• Published 14th Nov 2011
  • 9,296 Views, 81 Comments

Finding Harmony - kuromi



A human child in Equestria teaches the mane 6 what magic means in a world with none.

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Chapter 2 (revision)

“A human! I never thought I would see one!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed as she gazed at the small child peeking out from behind Fluttershy’s tail the next morning.

Twilight had read about humans in her studies of Equestrian mythologies during Celestia’s tutelage. There wasn’t much information but from what she could gather a human was a mysterious bipedal being from another world that had been found in Equestria one thousand years ago around the same time that Nightmare Moon was banished. The human was much bigger than the common ponies and could almost stand as tall as the alicorns. The lore spoke of the human being unkind and even blood thirsty. He had seen the unicorns as something to be hunted, especially lusting after the alicorn’s magnificent horns. The legend of the human had once been used as a story to scare foals when they were naughty, much like Nightmare Moon had been during Nightmare Night. But now the story had faded away into obscurity. It seemed to coincide with the Mare in the Moon and Nightmare Moon’s debut, but most ponies no longer spoke of it. As Twilight had seen and confronted Nightmare Moon for herself only a year ago, she was not one to dismiss the human as a legend, and here one stood in front of her.

“A human? You know what she is, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, nervously. She had been holding back, protecting her charge behind her back as the unicorn excitedly spoke about humans in legends using her horn to telekinetically gather books from her shelf to research more. That’s when the child stepped out from behind the pegasus and stared at her in awe.

“You’re a unicorn!” she cried, hopping up and clapping her hands excitedly. “They really exist! I found a unicorn!” the little girl was absolutely ecstatic and Twilight didn’t know what to make of it as she started hopping around her in a familiar way.

“You can do magic! You can grant my wish. Please, please make my wish come true, Miss unicorn!”

Just as Fluttershy had thought, Twilight immediately saw the resemblance to Pinkie Pie this human child conveyed. Her excitement was adorable and oh so infectious.

“You can call me Twilight, little one. And yes, I am a unicorn and can do magic.” She smiled, warmly, wondering how this small, excitable human child could possibly be anything like the cruel human of legend. To the child, Twilight and her kind were some sort of legend too, but one she was greatly familiar with unlike the obscure legend of a human in Equestria. And she seemed to know something about magic.

“Twilight, I got the groceries you asked for- oh, hi, Fluttershy” Just then Spike walked into the library holding a bag of vegetables.

“Oh hello, Spike. How are you?” Fluttershy smiled and then looked around. “Oh, where did she go?”

“Where did who go?” Spike asked, looking around too.

“The human. I think you scared her away, Spike.” Twilight giggled, coming over to Fluttershy who revealed the little girl hiding behind her tail again.

“The what- I’m missing something.” The baby dragon grumbled, coming over to the two ponies.

“You don’t have to be scared; he’s just a baby dragon.” Fluttershy said, gently, moving her tail so Spike could see the little girl.

“A d-dragon?” Harmony’s eyes were wide and she shivered, but looked closer at Spike as he came over to her.

“This is Spike. He’s my friend.” Twilight offered standing between the two. “Spike, this is Harmony. Fluttershy found her
outside the Everfree forest and I’m seeing if I can help figure out where she came from. She’s a human.” She added.

“Um, ok, whatever that is.” Spike said causing Twilight to give him a dirty look and he grimaced. “Ok, ok. Hi Harmony.” Spike wasn’t particularly bothered by seeing the human. He had seen many different creatures before, and it was in his genes as a dragon to not fear something new. Besides, the child was so small and helpless looking there wasn’t anything for him to fear.

“H-hello.” Came the shy reply.

Spike grinned. “You don’t have to be scared of me. I’m a nice dragon.”

Harmony giggled. “I thought just pegasuses and unicorns lived here.” She said, timidly.

“Pegasi…” Fluttershy corrected.

“There are many creatures in Equestria. You’ll mostly see ponies, pegasi and unicorns around here like Fluttershy and I, but there are places beyond our borders and in that forest where you came from that have dragons and other not so friendly inhabitants.” Twilight explained, going back to her books and selecting one with her magic brought it to the table in front of her two guests.

“I’m one of the friendly ones.” Spike reassured the child as he went to put away his bag of vegetables and start on cooking dinner.

“See this is where Fluttershy found you.” The unicorn said pointing her hoof at a drawing of the Everfree forest on a map of Equestria. Both Fluttershy and Harmony came over to look at the map.

The Everfree forest was close to Fluttershy’s cottage explaining how her friend had come across the human child, but there weren’t any clues to where she could have come from. To the west of the forest were the Dragon Mountains, to the south was Zecora’s hut and further south-west were the former castle ruins. Except for Zecora’s dwelling none of these places were safe for a small child to have survived on her own and Twilight had spoken to the zebra Zecora just the other day and there had been no mention of a human from her. The only place the unicorn could think to have something to do with the child’s sudden appearance was the castle ruins where she and her friends had fought Nightmare Moon. The lore of the first human had seemed to occur at the same time as the Nightmare’s first attack so they could possibly be linked somehow.

