Harmony was Mistaken

by Daaberlicious

When a Tree Talks, You Listen (or Maybe Just Question Your Sanity)

"AAAAUGH WHAT?!" Was all Twilight managed before three familiar faces got really close to hers and started yelling loudly about something all at the same time- Where was the fourth? Keeping a polite distance and having a hard time attempting to restore order.

"-A gargantuan explosion-"

"-Scared mah metaphorical pants off-"

"-My heart was talking to me-"

"Girls..."

"-I'd imagine it's an inconceivable mess-"

"-Makin' THREATS-"

"-And it AHEM'D at me too-"

"Girls..."

"-I can't imagine how Sweetie Belle must have felt but I can't work like this-"

"-Must be wrong in the head-"

"-I don't know what it MEEEEANS-"

"Girls..."

"I MUST know what that was! Is it a concern-"

"Know any good psycatrawhatems? I don't feel right-"

"-WHAT DOES IT MEAN-"

"EV-RY-PO-NY BE QUIEEEEEET!!!" Rainbow Dash, having quite suddenly gained her composure, shouted far too loudly for the current time of day. While it did cause everypony in the library to quiet down, an old stallion nearby took strong exception to the noisiness, uttering something about "kids these days".

While Rainbow had everypony's shocked stares and silence, she continued. "Twilight wants to speak!"

"I do?" Twilight asked.

"...Please?" She begged, puppy eyes included although very well hidden from the others.

"But I don't know what the problem is!"

"...How could you not?"

"I... Spent all night trying to find clues about the locations of the Elements of Harmony. Again."

Rainbow Dash delivered Twilight a very well executed and crippling eye-roll. "Twilight, do you want to work second shift? Because this is exactly how a second shift worker sleeps! Now talk to the mares!"

Twilight submitted to that argument, despite the fact that she found it grossly unfair and highly aggressive. "Okay! Okay! Uhhhh... What's... The matter?"

One by one, each mare gave an account of what was upsetting them so, and as Twilight began making observations, Fluttershy started backing into a corner, out of sight, out of notice, and out of any options for her general comfort besides to hope that the other girls figured it out on their own.

"So Rainbow woke up like usual, felt four booms and saw a tree grow, but she heard a very scary voice right afterwards..." Twilight softly spoke as a quill scribbled on a scroll she was using to write observations.

Fluttershy continued to back away.

"But Pinkie felt... Two booms, saw a bunch of rainbows and... Her heart? Her heart started talking to her... ...Kinda doubting the authenticity of that one..."

Fluttershy continued to back away. Still unnoticed. So far, so good.

"Applejack... Didn't feel any but heard four... And stated hallucinating. Still not seeing any strong connection."

Fluttershy winced, both because her rear bumped into the corner and because Twilight really was not putting two and two together very well. She then noticed the large pile of books on the floor and chose to burrow under them.

"Rarity only heard one boom... Though she thinks there might have been more..."

Fluttershy was now successfully underneath a very large dictionary, a large atlas, two very large encyclopedias and a very large thesaurus. She was confident nopony would find her. There was a flaw in that confidence, however.

"Nopony's heard Fluttershy's reason for being here, though... Was she even here at all this morning? Have you girls seen her?"

As the other four shrugged, Fluttershy held her breath, flattened herself and achieved perfect camouflage-

"What's an atlas doing with that thesaurus?" Twilight noticed.

"What are ya talkin' about, Twi? Does it somehow not work with yer... Uh... Pile-o-books sortin' method?" Applejack asked, more curious about the big mess in the library now that she had taken the time to notice it rather than worry over an auditory hallucination.

"No no no! Everything was in order with the Dewey Decimal System before Rainbow Dash and I crashed into it, it's just that there's no way the trajectory of the books could have possibly worked out such that these informational books would have landed this way! In fact, two of these books were in the kitchen so I would remember to restore them later and I know we didn't land there!"

"...Wow... Eggheads are kinda cool..." Rainbow Dash complimented very quietly so as to not hurt her image.

Twilight didn't hear that. She was focused on staring knowingly with frustration at the spot she was dead certain Fluttershy had chosen to hide. The other ponies followed suit, although quite a bit less certain and without any frustration.

"...I think I see that particular part of the pile breathing too..." Twilight announced.

Were Fluttershy an unkind pony, she would have thought something unkind like Yeah yeah, rub it in, will ya?, but she's not that kind of pony. Kind ponies reveal themselves to their friends when caught doing bad things such as hiding from responsibility.

She slowly shoved the book that was covering her head off of her when Pinkie chose that exact moment to boggle everypony's minds by bursting forth from underneath her, carrying her high in the air in her forelegs and putting on a grin that should not have been possible for all the teeth showing.

"I FOUND HER! I WIN! I WIN I WIN! WHAT DO I GET?! LET'S PLAY AGAIN OKAY IT'S MY TURN ONE TWO THREE GO!" Pinkie announced/asked/suggested/announced again and ran off into the kitchen where she hid the entirety of herself within a cookie jar- For what it can be said, this is a much better hiding place than Fluttershy's. NOPONY would think to look there.

