The Rise of an Alicorn's Destiny

by HMXTaylorLee

The Battle For Harmony

"It was the infinity symbol, just like the Element I had just - Twilight? Twilight?" Reveille's account halted as he called out the name of his sole listener, whom had hopped off the couch, and was making for the exit of the study. "Twilight, where are you going? I'm not finished yet!"

Her determined pace, one that she reserved almost solely for unquenchable curiosity, was halted.

"To the library," Twilight answered irritably. "In all of my time in Equestria, there's never been one mention of another Element of Harmony. And 'infinity?' What does that have to do with harmony at all? It's so outlandish - I need to look for some sort of reference!"

"One reference is right here." Reveille shifted his lower legs to reveal the golden ∞ along his flank. "My cutie mark - the infinity symbol."

Twilight squinted her eyes at it and quietly stomped her hoof in frustration. "First, it's called a lemniscate. Second, how did I not see that before?"

"Clever framing," Reveille fired as fast as he could. "And it's because I didn't want you to see it, for fearing that you might ask and doubt the story behind it."

Twilight wore a look of confusion, and quickly replaced it with one of dissatisfaction. "I don't think it would matter much, because while oddly convenient, this is hardly proof."

Sitting back down on the couch, Reveille sighed, biting his lip as he looked at Twilight with uncertainty. "I... I trust you," he breathed."You didn't report me for the crimes committed as I wandered across the land, when most ponies wouldn't waste a moment to see me locked away for all of eternity, never having to look upon my wretched face again."

"Crimes? You mean the forged check thing? I've been here the entire time, who could I have reported you to?" Twilight supposed she could have technically done something about it, being a princess and all, but then she remembered. "Again, I wouldn't have had any actual proof."

"For your kindness," he carried on. "I will show you the second reference." For the first time since he'd arrived, he lifted his satchel from around his neck. Revealed underneath it, hanging from a gold necklace that was practically completely hidden by his flowing mane, was the gold lemniscate. Inside of the two circles were white gems, though in the glow of the firelight, looked like bright balls of fire.

"Is that-" Twilight stepped towards him with a hoof outstretched, eager to examine the long hidden Element. As soon as she got close, Reveille covered it with the brown satchel again, much to the princess' disappointment.

"It is." Reveille nodded grimly. "I couldn't show you before because I didn't know if I could trust you after having only just met. But I fear what will happen if another alicorn such as yourself were to touch it while it is bound to me. I could explain why, but it would be a very long and indulgent recollection that really wouldn't serve much purpose than to display how impressive it's power is."

Twilight sighed in relief. "Whew! I was kinda getting a bit restless -"

"Now, back to my story."

******

"After my celebration, the Guardians threw a party in my honor. Despite my previous attempt to bolster their survivability by reducing their food and eating surfaces, the Guardians managed to fashion a rather nice dining room and lounge in a separate room of the temple. It had music, decorative ribbons, high stakes card tables, and even books at the tables because the food took so long to cook. It was going to be the best meal of my entire life, but the Fates seem to have some sort of serious personality disorder - their emotions can turn on a dime."

"Dime?" Twilight asked. "What's a dime? And how do these Secret Guardians get all of this food and stuff to a temple inside of a mountain if they are so secretive?"

"Twilight," an exasperated Reveille replied. "Do you want a long, indulgent chunk of exposition about the infinite powers of the Element of Infinity, or do you want me to remind you about the still and cold heart?"

"Why do you emphasize the words 'cold' and 'destiny' when-"

"Master Guardian, I trust the food is to your liking?" The maitre d inquired politely from behind Reveille, the food falling from the alicorns' fork. Reveille turned around, not disguising his displeasure at the interruption.

"I'm not pleased at the interruption," he growled. "Every time I try to take a bite, somepony comes over to shake my hoof. The only bit I've gotten to sample has been this asparagus. Which, by the way, is far too soft and squishy."

The maitre d wore a nervous smile as his forehead practically gleamed in the light from all of the perspiration upon it. "My apologies, Master, I will take these away." His magic lifted the plate of asparagus off of the table. "Ring the bell if there's anything else you require. I will tell the chef to make them more firm, if it pleases you, and he can even bring them out himself."

"I will, and it does," Reveille confirmed, raising his fork with a bite of spaghetti to his mouth as the maitre d trotted hastily to the kitchen. No sooner than he opened his mouth, not one, but two ponies approached his table to speak with him. A pegasus and a unicorn. They both knelt before him, and stood up. The alicorn sighed, placing the fork back into the bowl. "What can you do for me?" he asked.

