally got through, I chuckled at the sight. Razortongue had what I estimated to be about four hundred tomes stacked around her. She was lying on another book, open-faced, drool coming out of her mouth, snoring. Occasionally muttering phrases like “guardians of the elements”, “fuckin’ shithead Crystal Fist”, and “Fluttershy… my lovely…” didn’t help either. I turned tail, glancing back at the most colourful member of our group and smirking again.

Derpy was already up and reading a newspaper, a half-empty cup of coffee parked by her right hoof. I wondered briefly if I had some competition for the “earliest-to-rise” of our group… then I looked at the clock. It was well past nine-thirty, and this time I didn’t have a headache.

“Morning, Zytharros!” Derpy said brightly. “How’d you sleep?”

I replied, “Not bad once I got used to this annoying ticking in my head. How about you?”

Derpy nodded happily. “I slept real well after all that box-moving last night.”

I listened as a shower started upstairs. “Sounds like Boomdrop’s up,” I observed.

Derpy nodded. “She’s been in there for the past hour.”

I poured myself a cup of milk. I carried the cup over to the table and sat by the golden-eyed pegasus. Knowing Boomdrop’s affinity for her tail, she was likely to be in there for another couple hours. I groaned a little and tapped my hoof.

Derpy drank another sip of coffee and returned to reading her paper. Suddenly, we heard a loud “Fuck!!” and a colossal collapse of dull thuds. We dropped what we were doing and raced to the library. Digging through the chronicles, we finally managed to pull Razortongue free. She shook herself off and looked at both of us thankfully.

“Fuckin’ chair…” she snapped. She gave her seat a light kick with a hind hoof and trotted off. “Woke up and leaned back to stretch. It didn’t fuckin’ tell me it had roller wheels on the bottom. Shit…”

I smiled. “So, what did you find last night?” I asked as we returned to the kitchen.

She shrugged. “Some shit about the Elements of Harmony needing their own individual grounds… the Guardians… Protectors… Society of Harmony… fuck… that kinda shit or something…” She gathered up oat cereal ingredients. “It was interesting, but I guess I was too fuckin’ tired to read it all. Fell asleep when it said there were seven of these fuckers…”

Through the haze of filter-less profanity, I saw a small hint of direction. I grabbed a piece of fruit and returned to her drool-filled book. I began flipping through the tome, trying to find out anything I could about this second group of Harmony. Holding my place and flipping to the title page, I read: “The Society of Protectors”.

It described in great detail about a second team of six ponies. This team was to make sure the smaller threats of Equestria were taken care of so the Elements of Harmony could rise up and deal with the bigger things and call upon them as necessary to help them out. The six Guardians of Harmony, named only as Determination, Stability, Spirit, Tact, Cheer, and Courage were each assigned an element to protect.

Historically, it had been Loyalty’s folly to choose a bearer of great arrogance and pride. This is why it was assigned the Guardian of Determination as its protector, so Loyalty’s pride would have a fixed point of focus and not be shattered forever. Kindness had always picked a demure, quiet, sensitive pony, so it needed someone of great Courage to protect it. Honesty had typically chosen a very blunt host, so blunt that at times it would drive away friends. Tact’s alliance helped it through some of the more awkward of its conversations. Stability tended to balance out Laughter’s general unpredictability and penchant for chaos. Generosity and Spirit, although having a temperamental relationship, understood their need for each other. Generosity wanting to give everything away and Spirit having the ability and mental fortitude to rein in Generosity’s selflessness. Finally, Friendship had usually wound up in the hands of the most mentally-unstable, unsure pony, so Cheer would often match well with it to bring about order. All twelve of them were centered on just one thing – the Rock of Humility.

Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Friendship…

Determination, Courage, Stability, Spirit, Tact, and Cheer…

And Humility.

One dozen ponies.

And me in the middle.

An astonishing parallel struck my mind. What is this…? I asked of myself. Some kind of twisted take on the story of Jesus? I bit my lip out of realization, hearing the ticking. Even down to the death… even if it’s a figurative and not a literal one.

Dammit. That meant my time was drawing near – and it was likely sooner than I ever thought.