But Fluttershy wasn't playing Hide-and-Seek. She was playing Please-Don't-Hate-Me, an intense game many shy ponies participate in and get a lot of practice with, and a game that, at the time of playing, always seems to be one played for keeps.

Fluttershy was a champion at this game. She swallowed slowly as her eyes moistened slightly, then took a few tentative steps out of the mess of books until she was out in the open. She looked left and right as though she wanted out of the situation very badly (which she did) and let out a sad, small sigh, flitting her wings out from her twice in slow, tense circles. At least 70% of the muscles in her body were telling her to run- another important part of this game- And her ears twitched nervously.

"I knew, but I didn't want to say because then you all would hate me..."

Success. Twilight's look of frustration morphed into one of confusion. But Fluttershy still thought she was playing for keeps.

"Please don't hate me, but... Everypony heard a voice, right?"

"Don't remind me... Please..." Rainbow shuddered.

"Mean pony in my head? Sure did." Applejack looked sideways.

"Of course! My heart wasn't beating silly, it was talking!" Pinkie reassured.

Rarity was absolutely confused. "What voice?"

Twilight's face contorted even more with confusion. "...Where are you going with this, Fluttershy? What voice? I'm still confused back at the explosion parts."

Fluttershy recounted her tale, then again in a slightly higher volume so Twilight could hear her. Once sure her friend had finished writing it down, she continued to explain with much less certainty, now hidden behind her mane and slowly compressing into a compact, easy to move square area.

"What did it say?" She nearly whispered.

Silence. Nopony seemed to remember anything about it.

Why me? Fluttershy thought mournfully. She really didn't want to be the bearer of any news, and was quite worried that this would be received as bad.

With one deep breath, she gritted her teeth, flattened her ears, screwed up her face and steeled herself to bear the news anyway, come what may.

"The voice sounded to me like it was talking about the explosions in the Everfree Forest- The ones with all the rainbows- And it also sounded like it was saying the explosion was the same thing as the summons from Princess Celestia that we were all waiting on or maybe that Princess Celestia was referring to the explosion as a summons not coming from her but maybe from something in the Everfree Forest so I was thinking we should send a letter to her and ask about it but also go back into the forest and find out if the explosion was important so maybe we should head back there after we send her a letter...?"

Twilight scrunched up her face in concentration, trying to parse out any meaning from the barely audible run on sentence.

It was impossible. Just plain impossible. She really wasn't even sure that was native Equestrian.

She gave Fluttershy an apologetic grin. "?" Was all she managed. It wasn't even a word, but really, what word could you use to respond to the most awkward and quietest explanation you've ever heard?

Fluttershy over the course of her long winded explanation had gone back to making herself tiny. From beneath her mane and tail as she laid curled up on the ground, she slowly and fearfully pulled out a single hoof with great effort and pointed it at the Everfree Forest. It stayed there for about a minute before something clicked in Twilight's head.

"The Everfree?" Twilight asked.

A slow nod.

"You want to go there?"

A head shake.

"You need to go there."

Another head shake.

"Uh... we need to go there?"

Another nod. She started shivering.

Twilight was getting apprehensive. "...Now?"

One more nod and a timid squeak.

The room got noticeably colder. All five other mares looked ghostly white (yes, even Rarity) as the news struck them.

Applejack began chewing on the brim of her stetson again. Seriously, where did that nervous tic come from?

Fluttershy was, for the briefest of moments, having the worst day of her life. This feeling was dispelled as she made what she thought might have been a stupid decision by peeking out from her mane at the five who were previously staring at her. No, she wasn't sure how Pinkie had gotten back into the room.

Her worry and concern for her self disappeared from her face and was replaced with worry and concern for her friends. "Uh... Girls? I... Did say... Now... But I guess we don't have to go now..."

"Yeah," Applejack replied dumbly. She didn't move other than to open her mouth and cause her stetson to fall to the floor.

"...Shouldn't we be going now?"

"Uh-huh." Rainbow replied dumbly.

"Because it probably has something to do with The Elements..."

"Yes..." Rarity replied, you guessed it, dumbly.

Curiously, Fluttershy was not similarly petrified with fear at the thought of entering The Everfree once more. She looked from pony to pony, noting the strangely white faces and blank looks of horror with far greater confusion than concern now, and stumbled upon a very reasonable observation.

She approached Rarity. "...We were just in there. I don't think it could be all that bad."

Rarity snapped. "NOT THAT BAD? Darling, must I remind you how many times we almost died last time we were in the forest? First there was the cliff! If it weren't for Applejack's excellent reflexes, Twilight WOULD BE DEAD! Oh, let's not forget about the manticore! Those creatures EAT PONIES, Fluttershy! Whole! No seasoning!"

"But he just had a thorn in his paw-" Fluttershy reasoned only to be cut off by Rarity again.