"It's such an honor to meet you, Reveille. I -" the orange pegasus speaking was interrupted by Seasons Yore playing three sharp notes on his bugle from the other side of the room.

"He does that every time someone addresses me by my old name, or if I introduce myself as such" Reveille explained. "To announce that they are speaking to somepony important."

This elicited a chuckle from the winged pony. "My apologies, Master. It was a slip of the tongue. You shouldn't have to worry about that once everypony gets in the hang of addressing you properly. I imagine it would get rather old to have a constant echo after your name."

"I actually like it," Reveille admitted. "It makes me feel as important as I think I am."

"In any case." The pegasus rubbed his foreleg nervously. "I am Winger, the lead flight trainer among the Secret Guardians."

The white unicorn that had approached alongside Winger introduced herself. "My name is Horner, the expert on unicorn magic."

"I was looking forward to speaking with the two of you." Reveille cracked his neck side to side. "Seems somepony thought I needed improvement in both fields, and said you were the two that knew what you were talking about."

"We-we can do an official evaluation later, but I don't think it will be necessary!" Horner stammered. "After all, if somepony with your raw magical ability simply focuses, you should be able to do just about anything with precision and ease!"

"Focus... I'll keep that in mind," Reveille noted.

"The same goes with your flying, Master." Winger nodded in agreement. "Just flap your wings, and I'm sure that somepony with your natural flying talents will be able to fly just about anywhere with speed and agility!"

"Flap my wings... I'll see if that takes off," the alicorn remarked.

The two ponies bowed before him once again, smiling as they stood up together. "It was an honor to speak with you. The line might have been long, but it was worth it." The duo trotted away after performing a hoofbump.

At the mention of the word 'line,' Reveille looked from where the trainers had come from, seeing a single file collective of even more ponies than he remembered seeing at the ceremonies waiting anxiously to figuratively lick the bottom of his hooves. He groaned, sliding the plates of his cold food off the table into the small trashcan below, since he wouldn't be able to eat it anyways. After already getting rid of his food, he decided to take care of all of the ponies in one fell swoop. He lifted the dinner bell next to him, swinging it about as it rang, shouting at the same time.

"Everypony, everypony! Stop what you're doing and gather round! Hurry, hurry, time waits for nopony, and especially not for me!"

Crashes could be heard from glasses and trays being dropped, and in less than ten seconds, he had the entirety of the Guardians encircling him. The record player made a horrible warble as it stopped playing. He leaped onto the table, looking around the room to view his audience. He cleared his throat, and quickly conjured a speech that would hopefully allow ponies to leave him alone long enough for him to eat.

"Secret Guardians, in case you didn't know, my name is Reveille." He smiled at Seasons' bugle playing.

"I would thank you all for this wonderful celebration if I didn't earn it. Since I did, I'm not going to. I also notice that there is a very large number of you in a line that wish to sing your praises. I don't blame you, not in the slightest, but in the interest of actually eating something and going to sleep at a reasonable hour, I'm going to let everypony express how much you absolutely adore me all at once."

There was a pause, and then from the crowd, somepony cried "But how will you hear each of our personalized greetings and well-wishings, Master?"

Reveille rapped a hoof impatiently against the table. "I don't know who said that, but rest assured that with the powers granted by the Element of Infinity combined with my already impressive mental acuity, I will be able to distinguish each and every line. Now, on three; one, two... three!"

As the cacophony of noise swallowed him, Reveille concentrated on how to spell cacophony. After the noise ceased, and he was fairly certain he had it spelled correctly, he addressed the crowd once more.

"With that, that concludes my speech. Once I eat my meal and head out for the night, I'm certain that many of you will miss me. I can't not say with any honesty that the feeling won't be mutual." Reveille hopped down the table, and climbed back into his seat, awaiting the return of his asparagus. All around him, the crowd failed to disperse. The whispers turned to a rumbling, and somepony finally spoke up.

"Pray tell, Master, but what do you mean by head out for the night?"

"What is with you ponies not understanding terms that equate to 'departing'?" Reveille shouted irritably.

"But... you cannot leave here, Master. Not with that Element around your neck," the grey pegasus pony replied, stepping forth from the line.

"Are you seriously telling your master what he can or can't do?" Reveille slid out from his seat, approaching the pegasus stallion in front of him. He looked familiar.

"Master, you must protect the Secret - the existence of the Element of Infinity. If you are out and about, everypony will know of it, and the Secret will be lost."

"It was probably lost already if an eleven year old colt could find it," Reveille snapped. He turned away from the pegasus and walking back to his table to get a sip of water. "Besides, isn't a moving target harder to hit?"

