My Little Pony: the Harmony of Friendship

by Godzilla313

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

After a handful of days, they had the hang of just functioning now, and they were feeling pretty normal. They had even learned how to grab and manipulate objects in a single hoof, being that they had learned how to use the flesh in the cups of their hoofs to grab things. Yet, they also now saw the utility of using the mouth, and how that many ponies indeed used them as an extra appendage very easily. They had been told that, once they learned their basic unicorn magic, they would be able to use that more, and probably would, using that as if they still had hands. However, it was always good to know what other ponies did outside of magic. In those days, Sunset Shimmer had kept touch with the other side on how things were going, and though it was a bit touch and go at first, things had already calmed down.

Indeed, a fuss at the center had been made after they had gone missing, but they had given it a few days before they started searching, just in case they came back, something had happened, or whatnot. When they did not emerge, a report was made, and the police started to investigate. Because Sunset had been seen at the center they day they assumed the twins had left, and because questioning of the local shops had shown that Sunset had been with the twins that morning, the twins with bags at hand, they began to suspect Sunset as an accomplice, considering that she was nowhere to be seen herself. Yet, when they started to ask the high school where Sunset was, it seemed that Principal Celestia had managed to come up with an airtight alibi, and it threw some suspicion off. However, they went on to question the pupils, but the twins had not been around long enough for them to have learned much about them, so they were a dead end, except for a handful of girls that a few students pointed out who had been hanging out with them. All of them basically answered that they were aware they had gone, but were not sure what had happened to them. Of course, this was perfectly true, but that did not mean that they did not know where they had gone. Still, the police assumed that meant they had not known where the twins might have gone, and moreover, it was implied by the one in the glasses that, knowing Sunset, she was probably trying to convince them NOT to leave, taking the chance to deal with them. On top of that, the girls had seen Sunset later that day, so all was well with her. The only two that seemed to say anything different was a very shy girl, and one packed full of energy, the latter of which was all willing to tell them what she knew, and then were floored when she started rambling on about a medieval fantasy world full of talking ponies and unicorns, as well as pegasi and other weird things. In fact, so certain sounding was she that they were pondering whether or not to call out the happy wagon! The shy one just concurred, and again, they were ready to have them be put in the rubber room with nice canvas “I love me” jackets. Yet, they figured to just let that one go and then file a missing person’s report. This, however, was when things really got odd. When they went to file the report, there was not one scrape of information available on them, save for the few documents the center kept, as well as hard copy medical files and their birth certificates. Yet, there was none of that digitally. In fact, in that medium, every scrap and trace of them ever having existed had completely vanished: birth records, medical, dental, bank records, their adoption history, school records, social security numbers; the whole bit. There was not one shred of proof outside of some photographs and eyewitnesses who knew them, and a paper trail that led nowhere that they had ever been. Therefore, to try to file a report like this and get the FBI involved would be impossible. They had seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth! Upon learning this, it solidified Sunset’s next decision.

It was now time to head off to Canterlot to work in the school for gifted unicorns for some private classes with Twilight, Moon Dancer, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and a couple of faculty members Celestia let in on what was happening. Sunset then said, “I know what I said, that I would help, but because of what’s going on over on the other side, I now really do have to go back, lest they think I really am involved with you to going missing. Besides, I just don’t think it’s time to go to the castle yet. I will one day, but not right now. I mean, I think my part in this has been played out, and it’s time to go back.”
Celestia looked genuinely sad and said, “You’ve done so well. Know you are welcome back anytime you like. And when you are done with your schooling there, if you want, you can always come back. I know you won’t be able to get back what you lost, but certainly, you can be just as much of a help to Twilight as her friends. I will miss you greatly.”
That got the water works going yet again, and they all hugged and cried on each other’s shoulders, and Twilight said, “I’ll keep you up to date on events here, and I’ll visit you when I can.”
“Thank you,” answered Sunset, “You are a good friend.”
With that, they hugged, she waved good-bye, and went through the portal. Once again, a new chapter was being written, and it was time to see it though.