"And what if it decided that that thorn was making it a little MORE angry than it had decided then? I don't think we would have gotten the chance to pull it out! Oh, and don't forget what we DIDN'T run into in the forest! You name it, The Everfree has it!"

"W-what about chupacabra? I d-don't think we've ever had any chupacabra in-"

"I WOULDN'T SAY 'NEVER EVER' IF I WERE YOU! And do I need to remind you that once we had gotten to what we thought were the elements, we were attacked by a MAD GODDESS-"

"She's not even a goddess-"

"Of whom already had at her disposal more than sufficient transformation magics so as to morph into such an abomination that we would have never stood a second chance!"

"Wait, how would you even KNOW that, Rarity? It's not like we saw her set up those traps!" Twilight interrupted.

The anger-fear disappeared from Rarity's face as she knew she didn't have a good explanation. Naturally, she went with the bad one. "Well... She fits the bill, doesn't she?"

"Okay, I won't doubt that she is the most dangerous threat Equestria has faced in over a thousand years, but she's also in hiding. Where would you first look for Luna other than back where she hid in the first place? I guarantee she's not there anymore. Fluttershy's right. It's not so bad in there. We've been there once already."

"Yes... What... Twilight said..." Fluttershy affirmed.

"And it will be much better because we'll have the time to pack! First-aid kits, flora and fauna guide books, emergency supplies, plenty of rope because rope is always good, quills, scrolls and the like for taking notes-"

Fluttershy felt a chill go down her spine. Her next statement would not do her any favors, but it had to be said. She flew over to Twilight in a desperate bid to stop her, slapping the supplies and saddlebags out of her magic aura. "No! NO! Twilight! I'm sorry but the voice said 'drop everything and go'! We can't pack!"

All the remaining objects dropped to the floor noisily as their manipulator visibly drooped. "...Oh. We... We can't pack... Of course..."

"...I'm sorry, Twilight."

Twilight turned back to Fluttershy and attempted to reassure them both. "It's okay Fluttershy, It's just that-"

'~*~'

"It's a bad day for everypony when somepony tells me I can't pack my research material! The Everfree is a veritable gold-mine of information, and when properly prepared, one could learn so much! But no! Don't pack anything! It's not like you could DIE in here!"

"We get it Twi." Applejack responded for the umpteenth time, clearly annoyed but also clearly having given up on trying to earnestly make the unicorn stop complaining.

The six new-ish friends found themselves back in the Everfree Forest once again, but this time, they had an even less specific idea of where to find The Elements than last time, and it was grating on everypony's nerves in a multitude of ways. After all, going from "Find the elements in an ancient castle in the forest, you can't miss it" to "Follow the sound of the terrifying voice and look for the big glowing thing" was something of a major step down.

As it stood, they were trotting along slowly down an oddly solid, oddly wooden path, pointedly trying not to think about the current circumstances and failing. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as it happened, were feeling extraordinarily grumpy, and as such were way ahead of the rest of the group and as distant from each other as they could be. Rarity was in the back with Pinkie Pie, hoping for some moral support, and Fluttershy was in the middle with Twilight hoping desperately that she would be forgiven for her grievous mistake of telling everypony how it is.

"Well yeah, but do you really? We're all in a lot of danger for not getting any supplies and the circumstances are vastly different this time around! There's no rush! This might even be a false lead!"

"But Twilight... There is a rush! That's what I was trying to say!" Fluttershy reasoned.

"Oh, certainly! Let's all just obey every single schizophrenic voice we hear and follow it blindly into our or somepony else's danger!"

Fluttershy was starting to tear up with concern that her friendship would be dead forever. "But everypony heard this one! It's real!"

"I didn't hear jack squat!"

"Four ponies did! And five heard the explosions!"

"One of them was Pinkie."

"I... I-I thought w-we were all f-f-friends, Twilight! Why would you say that about her?"

"Look, Fluttershy, Pinkie is a sweet, lovable, perfectly acceptable mare, but how could you possibly know the difference between her being serious and playing along? I don't think she even knows!"

"You're... You're being h-h-horrible!"

"Well I DID SAY it was a BAD DAY for EVERYPONY when-"

"WE GET IT TWI." Applejack shouted from way up ahead.

Twilight shut up in a huff, but Fluttershy simply refused to move. In fact, she had quite enough, and that was proven by the angry tears streaming down her face and the deep, intense and absolutely terrifying stare she held against her. All four of her hooves were planted firmly in the path as her head was held up in defiance, and she easily looked quite a bit bigger at that moment.

Twilight hesitantly ventured a question. "Fluttershy, aren't you coming?"

"No." She answered.

"Why... not?"

"I'm not going anywhere until you've apologized to everypony."

"...I'm sorry Fluttershy-"

"EVERYPONY."

Twilight stared fearfully.

She only received deathly silence as the other mares in the group stopped to see what was going on, all in various states of worry, concern and a touch of fear.