As Twilight explained her thoughts to Fluttershy the pegasus seemed a little lost at the complex description and the human child looked bored. The librarian sighed and closed the book.

“I think we should report this to Princess Celestia.” She said and was surprised to see Fluttershy lower her ears and move back to stand in front of the little girl protectively.

“Oh no, I don’t think that’s a good idea…” her voice was as soft as always but her protective stance showed a firmness to the unicorn making her remember that her seemingly shy friend was not one to be trifled with when it came to protecting something.

“If the first human was as bad as you say…” The pale yellow pegasus continued. “…The princesses might not be kind to Harmony. I can’t let that happen to her. Harmony can’t possibly be like that mean creature you described.” She cried, although her pitch didn’t waver.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. The princess isn’t going to do anything to hurt Harmony.” Twilight reasoned. “I don’t believe she is anything like the human in the legends either, and Princess Celestia and Luna will see that too.”

Fluttershy hung her head, but conceded. “OK Twilight, if you say it will be alright I’ll trust you. I just don’t want to see anything happen to her.”

“I wanna meet the princesses!” Harmony cut in, coming out from Fluttershy’s protection.

“Harmony…” Fluttershy started, trying to explain to her why she was being wary of the princesses, but the child would have none of it.

“Are they unicorn princesses? Can they do magic too? Oh my gosh, a unicorn princess!”

Twilight chuckled and Fluttershy sighed knowing she really had no reason to be nervous and didn’t want to break the little girl’s unshakable faith in unicorns and magic.

“They’re not just unicorns, Harmony. They’re alicorns and they have wings as well as a horn. They’re the most magical unicorns in all of Equestria.” Twilight explained, proudly.

“They can do magic? Wait, can you do magic? Oh my gosh, I forgot to ask you! Miss Unicorn, can you heal people?” the child asked, excitedly.

“Heal? Uh…” Twilight blushed and looked away, covering her mouth with a hoof. She had never been very good at healing magic and had just sort of skipped it in her studies. She knew this wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she figured once she mastered other more complex spells she could go back to it. It wasn’t something most unicorns could master anyway unless they studied to be doctors.

“Healing’s not really my speciality… but uh… oh, Fluttershy’s the one who can heal” she eagerly turned to the pegasus, glad to be able to turn the child’s focus on something other than her own short comings. Fluttershy squeaked and jumped a little when both Harmony and Twilight looked at her expectantly.

“What? I can’t heal. I don’t do magic. I just take care of sick creatures. You know tha- oh my, Twilight, what’s happening?”

“Whoa!” squealed the little girl who was suddenly enveloped in a pink hue of light and floating a few feet off the tree house floor.

“Just showing her some magic.” Twilight quipped, grinning as she concentrated on the spell.

“I’m flying! You made me fly!” Harmony cried, excitedly.

Fluttershy flew up to meet her and smiled at her joyful expression.

“Look Fluttershy, I’m flying just like you!”

“I know, it’s wonderful.”

”Whee~!” Harmony spread her arms out like a plane and pretended to fly around guided by Twilight’s magic with Fluttershy close behind.

“It’s just a levitation spell. Most unicorns can do it.” Twilight explained as she gently started to lower the child to the floor. “As for a healing spell… you’ll have to ask the princesses. But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be just as eager to meet you as you are to meet them.

“Why do you want a healing spell, Harmony? Is something wro-“ Fluttershy tried to ask, but as soon as the little girl’s feet touched the ground she ran over to Twilight.

“Can I do it again? Pleeeaasseee~” she begged, clutching the unicorn’s front hooves.

“Sorry, Harmony it’s kind of hard to lift you like that. Besides, I need to write to the princesses now if you want to meet them soon.” She winked at the child who had momentarily begun to sulk, but as she heard Twilight mention the princesses her face lit up again.

“Yay! I can’t wait to meet the unicorn princesses!”


“Thank you for your help, Twilight. I didn’t know what I could do to help her, but I felt like I just had to do something. She’s like a lost little filly or like the animals I care for. I want to protect her.” Fluttershy said, graciously smiling at the unicorn as Harmony continued to bounce around the room in excitement.

“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy. I’m happy to help. She’s a sweet kid, and I’m amazed to actually meet a human, but really, I don’t think I’ve done anything to help you or Harmony. This is something I don’t think I can research on my own, so all I can do is contact Princess Celestia for more information.” Twilight said as she walked over to her writing desk.

“Oh, yes, the princesses…” the pegasus said grudgingly.