"If you intend to take the Element out of it's home, we will have no choice but to fight you," the pegasus announced over the sounds of water sucking through a straw. "Master," he said gently as approached Reveille from behind, placing a hoof upon his shoulder. The alicorn's response was not gentle in kind.

Not used to the soft contact of another pony since being abandoned by his mother, Reveille didn't quite know what to do when that pony touched his shoulder. He thought before he acted. Sometimes.

Ding!

Reflexively, Reveille had grabbed a hold of the nearest object he could - the dinner bell - and struck the grey pegasus on the head when he felt the weight of the pony's hoof upon his shoulder. The crowd gasped as the pegasus lay on the ground, whimpering into the floor.

"Master," the pony cried as he rolled on to his back to look at Reveille. "Don't you know who I am?"

"No." Reveille tilted his head. "But your face rings a bell."

"I... I am Yrit, remember? The one you came to deliver the message to, the husband of your mother, Despair."

Reveille sipped the last of the water out of his glass, setting the bell back on the table. "What makes you think she was my mother? And what does that have to do with anything like... at all?"

Yrit's eyes flickered back and forth. "I uhh... well... I loved your mother very much, and as your stepfath-"

Reveille had had enough. He stomped his hoof down hard, the causing the floorboard he was standing on to lower under his hoof, but raise on the other end. Sitting on the other side of said floorboard was the mini garbage can full of spaghetti and other discarded objects that had been catapulted into the air. With a juicy splat, the trashcan lodged itself upon Yrit's head. Tomato paste seeped past the pegasus' ears, and Reveille gave his next order.

"Can it, you dirty mother lover."

******

"Really?" Twilight's eyes rolled, though Reveille didn't seem to notice.

"I could scarcely believe he would try such manipulation either."

******

"As the new Master and Bearer of the Element of Infinity, I'm going to leave this place," Reveille announced before the crowd of stunned ponies surrounding him and the fallen Yrit. "If there is a fight to be had, then so be it!" With a flash of red light, he disappeared. An instant later, he reappeared in front of the now silent record machine. The pony rifled through the musical selections with his black hooves, searching for some epic music to battle to. Reveille could the hear the hoof falls of a lone pony quickly approaching from behind, and he had to settle for what was in his hooves - Flight of the Bumblebee.

Reveille withdrew the cardboard sleeve, looking at the image of a black and yellow bee flitting merrily about in a vivid green meadow under a bright blue sky. "I don't know much about being a bee," he said as the pony - a unicorn - drew closer to him. The colt spun around, record sleeve in tow, to face his would-be-assailant. "But I know all about being a B.A!"

Reveille withdrew the record, thrusting it forward through the air at the charging unicorn's head. The hole at the center of the record slid perfectly into place around the unicorn's horn, causing him to slide blindly to a stop in order to remove the obstruction. No sooner than the unicorn had pulled the record off of his horn and held it aloft in front of him, a black hoof burst through the disc, striking the surprised pony in the face and knocking him out in one blow.

"That must have been the A side," Reveille said, pulling his hoof back through the gap in the now-destroyed record. "Because that was a pretty big hit."

"We've got a badass over here!" somepony shouted among the throng of Guardians.

"I'm glad that somepony picked up on that line," Reveille smirked as a wave of other Guardians charged at him now with a loud roar because it was customary to do so. With a swish of his tail gliding from the box to the player, he set the music to "Black and Red (Better Off Dead)" by Two-Winged Unicorn. Reveille kicked the box of records to its side, and one by one, he flung them through the air at the rapidly approaching ponies. It was as though he was playing frisbee with the father he never had, and instead of the objective being to have a fun time throwing it back and forth, it was to have a fun time striking his nonexistent father in the face so hard that the frisbee shattered.

Black discs whipped through the air at record speeds, each one making a crackling sound as they collided against their targets with needlepoint precision. The very last record in the box flew towards a rather lithe earth pony. Though Reveille didn't quite manage to break the record against this pony's face like he had intended, the disc grazed his cheek, and the pain from the small cut was sufficient to stop the pony's charge in it's tracks.

"That's what I call a vinyl scratch," Reveille remarked.

Another rash of ponies were charging towards him now, armed with spaded shovels that were likely used in the digging to the former master earlier. As the alicorn readied himself in what he thought would be the coolest possible pose, he heard a light cough behind him. A unicorn stood before him, a tall white hat upon his head, and a long black mustache upon his muzzle.

"Master, I am Chef Chef, the head uh... chef," he said nervously. "Chef is my name, and my title."

Reveille quickly glanced back between the cook and the spade wielding Guardians closing in on him. "What do you want? I'm a little busy kicking some flank here!"