Twilight's sleep-muddled brain was not doing her any favors. It wracked itself for a solution to the conundrum she was in and only came up with a similar scenario found in one of her Daring-Do novels.

Spoiler alert- it involved punching the scary thing in the face.

Twilight did not want to punch the scary thing in the face, so instead tried to seek inspiration from her surroundings.

...Her surroundings were implying that she had to punch the scary thing in the face with their general hostile and threatening appearance.

No no no! Don't punch the scary thing! Why am I thinking about punching things? She thoroughly rebuked her brain. It redoubled its efforts to find something actually helpful to the situation.

Don't punch...

Don't knock out...

Huh... Knocking out...

Like knocking out...

Like getting knocked out...

Like falling asleep...

Sleeping...

Sleep...

Hmm...

Sleep! Of course! I need more sleep!

And with a triumphant grin, Twilight collapsed to the ground into a deep, comatose sleep, leaving the betrayed, hurt, and very, very, very disappointed Fluttershy only confused.

"Twilight?" She prodded Twilight with a hoof.

"..." Twilight responded.

Fluttershy looked to her friends for some kind of help- Thankfully, Applejack stepped up to the plate.

"'Bout time she got a nap. I could swear some days that this pony don't sleep a lick. Help me lift her, 'Shy?"

Fluttershy did just that (with enough struggling and apology to make Applejack wish she had picked Rainbow instead).

Situating the unicorn on her back, Applejack started making her way forward like nothing at all happened.

She spoke up again after a little while. "I don't know about y'all, but I think that was half an apology at least. What do you think?"

Silence. There probably wouldn't be any speaking for a while.

'~*~'

Everything was dark.

It wasn't a bad kind of dark, mind you. It was a very peaceful dark.

A sort of dark you would be perfectly safe in because nothing knew you were in it.

Twilight drifted in this darkness, blissfully aware of not needing to use her brain for anything. No Elements of Harmony, no prophesies of doom, no surprise tests or homework or studying sessions or required reading, just her, the darkness, and the lovely soft, thick, lush grass she was laying on.

...

That's strange. I did make it to my bed this time, didn't I? What am I doing on the grass? She mused, but the darkness she drifted in kept being pleasant and shushed this musing quickly.

She drifted some more, not caring she was in the grass, just enjoying it.

She felt the sunlight touch her fur. It warmed it nicely and teased her eyelids, asking politely for them to open rather than forcing them.

She liked the sunlight too. It wasn't something she got that often these days, what with eternal night and all.

She wondered what made it decide to peak out now. Obviously, Princess Celestia had something to do with it, but they could have won already... I mean, they were half way there. They had the princess, just not the sun. That was half way, right?

No. That's not right. We don't have the Elements yet.

We don't.

as in, present tense, and not past tense.

...I think I'm sleep-

Before she got to the "ing" portion of her thought, her brain kicked the rest of her back out of sleep and proved itself to be quite functional. She was in a thick sort of grass- a species typically scattered among the various other undergrowth of the Everfree which sometimes dominated clearings when one of the trees decided it had enough of standing up and decided it wanted to lay down.

Her surroundings glowed like day, but though the source was warm, it was very close and quite a bit more green than yellow. She heard of and even studied plants that glowed, and a lot of Equestrian species that glowed happened to glow green, so she could easily surmise that this light source came from a plant.

A very big plant.

Then she noticed Applejack laying next to her at a comfortable distance away wearing a relieved smile.

"Afternoon, sleepyhead," She got up and adjusted her stetson.

Twilight rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "...Afternoon?"

"Well, not really, just ten-o-clock by my guess. Sleep well?"

"Yeah... I guess... I'm... I'm not mad about the supplies anymore."

"Good ta hear, Twi. I was gettin' tired of hearin' it myself."

Experimentally rolling her ears, Twilight slowly pulled herself up onto all fours and observed her surroundings.

Rainbow Dash, who had been flitting about most decidedly not worried about her friend and just eager to move on already, even if nopony believed her, was the second to notice their de facto leader had ceased to be comatose. "Hey, look at that! She's finally up! Maybe you can do your egghead thing now with this tree?"

Rarity, who had been discussing something with Pinkie Pie (whatever it was, she was not making any headway and didn't seem to care) turned to look. "Rainbow, mind your manners. One must not speak ill of the undead," she said with a pitying gaze at Twilight.

The subtle nature of the joke made it fly over Rainbow's head.

Twilight rubbed her eyes a little more. "That bad, huh?"

"Yes- You do look horrid, but as long as you are feeling better then that's all we ask."

"...Huh."

Pinkie, for her part, hadn't noticed the exchange take place- She was busy having a passionate and surprisingly intelligent discussion with one of the thicker blades of grass. Nopony knew exactly how she got started on that.

Twilight turned her attention to the absolutely immense glowing tree that dominated the clearing (simultaneously being surprised how she forgot about it so quickly with her friends inquiring about her) and pulled from everything she knew about flora to identify it.