Fluttershy still sounded reluctant about the idea, but Twilight knew her mentor would definitely be able to shed some light on the situation and figure out where the human child had come from and why. Nothing bad could possibly happen.

“Spike, take a letter…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“I’m telling you, Harmony, there’s no such thing as unicorns!” The tall, brown haired boy argued with his little sister as the two children waited outside a school building in the setting sun of a winter day.

The little girl clutched at her toy unicorn as she argued her point, snowflakes dancing off her warm, woolly hat.

“There are too! And I’m gonna find one and make a wish!” she insisted, determinedly, stamping her foot in the gathering snow.

The boy knew his sister was never short of determination when she set her mind to something. He rolled his eyes and hitched up his backpack that was falling off his back.

“Look, it was nice for a while when things were hard. You had your unicorns and wishes, and we all played along, but don’t you think you should stop now?” he grumbled, but there was pain in his voice as he spoke about the past that his sister seemed to disregard with her obsession with the stupid horses with horns on their heads. It wasn’t like a mythological creature could do much now. It was over, and had been for a while. Maybe his family would start paying attention to him for a change now.

“Nope. I’ll find one for Henry and the rest of my friends.” Harmony grinned, confidently.

“Ugh, whatever.” The boy grumbled, but he felt touched by his sister’s desire to find a unicorn to help her friends too. If only she really could….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Wow, it’s a rainbow!” cried Harmony as she looked up into the skies over Ponyville that afternoon. While waiting for a reply from the princess Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike had taken her to meet the rest of their friends and to explore Ponyville. A flash of a rainbow zoomed over the child’s head and she smiled. She had never seen a rainbow move across the sky like that.

“That’s not a rainbow, that’s our friend.” Fluttershy explained as she looked up along with her.

“Your friend’s a rainbow?” Harmony asked, incredulously.

“Rainbow Dash, come down here! We need to talk to you!” Twilight called into the sky and suddenly the rainbow streaking across the clouds materialized into a cyan blue pegasus lowering herself toward the two ponies and little girl.

“What’s up, Twilight? I gotta get the clouds cleared before-whoa!” The rainbow-maned pegasus startled when she saw the human child, making Fluttershy giggle.

“Rainbow Dash, this is our new friend, Harmony. She came to us from another world. Don’t be afraid.” Fluttershy said, wryly smiling at Harmony.

“I’m not afraid! It’s just uh… uh…” the pegasus stopped, then zoomed in closer to the little girl. “Are you an alien?” she demanded, eyeing her suspiciously.

“No… are you a rainbow?” Harmony asked, happily.

“Wha-?”

“Rainbow, will you just come down here and let me explain to you what’s going on.” Twilight called again, irritably and the cyan pegasus reluctantly floated to the ground.

After Twilight explained how Fluttershy had found Harmony outside the Everfree forest and about the legend of the human she seemed more interested than wary.

“A human huh? I remember hearing about you guys when I was a filly.” The pegasus eyed the child as she fluttered in front of her again. “You don’t look scary.”

“I’m not scary.”

“Cuz I could take you on, come on!” she swooped around her and the child giggled.

“Rainbow, stop it. She’s just a little girl.” Fluttershy scolded, timidly.

“You can really fly! I never saw Fluttershy fly like that before” Harmony said, watching the rainbow maned pegasus float by her.

“I can fly too…” Fluttershy said, softly, but as usual was interrupted.

“Sure, I can fly. That’s what I do. I’m the best flyer in all of Equestria.” Rainbow boasted, glad to have someone new to show off for. After all it wasn’t like this human knew about the Wonderbolts or anything.

“I could fly around Ponyville in-“

“Don’t say it.” Twilight grumbled.

“10 seconds flat!”

“Oooh.” The little girl mused as the acrobatic pegasus zoomed through the clouds and around the town, landing back at her feet with a smug grin on her face.

Harmony clapped her hands together creating a softer sound than clapping hooves.

“Can you give me a ride?” she asked.

“A ride? Like on my back?” the pegasus asked, looking the child up and down as if to judge her size.

“Rainbow, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Twilight said.

“It could be dangerous.” Fluttershy added.

“Aw.” Harmony sulked.

“Now wait a minute, who says I can’t give her a ride? I could give her a ride.” Rainbow Dash protested.

“We’re not saying you can’t, we’re saying you shouldn’t.” Twilight muttered, knowing she was going to face a battle of wits from the proud pony.

“I carried those stupid Diamond Dogs around, why can’t I carry her? I could be the first pegasus to carry a human!” She said, suddenly finding the whole thing exciting. “All right, get on!” She lowered her wings and gestured to the child who grinned.

“Yay!”

“No!” suddenly the unusually loud voice of Fluttershy spoke up causing everypony (and child) to stop and look her way. At the sudden attention she lowered her ears and stepped back.