Chef Chef jumped, his hat threatening to abandon him. "Oh! Sorry, so sorry! I'm here with your new asparagus - crisp, crunchy, and perfectly seasoned!" A silver tray levitated around him, with two stalks of asparagus resting upon it. "I hope they are to your liking!"

His attackers drawing nearer, and with no other alternatives, Reveille took the two sprigs. "I'll let you know in a minute," he exclaimed to the frightened chef. One asparagus stalk in each hoof, he met his attackers head on. He dodged blow after blow, striking at each opportunity with his asparagus, each hit rendering a satisfying thwack upon impact. With his grace, he effortlessly hopped over the attacks of his foes, and with his strength, his own attacks would often incapacitate the other Guardians in short order. Reveille rapped at the hooves of two earth ponies attacking with their spades, the stinging from the vitriolic vegetable violence forcing them to drop their tools. Suddenly, the ponies attacking found their weapons to be, not the shovels like they had arrived with, but simple stalks of asparagus. They gulped, exchanging a look at each other as the spades thudded against each of their skulls, knocking them both unconscious. Reveille turned around to face Chef Chef, and as he tossed away the shovels, he said;

"Looks like that stalk exchange paid off in spades."

Even after displaying his supremacy, more Guardians approached, far greater in number than before. Reveille had no idea where they were coming from, but he had to act fast. Using the word fast as a catalyst, he had a great idea. If he could take off with enough initial velocity, he could theoretically break the sound barrier, creating a pulse of raw energy in the form of a sonic wave to take out several foes at once.

******

"Huh," Twilight noted. "That sounds an awful lot like the principle behind Rainbow Dash's Sonic-"

******

"You ponies wanna party?" Reveille asked as the crowd encircled him like a pack of dogs. "Let's raise the roof!" The alicorn coiled his legs like a spring, and his majestic black wings unfurled. "Get ready for the Sonic Painboom!" he shouted.

Reveille jumped and flapped his wings at the same time, and all chaos broke loose. In his wake, a pulse of crimson light matching his mane color emanated and spread outward like a destructive wave. Objects flew to and fro, and the vacuum of air following Reveille's ascent literally tore the stone roof off of the temple as though it were mere balsa wood from a movie set.

Above the temple, a red trail pursued Reveille's otherwise invisible figure like a comet in the blackness of the cave. His first flight every bit as awesome and powerful as he thought it would be, he audibly screeched to a halt only inches away from the icy ceiling. He looked down upon the remains of the structure, seeing only the glow of fires inevitably caused by his explosive takeoff.

"Self-improvement, tch," he muttered as he zipped back down to the wreckage. The disparity of decadent ribbons and decorations with the crumbled stone and structure was striking. In what was once the ceremonial chamber where he had been officially presented the Element of Infinity was only a hoof-full of splintered chairs, and the stage, once beautifully polished, was now coated in a thick sheet of dust. The only sounds around him were the moans of pain from the ponies he'd fell, and the crackling of the fires. Reveille knelt down to examine a miraculously unscathed copy of The Secret Guardian Handbook with a frown, when suddenly he noticed a shadow quickly moving on the ground below him that did not belong to his figure.

Having spent the majority of his life staring down at his own shadow under the sun and moon, he knew precisely what this particular shadow meant - danger. Reveille whirled around, thrusting his hoof forward to fend off the incoming blow. With a resounding crack, his gesture found his mark and stopped the strike, an overhead slam from the enraged maitre d wielding a staff, dead in it's tracks. The rod split into two from where Reveille had hit it. The longer half was sent flying into the smoky backdrop, and the remainder, no longer than the asparagus stalks Reveille had just used to defeat around twenty other Guardians, was gripped by the bewildered unicorn. The terrified maitre d looked back and forth between the feeble staff in his hooves, Reveille slowly rising from the floor, and around him in the carnage for the friendly face of a food serving cohort to assist him. He found no one.

"Feeling a bit short staffed?" Reveille asked, chuckling at the joke he only just realized he made without any forethought to the diminished rod in the unicorn's hooves. The maitre d threw the piece of wood at him feebly, turning tail and fleeing from the Bearer of Infinity with a whimper. The unicorn jumped onto the aforementioned stage, but was halted by what seemed to be a tornado whirling immediately around him. Reveille had taken hold of a long strand of ribbon, and pursued the maitre d, running the red material in loops around the fleeing pony's front legs. Sufficient that the binding would hold, Reveille tied a neat bow atop the maitre d's back, and pushed him forward on the wooden stage. With a puff of dust, the unicorn collapsed in an unintentional kneel, looking thoroughly embarrassed and horrified.