The closest she got was "shiny walnut tree".

The intellectual in her was dissatisfied. Getting up quickly, she began an easy trot around the trunk and proceeded to stare at it while her brain interrogated it and her subconscious for answers.

She had no doubts that this was the most interesting landmark of their second impromptu journey into the dangerous forest, but a lot of folks in Ponyville (given what she had heard so far) mentioned that The Everfree contained, was and did some weird things, so despite something being interesting or weird in The Everfree, it didn't mean all the time that it was important.

More interesting, however, was the landscape around which this tree had quite literally sprung up. It hadn't just grown from the ground, but rather had grown from the ground in a cave of sorts and punched straight through the cavern's ceiling, bringing up the ground around it to a level area, as was to be noted by all the many very small rocks scattered wherever the huge roots weren't. This was conjecture, of course. She had no idea what the landscape had looked like before, but it was indeed interesting.

But what was the significance of the carvings in the trunk? It had seemed like they were almost conditioned into growing the way they did- evenly spaced, ornate, and each one had a six-sided faceted indentation save for one which had a six-pointed star indentation. She was reminded of the Elements of Harmony as shown in both Predictions and Prophesies and The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, but to presume a connection would be further conjecture.

But what was it about this tree that was important? Surely the voice was important as four ponies heard it for certain (and six would have if one wasn't terrified and one wasn't sleeping way too late), and the tree's growth was certainly worth looking at, but besides the ambiance of peace in this clearing and the odd, very low harmonic hum that came off of the glowing leaves, nothing seemed too much worth noting.

Fluttershy was worth noting, as Fluttershy was impossible to not note once a unicorn who was not looking where she was going got a face full of her by surprise.

Fluttershy was worth noting because Fluttershy had unfinished business with a unicorn.

Twilight backpedaled out of her friend's chest fur and stood nervously. Everything came flooding back. She hadn't really apologized for her outburst, just found the source and assured it wouldn't happen again any time soon. Also, the fact that she felt it might have been slightly justified was not doing her ease of mind any favors-

But there wasn't any look of disappointment in those eyes. Only concern and a great deal of understanding... And that was somehow worse.

She wanted to avoid those eyes. She couldn't look into them because they somehow knew everything that was going on, and there was a lot she didn't want known about the past week or so pertaining to her, so she turned her head away to gaze absently on a perfectly average and insignificant blade of grass.

"Hi 'Shy," She half mumbled, half whimpered. The integrity of their friendship had come under fire earlier that day, and to be honest, still seemed kind of up in the air. Fluttershy was kind- She wasn't necessarily attached yet.

Fluttershy was unafraid. She was not angry. She was not submissive. She simply cut right to the chase and Twilight had to bear all of it- Slowly, softly, and gently. It was both merciful and as painful as getting a "band-aid" ripped off slowly.

"I know you're sorry, Twilight... Your face right now is saying it all... And Applejack, while you were asleep... She told us that this has been hurting you the most..."

Fluttershy stood closer- A comforting gesture that Twilight appreciated yet shrunk from regardless.

"She had been helping research, and when she saw you... She saw a little bit of herself... Stubborn and determined not to let anypony down... To keep to her word... Even when it became too much..."

She positioned herself so Twilight couldn't look away- to see the understanding and concern she had for her. Twilight made no move to avoid it.

"Everypony has helped when they can. Even Rainbow Dash. And they know how much this means to you- to find a solution not just for Equestria or for the princess, but for your new friends who have suddenly started looking to you for answers."

As Pinkie now ignored the intellectual grass blade in favor of paying attention to this, Fluttershy continued. "You've never gotten the chance to say 'I can't take it' until the very worst possible moment and I am so sorry, Twilight. This is new for everypony. Nopony has been acting like they should because we're all scared, and were all saying the wrong things and doing the wrong things and acting strange and never even thinking about you... Because we all trust you to have the answers."

Silence drifted over the clearing. Twilight remained unmoving as she next spoke.

"I don't want to lose you over anything... But I don't know how to keep friends. I've never had any before the Summer Sun Celebration. Save for my brother and my foalsitter, you all are the first. And... I don't know how to keep my friends..."

Silence, again. Thick enough you could cut it, tense as a bowstring, and so chock full of uncertainty that a passerby could be caused to doubt that they had a left hoof just from its fallout. But in that silence, as the tree hummed its harmonic hum, the sturdy rope that connected the friends together was being replaced with iron chain as all six of them came to the same conclusion. None of them had any friends as close as this, and none knew how to keep them. They would surely need a lot of help, and collectively and silently, as they looked at Twilight and Fluttershy standing there, they all decided they would try to stick with each other for the long run.

They would make this work. They had to.

The silence was broken as Twilight hugged Fluttershy. She said what all were thinking. "Will you help me? Help me become a better friend so I can help you? We're not good at this... We've only just started. This is worth it and I don't want to lose it.

Everypony, please...

Will you help me?"