“Um... I-I mean… I don’t think it’s safe. You could get hurt, Harmony.” The timid pony explained to the child. “Rainbow, you fly really fast. Without anything to hold on to Harmony could fall off.” She added, looking to the rainbow mare.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Dash muttered. “Sorry kid.”

“You understand, right, Harmony? It’s just too dangerous to ride a pegasus.” She came over to the little girl who stood staring at her with her eyes wide and her lip trembling.

“B-but” Harmony stammered.

“I promised I’d protect you. So you need to do what I say to keep you safe so we can meet the princesses and find a way to get you home.” Fluttershy continued, gently and patted her shoulder with a hoof.

“Ok…” the child sighed, disappointedly, but seemed to accept it easily. Fluttershy had learned she was not one to tantrum like some little fillies did.

“I could’ve been the first pegasus to have a human rider. I bet that would’ve showed the Wonderbolts how strong I was. But nooo, Fluttershy has to go all motherly and forbid it.”

Or some full grown mares also it seemed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The group continued to walk through Ponyville proper toward Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. They couldn’t hide from the strange looks the other ponies gave them as they noticed the human child who followed along, mesmerized by everything she saw. Twilight decided it wouldn’t cause too much trouble confusing the residents of Ponyville as opposed to walking through Canterlot could, but she would deal with that when the time came. The ponies of the town just seemed curious if a little bit nervous. Although Lyra Heartstrings, a mint green unicorn resident, seemed exceptionally interested in the little girl and bounded over to her shouting something about ‘hands’, before her companion earth pony, Bon-Bon dragged her away. Twilight wondered what the child would think of the wall eyed mail-mare Ditzy Doo, if she saw her flying around town, but she wasn’t around.

“This is my good friend Rarity’s house and boutique.” Fluttershy said pointing toward the carousel-shaped building where the dressmaking unicorn made her home and place of business.

“It looks like a real carousel.” Harmony commented.

“It’s called the ‘Carousel Boutique’.” Twilight said.

“Does your friend work as one of the horses on the carousel? Can I ride it?”

“Uh it’s not a real carousel, Harmony. Rarity is a unicorn and she makes dresses with her magic.” Fluttershy explained.

“Ooh another unicorn! Yay!” The excitable child cheered and ran ahead into the building while the three ponies raced to catch up so as not to surprise Rarity with a sudden entrance by a creature from another world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Oh my, a child from another world. This is a cause for celebration.” Rarity said after Twilight and Fluttershy introduced Harmony and explained about how she had been found.

“You’re soooo pretty~” Harmony leaned on the table and gazed starry eyed at the white fashionable unicorn who basked in the attention.

“I like the way she thinks.” Spike chirped, agreeing whole-heartedly with Harmony’s statement.

“Great, this is just what Rarity needs. Somepony else inflating her already bloated ego.” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Look who’s talking.” Twilight shot back.

“Why thank you, my dear.” Rarity said, ignoring Rainbow and Twilight and batting her eye lashes. “You are a very cute little human yourself. Such a lovely mane like Applejack’s, but much more nicely styled. I do like your lavender dress too although it looks like you might be cold with such short sleeves. It is only early spring after all.”

Harmony looked down at her little dress and cropped pants. “Actually, these are my pajamas. I don’t have anything else to wear in this world.”

“Oh, my.” Fluttershy gasped. She hadn’t realised this, nor had the child told her, and she felt bad to have left her in pajamas for the past two days.

“Oh, well, that just won’t do.” Rarity said and trotted over to a mannequin that had a sky blue cloak draped over it. It was hooded and designed in a cape style, and she had used it as a base design for the winter cloaks she had made the previous season. “I’m afraid I don’t have any clothes specifically for humans, but perhaps this cloak will keep you warm.” She telekinetically lifted the cloak off the mannequin and floated it over to the child.

“For me? Wow! Thank you!” Harmony cried as she held onto the soft cloak, and ran over and hugged the unicorn who seemed a little taken aback, but smiled and patted the child’s back with her hoof.

“My pleasure, my dear.”

“Rarity this is so kind of you. Thank you so much.” Fluttershy added.

“Well I couldn’t have the child running around in her pajamas now could I? Now let’s try it on shall we?” the unicorn floated the cloak up and gently set it down on Harmony’s out stretched arms. She quickly pulled the hood over her head and grinned.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“You look lovely.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Why it’s a perfect fit. I never imagined a human would wear one of my designs one day. This is simply marvelous.” The fashion designer declared proudly.

“Did you make this coat with your magic, Miss Rarity?” the little girl asked, peering down at the intricate stitching done on her sleeve. She didn’t know unicorns could sew, or that they even wore clothes.

“Yes, I make all of my outfits with the help of my magic.” Rarity replied.