I slinked back into my chair and ran a hoof through my mane. I had never thought I would be given such a… curse? Honour? Blessing? Fate? I didn’t know. I was at a loss for words. I wasn’t worthy. I wasn’t perfect. I was a normal, average Joe with a magical ring blessed by the love of my Hero, my wife, and my pony-sister Applejack, summoned by a mythical Princess to save her land from destruction from a place nopony truly knew, yet everyone who had heard of it was in awe of… I reeled in the surreal nature of my thoughts.

I was quite literally walking in my Hero’s shoes.

A forewarning in a book I had never seen, paralleling to a book I had grown up reading and had memorized large chunks of. My mind was on the verge of exploding, imploding, and combusting all at one. I reeled again, just trying to keep up with my mind as it raced circles around my head, transforming my brain into a Wonderbolt Derby circuit.

I lowered my head in mental pain. This was a hell of a lot of information to process.

I finally knew the plan.

I finally knew my role in the story.

I finally knew…

Equestria was going to be…

my grave.

I remembered the end of the story, when my Hero, the Christ, had risen from the dead. I didn’t know if that parallel held true for me, but I was being taken headlong on a journey by Fate to find out for myself. At first, I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. I wanted to hide. That was impossible. I wanted to be angry. That didn’t do any good. I wanted to cry. That was a problem in the shocked state I was finding myself in. I didn’t know how to take this…

So I just sang the first thing that came to mind… Thousand Foot Krutch’s “My Home”…

You are my home

You are my everything when I feel so alone

You are my home

You are my shelter when all my hope is gone

You are my home

You are my everything when I feel so alone

You are my heart

You are the One when it all comes undone…

The soothing lyrics restored my mind back to a controlled state. Stability was restored.

“That was beautiful, Zytharros.”

The suddenness of the young Missourian voice caught me clear off-guard. I screamed loudly and bolted behind a table. I slowly emerged, seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders clamor in through a window.

“I thought I heard a voice I reckinized,” Apple Bloom said.

I stood up and smiled, relieved, as the filly leapt into my winged hug, giggling in relief at finally being reunited with a face she recognized. They were a filthy mess and all of them were an unhealthy weight. They all had bruises and sores on them, and their hooves looked downright awful.

“Oh, girls…” I said, concerned. “What happened to you?”

“We’ve been trying to get home for weeks now,” Scootaloo said. “We were blown free of Ponyville by a white light. We didn’t even have anything to eat!”

“We’re so-o-o-o-o hungry-y-y-y-y…” Sweetie Belle whined. “Ponyville… We don’t even know what it’s like anymore. We just wanna go ho-o-o-o-o-ome…”

“Come here, girls…” I said. “Let’s fix you something to eat. You can tell us all what’s been going on.”

As our cook prepared breakfast for the three fillies, Boomdrop joined our group. I introduced the Cutie Mark Crusaders to the rest of the party at the table. Everyone made their respective introductions, except Derpy, who they already knew.

“So, how’d you get here?” I asked.

“Princess Celestia found us in a field a couple days away,” Scootaloo said. “She brought us outside, telling the guards to let us in.

The red-bowed pony nodded. “We ain’t been warm or comfterble in days. Whatever took over Ponyville ain’t nice.”

“Well, fu-” Razortongue began before stopping and changing her word mid-stride for the fillies “-u-u-u-udge… Crystal Fist’s really got Ponyville in a bind then.”

Scootaloo looked at her, unimpressed. “I know you were going to say ‘fuck’.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gasped. The white unicorn stomped. “Scootaloo! You know what happens to colts and fillies who use that word! We’ve all been there!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Scoots said, still unimpressed. “I still don’t see what’s so wrong about it…”

Razortongue smirked. “I like her,” she said, giving a nod to the little filly. “Fuck ‘em. They don’t understand true linguistic beauty in Equestria.”

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I facehoofed in unison. Apple Bloom and I groaned. Scootaloo smiled widely at her new friend.

“This is going to end so well,” I deadpanned.

“You’re telling me,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Last time we said that, we got soap shoved down our throats…”

Apple Bloom made a disgusted face. “I still can’t quite get the taste of Equestrian Spring out of my mouth… Yuck…” She bit into a red delicious apple.