What followed was a group hug- One that showed an unbreakable bond, one which kept no secrets, one which expressed a special tenderness, one given jovially, yet given from the very bottom of their hearts, one which had a special magic to it, and certainly one which was to be the first of many.

Tears were shed. Quite a lot, in fact, as all ponies though they knew nothing of the why and the how of their friendship, they knew of the what. This was true. This was certain. This was strong. And this had purpose.

And the Spirit of Harmony finally found his moment to speak.

'~*~'

Just as suddenly as before, a voice emanated- but not from the hearts of the six, but from the tree itself- and with a power and a presence and magnificence as not heard from so far away like before. It spoke with a wizened, elderly tone born from much thinking and reflection, and almost seemed to carry every admirable trait a pony could have with it. It did not carry nearly as much terror for some as it had, but certainly a great deal more confusion.

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Jacqueline Apple, Rarity Belle, Pinkamena Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy Petalwing, my bearers of the Elements of Harmony, you have my utmost gratitude for trusting me when you knew nothing of what I was.

You stand before the guiding spirit of harmony himself- The unseen, unspeaking, silent guardian of ponies, horses, yaks, deer, and many others such who align themselves with the ways of harmony, be they ungulate or otherwise. I have freely given the Elements of Harmony to Celestia and Luna, I have guided them in their use, and I have chosen you six as their next bearers. As the bearers of the Elements of Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic, you all are looking so adorable in that group hug right now that I could just eat you all up!

All six blushed heavily and parted.

Harmony was silent- Awkwardly so, for a moment. ...Right! Yes. Got a bit distracted. Where was I? Let's see... Full names, my name, my purpose, your elements, ah! Yes! The reason I called you-

"Wait wait wait wait woah woah woah!" Rainbow Dash got right up in the tree's face- Or at least she so presumed, "Don't go into your big speech before you've explained who the heck you are!"

...Pardon? Harmony emanated.

"You heard the mare, mister big boomey boom boom voice!" Pinkie agreed.

Applejack was slightly offended. "Oh come on, y'all! This here glowey tree-"

A little more than that, but correct on many accounts, Harmony inserted.

"This, uh, more-than-just-glowey tree, I guess..."

"Is obviously the source of the voice and summons received earlier" is what you were saying?

"Yeah! That! An' he probably knows more about what's goin' on than us! Maybe we shouldn't interrupt!"

Twilight jumped in- "I don't know, Applejack. He certainly did cause a bit of a ruckus earlier. Don't you think it's fair we get some answers?"

Pinkie nodded. "I like the word 'fracas' better, but she's right. He does sound like my wise old great grandpa, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need to explain things!"

"Speaking of, Pinkie..."

"Oh, that! I was just bored! Made up Hubert the Plato-plant on the spot! But this big one talks- much cooler."

At this, it's hardly surprising that Pinkie received every single "what the hay" look possible from her friends, ranging from "are you kidding me" to conmused: confused amusement.

She reveled in it, clearly delighted in the fact that she could make her friends life that much more interesting.

The "big plant" everypony's attention was focused on was a bit lost for words as Pinkie finally broke down rolling with laughter as her friends joined in- none were sure what was funny, but it clearly was funny.

You know how it is.

Harmony waited until things calmed down a bit, and then, pleased to see the tension of the six had all but melted away, started talking again.

Such a shame. I do love big speeches- Or at least the idea thereof. I've yet to make one as it so happens. But a Q&A session will certainly get the point across. Let's start with the big one, and then you all can ask away.

I am Harmony, as stated before. The quiet, powerful, nearly omniscient force behind the Elements of Harmony, and I have big plans for you. As time passes, you will all grow in your understanding of friendship and teach and learn of it, you will help restore peace to the world on several occasions, and eventually, Twilight Sparkle, you will be ready to become Equestria's fourth princess- That being the princess of friendship.

He paused for dramatic effect, observing the six with their mouths agape and taking joy in the bombshell that he dropped, only to dwarf it with what came next.

Or so I was, and so I had. Your friendship letters, those of which you would have written to Princess Celestia, could only be assigned if first you discovered the Elements, were able to wield them, and were able to restore Princess Luna to that which she truly is rather than the ghostly obsessive and hateful shade she stands to be at present.

This future would surely have come to pass if Nightmare Moon had not outsmarted me.

Boom, made the bombshell. Twilight had only learned of the Elements and the general force of Harmony just over a week ago. The fact that it was not an it, but a he, that he had everything planned out from beginning to end, and that the end was her transformation into an alicorn was mind breaking.

And then he revealed that that was what could have been, rather than what truly was.

"I was going to be a princess?"

Yes, of Friendship, much like Cadence is that of Love, but I no longer know anything of the future- It is all up in the air. ...Perhaps it might be for the best, however... Your castle was going to be quite the eyesore.

"Wait, castle-"

Yes, castle, no, probably not anymore. But hey- Golden Oaks might not be destroyed this time! Yes, you to my right, jumping up and down waving your hoof wildly, the one with the fluffy pink mane?