“Wow! A magic coat!” Harmony exclaimed and ran over to the unicorn again. “This is the bestest gift ever. I’ll always wear it!” she gripped the unicorn in a hug again.

“My, she certainly is affectionate.” Rarity grimaced a little as she looked over at Fluttershy who giggled.

“She likes unicorns.”

“Oh, but I love you too, Fluttershy!” the child glued herself to the pegasus, who blushed and the group laughed.

“Hey, you have a kitty!” Harmony spoke up as she noticed Rarity’s white, Persian cat, Opalescence pad into the room.

“Yes this is my cat, Opalescence.” Rarity said, smiling at the animal, who pompously ignored her.

Fluttershy was surprised to see the usually over excitable little girl not run over to Rarity’s pet, but get down on her knees and hold out her hand to the cat who curiously crept over to sniff it.

“Come here, kitty.” She cooed and reached out to pet her.

“Oh, Harmony, you shouldn’t touch her, she’s not that friendly.” Fluttershy tried to warn her, but to the shock of the ponies Opal did not scratch or bite but let the unfamiliar child pet her and softly purred at her feet.

“Hi Opalescence. Are you a magic kitty like your unicorn mommy?”

“Now I’ve seen everything.” Spike muttered.

“Oh Opal, thank you for being so kind to our guest.” Rarity came over to try to pet the cat but she swiped at her with a paw and she stepped back, causing Rainbow to burst out laughing.

“Wow, it looks like Harmony is good with animals just like you, Fluttershy.” Twilight commented.

“Angel Bunny seemed to like her too. I wonder if it’s her special talent.” Fluttershy paused. “Do humans have special talents?”

“I love animals and there’s so many to play with here!” Harmony said as she continued to play with the usually aloof cat.

“Well, Fluttershy, she is simply darling. And she can talk. She’s much different from the critters you usually find.” Rarity said to the yellow Pegasus who smiled.

“She’s not just any critter, Rarity. She’s special, I just know it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Rarity came with the group to meet Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner but the pink party pony was nowhere to be found. After searching a few other places nearby where she might be they decided to head to Sweet Apple Acres to meet Applejack instead. Harmony enjoyed wearing the cloak as they walked around Ponyville, and Fluttershy noticed the chill of the day for the first time and was glad her charge was keeping warm with Rarity’s generous gift. She felt happy to have found out that Harmony was good with animals. She hadn’t known any other pony who loved animals as much as she did and always wanted to be able to share her talent with others who enjoyed animals like her. She couldn’t wait to show Harmony the diurnal creatures that she hadn’t had the chance to meet the night before.

The friends soon arrived at the whimsical gates to the Sweet Apple Acres farm where they found Applejack and Big Macintosh in the fields plowing to get ready to plant the seeds for the summer.

“Hey, it’s a real farm.” Harmony said as she took in the large red barn where the cowpony lived along with the long acres of fields and flowering apple trees. “You pretty ponies seem to have the same things as I do at home. Except humans like me run the farms and stores.” This was the first time the child had commented on how similar Ponyville and even Equestria was to her own home, although she had seemed to recognize many things before. Fluttershy was starting to wish to see her world, wherever it may be. What would it be like to see other humans like her? To find her parents and see adult humans and how they lived and worked. It seemed like it would be wonderful. She just wished she was brave enough to undertake such a journey.

“Applejack is a cowpony. Her and the rest of the Apple family run this farm and sell goods all over Equestria.” She told the child.

“A cowpony? That’s so cool!”

“Hey Applejack! Can you take a break? We have someone for you to meet.” Twilight called into the field and the two ponies turned to her.

“Howdy Twilight. Ah’ll be with ya in just a sec.” the workhorse waved her hoof at them.

Big Macintosh was the first to arrive to greet the group. “Howdy.” He said with his usual one word drawl. He didn’t seem to notice the new member who had suddenly hidden behind Fluttershy’s tail again.

“Big Mac, check it out. Fluttershy found a human!” Rainbow Dash exuberantly told the red stallion.

“A human? Ah don’t reckon Ah know what that is.” He said. Just then Harmony peeked out from behind Fluttershy.

“Are you a Clydesdale?” she asked, timidly.

“A Cloudsdale? What? What is she talking about, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash looked over to the other pegasus who shrugged.

“You look just like the big horses on the TV commercials for daddy’s special drinks. They’re called Clydesdales.” The child explained with more confidence.

“Ah suppose that could be me.” The stallion replied and Harmony giggled.

“Sorry y’all, Ah just had to finish up something. Thought Ah’d send Big Mac to greet ya first. So who’s the new pony?” Applejack trotted up to the group and looked around.

“Hi Applejack. We wanted you to meet Harmony. She’s a human from another world who Fluttershy found in the Everfree forest.” Twilight explained for what was the 3rd time that day. It was getting to be a bit tedious and she was hoping someone else would tell Pinkie Pie whenever they found her.