Within several minutes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were bathing. Boomdrop was given the task of watching them, and Razortongue, Derpy and I retreated to the library to plan our next move. We had to find a way into the force field if we were going to save Ponyville. We did a little more research on the Guardians of Harmony and wondered who they were.

Razortongue was willing to point out the obvious, though I wasn’t yet sure.

“Well, ya got’cher… fuckin’… Derpy, Boomdrop, me, and you… but could those fuckin’ kids count for the other three?” she asked.

“Maybe,” I said. “I’m open to the possibility.”

Derpy shuddered. She was still uncomfortable with Boomdrop’s language. “Um… could you use those words a little less?” she asked.

“What?” Razortongue asked. “What words?”

“Um… f… fu-” Derpy stammered.

“Oh,” Razortongue interrupted, chuckling. “Fuck, damn, shit, bitch, bastard, ass… those kinds of words?”

Derpy nodded furiously. “I don’t like them…”

Razortongue glared, but caught me glaring at her and sighed.

“Alright…” she said reluctantly. “I’ll f… uh, try.”

The blonde-maned one smiled. “Thanks.”

Razortongue turned away and muttered, “Fuckin’ cunt…”

Derpy winced. I glared harder at Razortongue. She looked at me and groaned loudly.

“Alright, alright…” she exasperatedly said. “I’ll watch my fu-… da- tongue.”

“Thank you.” I said, smiling.

“So, what’re we f… uh… doing to bust into Ponyville?” Razortongue said, trying to catch her words. “I mean, f… uh, really? How do we get past that da-er, magical berrier?”

I smiled at the effort. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe if your band can come back together for a day or six, however long it takes to get back to Ponyville, we can use that as a gateway.”

“That’s gonna be fuckin’ impossible…” Razortongue said.

Derpy frowned. Razortongue apologized. I could see the stress of watching her tongue was getting to her a little bit.

“I don’t think it’s impossible.” Derpy said matter-of-factly. “You just need to apologize for whatever happened and move on.”

Razortongue laughed. “You really are a f… uh, simple pony, aren’t you? It’s never that simple.”

I looked at her. “It’s only complex if one party choose to make it so. Beyond that, if both parties have an open mind and a forgiving heart, it truly does become that simple.”

Razortongue continued laughing. “Both of you are so naïve…”

I shrugged. “I don’t know… It’s usually worked for me,” I replied. “Keeping things simple allowed me to keep a few friends I made as a kid, even when we drifted apart.”

The red-and-white paint wiped an eye with a forehoof. “You just don’t understand.”

“Maybe not, but here's an example from my life. Keep in mind, I don’t remember this for myself, but my best friend does,” I continued. “We were in fifth grade and in the middle of class we brawled hardcore. I don’t remember what it was over, but we made up and have remained friends since. I think that was where I learned the importance of ears over mouth.”

Razortongue threw me a questioning look. “What?”

“Listening over talking,” I replied. “If you talk too much, people eventually stop listening.”

“But it’s not my fault!” Razortongue shouted, dropping to the defensive instantly.

I kept my composure and raised a hoof slowly. “I never said that. All I said was, ‘in order to earn respect, you have to give it by listening first’. That’s the only way you get and keep friends.”

“Waitasec…” her face came to a look of shock. “That’s why nopony in the band has listened to me recently… I’m always talking.”

I nodded. “You became white noise to them, then.”

“Celestia’s wings…” Razortongue said, her demeanor dropping again. “I did do it…” She looked at me, determination in her eyes. “I got something to do. I gotta find my bi-… uh, band mates. Can you guys come and help?”

I nodded. “I’d be happy to.”

We notified Boomdrop of where we were headed. Derpy opted to stay behind to continue the research, putting a black eye patch over her wandering eye and stating it helped her focus while reading. That was another side of Derpy I didn’t know – she got confused by the placement of things in space because her other eye sent in conflicting information and she would subconsciously switch between eyes. This was how most of her accidents would occur.

With that, we set off to find the pieces of Dashcore. Our return to Ponyville wasn’t long away now.