"Why did you 'ahem' at us?" Pinkie asked.

Ah, well! Just chalk that up to a simple misunderstanding of the equestrian's need to walk from point A to point B. See, I do not have legs or even a body. I sort of stretch my awareness to whatever point it needs to go, which certainly eliminates the need for legs- or wings as some of you have. I had not considered the possibility that might have been rude. You with the rainbow mane?

"It's Rainbow Dash."

Indeed it is! Great to have you, kid! What's up?

"Well I've noticed nopony's asked anything actually important yet-" Rainbow delivered a withering glare to Pinkie and Twilight, both of which shrunk at the same time- "So I've gotta ask- Why the growth spurt?"

Miss Dash, all these questions were important- They all ask my motivations, something of which you do need to know, regardless of how small the action is. But to answer yours, The tree of harmony as it formerly appeared was a crystalline hunk shaped like a tree hidden away in a cave. In my original plans, this would have been far better for everyone. As this tree was hidden away, nothing malevolent could get to it- But as you can see, it is already in danger, and in the dark of night, evil forces could certainly start looking for it and maybe even find it successfully and it would be without the protection the Elements would have provided it. As nothing is certain, I must change its purpose just as I have changed my methods.

The tree of harmony now stands tall as a beacon of hope, and I have fortified it to be untouchable. This does mean other things will suffer for it- I cannot learn the new future now that my power is focused on protecting the tree from this future, and my silence is impossible. You make a beacon for anyone, and even those who you do not intend it for will be aware of it. I cannot be silent and work behind the scenes. As a matter of fact, any plan I have will be quite obvious, and those who oppose you will know far more of you than you of them. It is certainly why Celestia was able to tell you that you would be summoned- Even before my growth spurt, as you so aptly put it, I had already drawn myself out into the open enough that a powerful being like Celestia could take notice of it.

"Yeah, well why 'drop everything and go'? I can't see the benefit of going into the Everfree without being properly prepared." Twilight had clearly put a bit of thought into her next query- "A bit" meaning several hours of thinking and sleeping on it. She was still a bit grumpy that she couldn't have her notes.

If I allowed you to take notes, you would have been expecting a test. As for the others, putting together supplies would not have put you into the correct mindset for this meeting. You would be too concerned of your next course of action to listen to what I have to tell you. If I am to understand you as the bearers of the Elements, you have all been doing your part to seek out solutions as often as you can. If I were to then give you the next piece, the conditions of this crisis would cause you to run off in its pursuit and consider none of my warnings- You do not respect me as much as Celestia, and were it her giving you the solution, you would wait until she's done.

You will have to forgive me for manipulating you like this.

Fluttershy flew over and gave the tree a hug. "Oh don't worry... You have my respect! Trees are always very, very wise."

I do not claim to be wise, but it is nice to hear you think this of me.

As Fluttershy let go of the tree, Harmony began again. By the looks of things, I have not yet alleviated your concerns, so I suspect you have further questions for me. Applejack? We have not heard from you in a while.

"Sorry, just thinkin' 'bout stuff."

...'Stuff'? Care to elaborate?

She shrugged. "Don't know how. There's a lot of it."

Very well. I can certainly take questions while you chew on your thoughts-

"Why us?"

Harmony did not know how to respond to that. Was it because of the Sonic Rainboom that caused them all to get their cutie marks at the same time? Could it have simply been their particular personalities that assured him they displayed enough of the represented virtues of the Elements in order to bear them? He had put them all together and was certain they'd succeed. But why? Why them?

In truth, I must at this point confess to a gut feeling- Something even beyond that- From my top to bottom, from my core to the very edges, I was and am convinced that you are right for bearing the elements. There is no better reason I could give without fabricating a lie. All I know is you are very important.

Princess Celestia, of whom I admire very much, certainly thought so. There is no doubt in my mind that she was tweaking events from behind the scenes when it came to Twilight's acquisition of new friends, but that's a different story for another, less desperate time than this.

...Perhaps miss Rarity has something to ask?

Rarity glanced at the others briefly, then gave a shrug. "Well, I suppose I do happen to have something, but you'll have to forgive me if it doesn't have nearly as much thought put into it as the others-"

"No problem, Rarity! I didn't think about my question either!" Pinkie interrupted.

"Yes, uh, anyway, I find myself drawn to the intricate carvings at the base of the tree's trunk. What is their purpose, exactly?"

Ah, an important question! A most important question indeed, but one that I will certainly be covering during your briefing. Before that, however, anypony else have anything at all to add?

They shook their heads. Applejack's hat fell off, which is only noteworthy because it doesn't seem to be sticking on as well as it used to.

With that, Harmony's general intonation of voice (if you could really call it that) changed to something far more business like rather than casual. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing himself for what was to come.