“She said she has Big Macs in her world!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“A human? Really?” the cowpony said ignoring Rainbow’s confusing statement.

“I’m Harmony. I like your hat, Miss Applejack.” Harmony spoke up, getting used to introducing herself.

“Aw shucks. Thanks sugercube. It’s nice ta meetcha.” Applejack smiled.

“I have a question though.” The child started, turning to the other ponies. “How come you all are unicorns and pegasuses, but Applejack and Big Macintosh are just regular ponies?” she asked in the rather blunt way that children had. Luckily the orange workhorse took no offense.

“Ah may not know magic, sugercube, but Ah’m pretty good with a lasso.” Applejack grinned and flung her lasso around an unsuspecting Rainbow Dash, then swiftly tied her up.

“Hey, why do you always use me?!” Rainbow whined, struggling to get free.

Spike rolled around on the ground laughing and got a glare of daggers from the captured pegasus.

“Haha, you really are a cowboy!” Harmony exclaimed. “My big brother likes cowboys!”

“Glad to hear it, sugercube.” Applejack replied and untied Rainbow Dash, who glared at the orange pony. Harmony laughed.

“Oh Applejack, did you notice that Harmony has the same mane as you? But look how nice and curled it is at the bottom. And those two tails. Don’t you think you could try something like that instead of your usual plain style?” Rarity suggested, magically lifting the pony’s hat from her head and trying to tie her mane up like the child’s ponytails. Applejack shook it off and picked up her hat in her teeth.

“Ah’m just fine thank you very much.” She muttered.

“I don’t have a mane. This is hair.” Harmony explained. “And these are ponytails.” She held up her two plaits of hair.

“They really are little tails. So cute!” Fluttershy cried happily and clapped her hoofs together.

“They just look like tails. They’re not real tails silly.” The child giggled and Fluttershy sulked a bit.

“And you have very nice hair. The same colour as mine Ah do reckon.” Applejack agreed, glaring at Rarity who grinned sheepishly. “But what Ah’d really like to know is how you managed to make it to our here world.”

“Oh Applejack, please don’t ask her that.” Fluttershy spoke up worriedly, not wanting to make the child cry from her frightening memories again.

“We don’t know where she came from, Applejack. I wrote to the princess for help and we’re still waiting for her reply.” Twilight explained.

“And she really misses her mother so we need to find a way to get her back.” Fluttershy added.

“Well shoot, if she’s feeling lonely the Cutie Mark Crusaders are around here somewhere. Maybe playing with some other fillies will cheer her up?” the orange mare suggested.

“Hey that’s a good idea.” Twilight said. “Harmony seems to be about their age or maybe just a little younger.”

“There are other kids here? Like kid ponies? Can I play with them?” the child in question asked excitedly.

“You sure can, sugercube. Ah’ll just call them over here.” Applejack offered, and then took a deep breath before she bellowed. “Hey girls! Ah found a new way for you to earn those cutie marks you’re searching for!”

In a flash and a cloud of dust the three fillies suddenly appeared at the earth pony’s side.

“What is it? How else can we earn our cutie marks?!” the yellow filly with a red mane and bow excitedly hopped up and down by her big sister, Applejack’s side.

“Yeah, we got nothing.” The orange pegasus, Scootaloo mumbled.

“Uh… what she said!” A white unicorn with a curly purple and pink mane spoke up, her voice squeaking as it rose in pitch.

“Well, Ah reckon you can be cutie mark crusaders anthropologists.” Applejack said.

“Anthropo-what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Applejack, I didn’t think you’d be familiar with that word.” Twilight said with surprise. The orange mare raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not the only one who reads books, Twi.” She muttered and the lavender unicorn grinned sheepishly.

“Hi!” Harmony said excitedly, startling the fillies. “I’m Harmony. What’s a cutie mark crusader?”

“Whoa! Are you a human?” Scootaloo demanded, hopping up on her back legs to see the child closer.

“Hehe, yup.” Harmony grinned, bending down to be nearer to the little pegasus who had stumbled back down onto four legs.

“A what?” the unicorn asked.

“Do you know how to get our cutie marks?” Apple Bloom took no notice of the fact that the child was a completely different species with how intent she was on furthering her quest. Harmony just blinked.

“I read a story about humans. They’re baaddd. They tried to kill the princesses a long time ago!” the winged orange filly said cryptically and the others gasped.

“Wha-? No, I’m not bad!” The little girl cried, her eyes filling with tears.

“Now wait just a minute there, Scoot. Those are just old ponytales. Besides, Harmony’s just a little human like y’all.” Applejack spoke up and smiled at Harmony who clutched at Fluttershy.