Reveille smirked at his handiwork. "Take a bow. Bow? Bow."

******

"Is it bow or bow? As horrible a pun as it is, they could both work given the situation." Twilight said.

"I didn't think this one through when I wrote it," Reveille quickly replied.

"Huh?"

******

"W-what do you want from me?" the maitre d inquired, struggling against his binds but completely forgetting about the magic he had at his disposal to help him.

"Information," Reveille answered simply. "I want to know about the-"

"Why don't you ask the other power-hungry ponies that will hunt you down?" the unicorn snarled quite uncharacteristically, given his profession. "Because they will. As long as the Element of Infinity exists and can be traced throughout history, there will be no shortage of those who would abuse it's power coming after you!"

"I was going to ask about getting the chef's contact information, but I appreciate that uncannily helpful tidbit," Reveille answered.

"You and your lackey are going to run for the rest of your lives. For as long as the Element of Infinity is the only functioning Element of Harmony, its power will allure everypony," the bound pony on the stage continued his spiel.

"Yes, yes, you mentioned that. And my lackey?" Reveille looked around, the figure of Seasons Yore appearing behind him. "Oh, Greetings, Seasons." The alicorn did a double take at another Guardian that left standing, and immediately buckled down, wings flared and horn glowing. Seasons shook his head rapidly, kneeling down before Reveille in a show of allegiance. Reveille's wings slowly folded, and he gazed warily at the purple-haired pegasus, trying to determine his motives. "...You aren't going to try and defeat me?"

Seasons shook his head slowly, standing upright.

I swore to protect you first, the Element second.

"You can talk?" Reveille squinted at Seasons unmoving mouth.

No, I-I... what? Seasons stared back at his Master with wide eyes.

"You said you swore to protect me first, the Element second," Reveille repeated, looking at the ribbon bound maitre d. "You heard that, right?"

"No, you're crazy."

But that's what I was thinking...

"So then... I can hear your thoughts," Reveille surmised.

Then you know my conviction is sincere.

Reveille nodded his head. "Yes... and your voice is a lot different than I thought it would be. It's really warbly and pitchy."

I will keep my thoughts to myself if it pleases you, sir.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" the gift wrapped unicorn cried, squirming against his restraints. Reveille used his telekinesis to throw the handbook at him, knocking him out.

That angry maitre d had a point. We will face endless persecution from those who would take the Element from you so long as they know to look for it.

"Then we only have one choice," Reveille said as the stone walls continued to crumble around him and Seasons, smoke billowing about at the fire spread to the trees outside.

Whatever it may be, you have my sword and shield.

"Bring a quill instead," the alicorn told him as both he and his loyal follower were lifted in a flow of crimson light. "Because we're rewriting history."

With a flash of dazzling red light, the duo disappeared.

******

"Well, I suppose that we can go to get some dinner now." Reveille hopped up from his seat on the couch, walking past a stupefied Twilight.

"Wait!" The princess cried out, catching up to Reveille as they left the study, the orange glow of the fireplace being replaced with the orange glow of the setting sun from the first window Twilight had seen in a while. "Not that I'm complaining, but what about the whole 'can't-pause-a-life-story' thing? You were only eleven, and that hardly seems like the end."

Reveille took a left turn at the first fork, Twilight walking alongside him as they made their way to the dining room.

"Most life stories are like that, Twilight," Reveille said with a sigh. "Mine is not. My life is not the stream that flows in one direction, merrily merrily." Both alicorns entered the dining room, the fragrant smell of Spike's cooking wafting through the air. As Twilight took her usual seat at the end of the table, she observed Reveille taking his seat adjacent to hers. She could hear the sink running from the kitchen in the next room, Spike no doubt washing the cookware he had used in prepping tonight's dish - stir fried noodles with a sauce that Twilight hoped tasted as tangy as it smelled.

"It was funny that one of your first questions to me was whether or not I was an alien," Reveille continued, looking out the window as the sun inched closer down the horizon. "Because while I'm certain I'm of this world, I am from a different dimension altogether."

Twilight just looked at him without bothering to ask, already anticipating the end of his rather melodramatic and deliberately enigmatic statement.

"Most unicorns can teleport across the three dimensions, but I have the ability to traverse the fourth."

Spike trotted merrily along out of the kitchen, still wearing the apron that Rarity had made for him. "Hey, you two! Ready for some food?"

Reveille did not heed the question. He leaned in closer to Twilight and whispered the lynchpin to his explanation.

"Time travel."

Comments

[Walabio]

¡A 7th Element of Harmony! If one wants to write a crackfic, ¡go big or go home!