Then, noble equestrians, by the authority so graciously given unto me of Princess Celestia and for the well-being of Equestria, all its rulers and all of whom would seek to follow its ways, I declare you knights of the three realms of Earth, Annwn(1) and Tartarus. Where chaos seeks to reign in terror, there you shall be to dull its edge. Where harmony's ways are abused and exploited, there you shall be to set it right. And where the elements are to be found, there you shall also be to gain them.

As knights of the three realms, your mission is to bring back the light of the sun, and bring back the mare in the moon. Do you accept the responsibility for all its joys, sorrows, burdens and privileges?

"We will do whatever it takes," Twilight answered for them. That's okay though. They agreed with her.

Listen deep, then, to my vision. My sight is tainted by the darkness of night and is confused and lacking, but its truth cannot be crushed. Hear then my vision and seek in it its truth.

"Honesty is truth to thee, and truth to many more- This element is to be found 'mongst books and scrolls and lore.

Tho' unassuming these ruins are, they're maddening, deathly, dark. For all who dare to enter them, they exit with a mark.

The worst to find is deep inside- A people rightly rot- But if they catch your sound or move, your pony flesh is sought!

They know it sits among them there, they know you seek it deep- With silvery tongues and lying teeth into your hearts they'll creep.

Kindness is so hard to find- This suffering's hard to pin. But all alone within their home sleeps someone- ragged, thin.

She is alone but dangerous- She's dying breath by breath- but merest air alone might for you cause untimely death.

Dare you save her? But you must! She hides the Kindness Gem- And when awake, her wisdom's great, she'll teach of all of them.

But friends you'll make? I cannot say. The answer's probably yes- For when you save a person's life, they tend to feel blessed.

Laughter's found where it's not sought- These ponies drown in grief. Lives and joy, all took away, by what? A master thief!

A toxin spreads from sky to ground, but toxin it is not- It is a state of mind they think this horrid life's their lot.

Misfortune is their constant true, all cause this evil one will feed upon their happiness to grow their strength to sun.

Cruelty is their first name, and spite is their name last- Upon their neck a brooch so dark is tied around them fast.

The fourth one lays unlikely where an act is paid with act- Muscle, mind or magic strong, there always is a pact.

Tiers and classes- no room for love- within this 'perfect' tree, for who would ever want to leave such wondrous 'harmony'?

It's only lies from slave to slave- debts and ties unbreached- but you, O dear equestrians, gen'rocity will teach.

You'll do them well, you'll teach them true, you'll save them 'cause you could, and then you'll find they'll cease as slaves and do as best friends would.

And fifth to find is Loyalty- Away, so far away! It takes a year to get to best, but surely not a day.

Within these strange and unknown lands, equestrians don't roam, yet beasts the likes of diamond dogs- but different- claim home.

To get the Faithful Stone in hoof, a side is what you'll take, For they're in twain and nearly warring- A real king and fake.

They're divided on Equestria, 'Must we this power tame?' But to your princess you must be true, yet help them all the same.

Sixth is Magic- Yes, that's true! Magic makes its home within a test for all six friends- A labyrinth you must roam.

I wish to say 'take left' or 'right', or 'walk across the log', but in the wake of prophecy, that future is a fog.

All that's to say is when you have the Gems of Harmony, use them all the best you can, then take them to the tree.

Place them within the carvings there when restored is the sight of Luna and Equestria, and brought back is sol's light."

"...You totally rehearsed this, didn't you?" Rainbow asked.

You bet your spectral pony tail I did!

---

Fair Paints? Where are you?

Oh for pony's sake. she went gallivanting off again. That mare always did have the heart, mind and soul of a researcher. She's probably going to make a billion more bits on another textbook illustration again.

Well, there's nothing for it. I guess I'll just start providing references to readers. There's a specific formula to it.

(1) This is the only reference in this chapter. It refers to Welsh myth- This is their word for the other world, and I've taken it for use as Equestria's heaven. You can, of course, get there just like Tartaurus.

Author's Note:

Sup.

This fic is going slow, as y'all may have noticed, but that's only because I've been working on more original, grander scale things the likes of webcomics.

Take a peek over there if you're ever bored.
Or just read more fanfics.
I mean, that's what you're here on this site for, isn't it?

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

And, of course, Harmony simply COULDN'T just tell them straight off where the Elements were, but had to speak in riddles.

Seriously, why doesn't any mythical being just say the name of the place, give the Cartesian coordinates, or polar coordinates ("20 km bearing 20° North"), at most???

[Daaberlicious]

6831090

Magic's frickin' weird, yo.

But seriously. He totally would have told them if he had the name of the place, Cartesian coordinates, polar coordinates, a treasure map, or literally anything better than the vague vision he had.

Also, he's a fan for the theatrical, otherwise he'd say something like "Look for a big tree that's not this one. It's full of ungrateful shlubs always trading favors when they don't need to. Go fix it. Also, the Element of Generosity is there."

[Tangerine Blast]

This story is so good and funny and just well thought out.

[Daaberlicious]

6837076

Thank you! That's the highest praise I've heard yet!