“She’s all alone in our world and we’re helping her look for her parents. So it would be good if you all could be nice to her.” The caring pegasus added, nuzzling the little girl worriedly because she seemed to have become very dispirited from the unintentional comment about her race.

“Ah don’t think she’s bad. She’s harmony. Harmony can’t be bad.” The always open-minded Apple Bloom said, coming over to the child who still seemed dejected.

“Sweetie Belle, say hello to Harmony, won’t you.” Rarity encouraged her little sister who looked between her two friends as if to weigh their decisions for herself.

“I didn’t say she was bad. I just said the one in the story was bad.” Scootaloo grumbled, feeling bad for upsetting the new creature but not appreciating being told off.

“Hello, I’m Sweetie Belle.” The little unicorn smiled.

“Hi…” Harmony said softly without her usual excitement.

“And Ah’m Apple Bloom!”

The two ponies looked over to their pegasus companion. She sighed. “I’m Scootaloo.”

“And we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Yay!” the three shouted together so that everypony covered their ears.

“Sorry if I hurt your feelings.” The little pegasus said guiltily.

“Um... it’s OK. What’s a cutie mark crusader?” Harmony asked, haltingly.

“It means we’re on a crusade for our cutie marks.” Apple Bloom explained.

“But what’s a cutie mark?”

“A cutie mark is a mark that appears on every pony’s flank when they find their special talent in life. My cutie mark is three butterflies to symbolize that I can communicate with animals.” Fluttershy elaborated and turned to show her flank as the little girl still clung to her.

“Oh!” Harmony exclaimed as she looked at Fluttershy’s mark and then on to the other ponies who showed their own cutie marks for her. “I think I have something like that!”

“You do?!” chorused the three fillies, and to a lesser extent Fluttershy.

Harmony took off her cloak which Rarity held on to with her magic, and then bending over lifted up her shirt to expose her backside where sure enough a small, darker patch of peach, furless skin rested at the small of her back in what looked to be in the shape of a heart.

“Oh, my.” Fluttershy said.

“No way! You have a heart cutie mark!” Scootaloo shouted, incredulously.

“It’s a heart!” Sweetie Belle added.

“What’s your special talent?” Apple Bloom inquired, wondering how she could go about getting a heart cutie mark if this child from another world had somehow done so.

“Um I don’t know. I was born with this. Mommy said it means that I’m loved.” The child smiled a bit, but then immediately frowned after mentioning her mother.

“You were born with a cutie mark?” the three cried again.

“It’s called a birth mark where I’m from. Lots of kids have them. I don’t really think it’s the same thing…”

“Still, it’s so cool you were actually born with one!” Apple Bloom cheered.

“Yeah, can you come help us find our cutie marks? We’ll make you an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader.” Scootaloo offered.

“Um…” the little girl mumbled and buried her face in Fluttershy’s mane worrying the pegasus.

“What’s wrong, Harmony?” she asked.

“I want to go home~.” Harmony moaned.

“Don’t you want to play with us?” Apple Bloom asked, sadly but the child didn’t answer and continued to hug Fluttershy.

“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to introduce her to the other fillies.” Twilight whispered with concern.

“It’s OK, Harmony, we’ll find a way to send you home. Don’t cry, sweetie.” Fluttershy nuzzled the distraught child against her shoulder.

“Alright girls. Ah’m sorry, but I think you’ll have to play with Harmony another time. She’s feeling a might homesick ya see.” Applejack told the crusaders as Fluttershy continued to comfort her charge.

“Aw.” The three sulked.

“We’ll get to see her before she goes home, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well Ah don’t know…”

“Hey, you guys wanna race? Ready, set, go!” suddenly Rainbow Dash cut in trying to distract the girls, and ran off into the distance with a cloud of dust and three excited little fillies behind her.

“Oh dear. Well that didn’t go as well as it could have.” Rarity commented as they watched Rainbow and the girls disappear over the apple orchard hills. “Perhaps we could find Pinkie Pie now and that would make Harmony feel better.” She suggested.

“I wonder why we haven’t come across her yet?” Twilight added, and as if she inadvertently had cast a teleport spell the pink pony suddenly appeared beside her.

“Hi everypony!”

“Pinkie!” she cried jumping into the air, causing Harmony to glance up from within Fluttershy’s mane as she did her best not to startle at the sudden appearance herself.

“Pinkie Pie, where have you been, darling? We’ve been looking all over for you” Rarity asked, recovering from the shock quicker than the others.

“Well, I saw you girls walking around with somepony…uh… somebody… some… thing new and I just had to go and plan a party for the newest resident to Ponyville!” the party pony shouted, excitedly bouncing around the group.

Harmony watched with interest but didn’t move from her spot by Fluttershy.

“You’re a human aren’t you? I always wanted to meet a human. Well… not a meanie, meanie-pants human but a nice human like you look like. By the way I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie popped up beside the little girl who at first buried herself back in the pegasus’s mane but looked back when the pink pony talked about humans.

“H-hello.” She stammered.

“Pinkie, this is Harmony. She’s a little sad right now because she misses her home. Maybe you could wait--“ Fluttershy tried to explain, wondering why everypony seemed to know what a human was except her.

“Harmony! What a great name! I’m an element of harmony and so are my friends. I’m the element of laughter because I love to laugh. Do you love to laugh too? I know you’ll just love my party and it’ll cheer you right up! So come on let’s go!” Pinkie Pie chirped and tried to grab hold of the child’s hand but was interrupted by a sudden loud belch from Spike. Harmony watched in awe as a puff of green smoke escaped from the little purple and green dragon’s mouth and materialized into a rolled scroll with a red belt around the middle.

“Whoa.”

Twilight telekinetically opened the scroll and brought it in front of her to read. “My faithful student,” she started reading aloud. “I must say this news you write of has concerned me. A human, as you may know, has not been seen in Equestria for a thousand years. I ask that you please bring to Canterlot this human child as well as your friends the Elements of Harmony, for I think we will need their help to solve this problem.” The unicorn frowned, worried by how abrupt and urgent the letter had seemed to her. She hadn’t expected Princess Celestia to ask to see the Elements of Harmony and didn’t see what her and her friends’ new found powers could do for the child. Still, she was always ready to comply and organized her friends for the trip to Canterlot.

“OK girls, Princess Celestia needs to see us all. So go pack your bags and we’ll meet at my place in an hour.”

“Wait Twilight, what about my party?” Pinkie Pie asked her eyes wide and glistening with imminent disappointment.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, but we need to leave as soon as possible to arrive before dark.” The lavender unicorn said, patiently.

“No party?” suddenly Harmony who had gone quiet spoke up again.

“Ugh.” Twilight rolled her eyes not wanting to explain it again and to get on with the preparations for the trip. Fortunately, Fluttershy saved her the effort.

“We’ll have the party another time, sweetie. Right now we’re going to go see the princesses and ask them to find a way to get you home.” She told the child and her eyes lit up again at the mention of the princesses and going home.

“Okie dokie, the party can be put on hold. I just hope that the Cakes don’t mind leaving the decorations up while we’re away.” Pinkie acquiesced.

“Ah’ll go round up Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said and galloped off.

“Good. Fluttershy, you take Harmony back to your cottage to get ready and I’ll see you in an hour.” she paused and glanced at the worried looking pegasus and smiled reassuringly. “And don’t worry. I’m sure everything is going to be fine and the princesses will be able to get her home.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harmony barely spoke as she and Fluttershy walked back to her cottage and she packed a small saddle bag to accompany them on their journey. She even refused the food the kindly pegasus offered her causing her worry for the small child she was taking care of to grow. She managed to get her to eat a little bit of a muffin and packed some extra food for when they arrived, but she knew there was something bothering the little girl other than her homesickness.

“What’s wrong, Harmony? Aren’t you excited to be meeting the princesses?” she decided to prod a little bit, hoping to give the child something nice to focus on.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m excited…” Harmony replied without exhibiting the emotion. She looked down at her feet and dug at the ground as the pegasus was also known to do in nervous situations.

“Fluttershy…” she managed to speak liltingly.

“Yes?”

“Do you think I’m bad?” she looked up at the yellow pegasus and her eyes were full of tears.

“No, of course not. No one thinks you’re bad, Harmony.” Fluttershy determinedly told her, her heart aching to think the little girl thought such a thing. It was those terrible legends everypony seemed to know. It wasn’t fair, she thought, tearing up. Why did the actions of one bad human have to reflect on such an innocent child who just wanted to go home?

“You don’t think I’m gonna kill the princesses, right? I know some humans are bad and they hunted unicorns for their horns but… but… I won’t!” Harmony cried, bursting into tears and she hugged her pegasus foster parent tightly.

“No sweetie, I don’t think that, and neither does anypony else. It’s just a legend about that bad human, and even if it is true, I’d never believe you were like that. Princess Celestia is a kind and gentle pony, she’ll see you for who you really are and find a way to send you home. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” Fluttershy promised, her resolve much stronger now after seeing how much the child was hurting and as she was starting to realize she was falling in love with the lost little girl.

Harmony sniffled and looked up at the pegasus, whose own cyan eyes sparkled with tears.

“I want to go home to mommy but I-I don’t want to leave you, either, Fluttershy.” She buried herself in the pegasus mare’s mane.

“I know. I’ll miss you too.” Fluttershy blinked away her tears knowing she needed to be strong for the little girl. “But your mommy needs you too and I’ll never forget you.” She sat back on her haunches and brought her hoof to the child’s chest and smiled. “I’ll always be in your heart, Harmony.”