In all this time, they had not yet been too far outside the castle, and therefore had not been exposed all that much to other ponies. This, then, would be good for them. As the twins headed through Ponyville, they were amazed on just how, well, ordinary it seemed! In other words, yes, they were all ponies of all shades and colors of the color wheel, but their behaviors, outside of those things that they did because they were ponies, did not seem any different than the world they had just left. This helped them feel more acclimatized, and more at ease, especially when they saw just how friendly everypony was. All had a nice greeting and were very welcoming. At the station, they actually had a chance to converse with a few other ponies outside of the ones they knew at that point, and it was general banter, but also how some ponies found it interesting how they were both the same shade and both had the exact same cutie mark. When they both explained they were musicians and singers, it seemed to satisfy the curious, and when they found out they would be staying at the orchard where Applejack lived in their own house, they were now glad to meet their new neighbors, and hoped that they could hear their music at some point. Celestia was pleased at this, knowing that such things were what they needed to become a part of pony culture, and moreover, to help Equestria become used to the reemergence of the Bardic unicorns, provided the twins, once properly trained, would be able to find others of the same potential to do as they.

The train soon pulled in, and it was decided that just Twilight and Moon Dancer would go with the princesses and the twins so that, if the Cutie Map activated, they could respond. Before they boarded, however, the twins still looked as if they felt self-conscious about certain things, and Applejack then said, “You two still look as nervous as a long tail tomcat in a rockin’ chair contest.”
“Well, to tell you the truth,” answered Downy, looking a touch red, “Well, I don’t know how to say this, but…”
She paused, and whispered, “…we’ve worn clothes for so long that, in truth, we feel naked.”
“Oh, dear me,” exclaimed Rarity, “Well, you most certainly don’t have to go about like this. You can wear things if you want. Here, I’ve altered all of your wardrobes, and even added a few things.”
The country girl dress, along with a cloth jacket that looked like the leather one with the Native American fringes and tie-dye tee shirt, both complete with the peace beads and peace symbols floated neatly out of their bags in a way that would not unpack everything, and Twilight cast a spell that caused them to appear on them. “I’ve also a couple of accessories for that,” added Rarity, and out came a daisy chain of artificial flowers, and a colorful headband that would be recognized as Native American in the other world, and said, “I figured you would not want to make a new flower chain every day, so I think this should do. I also had to make a new jacket. I mean, after all, do you realize how many bovines would be offended if they saw you walking around wearing the skin of one of their own? Oh, that would be so horrid and tacky.”
Quill pondered it, and then said, “I’ll take your word for it.”
“ALL ABOARD!” came the call as the handful now were put onto the royal cart, the train now ready to depart for Canterlot. After some cheerful good-byes and words of encouragement, they were on their way.

They all took their seats and reclined as they went, and the twins sat silently as the four other occupants bantered pleasantly enough. Celestia noticed how quiet they were, and she asked, “Is everything alright?”
“Oh, it’s okay,” answered Downy, “I mean, we’ve only known each other for a short time, so there’s not much for us to get involved with, as far as a conversation is concerned.”
“Well, maybe you should tell us about yourselves,” said Luna, “I’ve seen your dreams…”
“Oh, so that WAS you I saw wandering around in my Woodstock dream.”
“Is that what you call that mass of…what did you call it…humanity?” asked Luna.
“Over 500,000 souls,” answered Quill, “All come to watch a three-day music festival.”
“And doped out of their minds,” snuffed Luna, “It’s amazing there was not more problems than there was.”
“Oh, but no one was there to hurt anyone,” answered Downy in defense, “They all just wanted to celebrate peace and togetherness.”
“Odd way of doing it,” answered Luna, “Seems they were all pretty loose to me.”
At that, Quill talked about what happened there, and what it was all about, essentially, and said, “And it indeed was not of our time, but I’ve often had these dreams where my sister and I have performed there.”
“500,000, in one place?” pondered Twilight, “Seems so overwhelming.”
“Well, there was one performer there who had to overcome some great apprehension,” added Quill, “He even said that there were so many that your brain just stops trying to comprehend numbers. It’s like going, ‘Okay, let’s see: 1…2…3…4…5… mmmaaannnyyy.”
“I only wish that they had not used drugs,” added Quill, “Hard to talk about peace and love when you are far from sober. It’s been said: if you remember being at Woodstock, you weren’t there.”
They all got a huge laugh out of that, and Moon Dancer then asked, “So, what kind of music DO you play?”
“Well, we’re folk singers, mostly,” answered Downy, “But that does not mean we don’t slip into folk rock, and we also like the harmony groups from about 50 to 60 years ago.”
“I would care to hear a sample,” added Celestia, to which Luna interjected, “As long as it does not mean any of that ear-splitting mechanical monstrosities those groups called guitars. It was so shrill and dissonant.”
Downy laughed and said, “Oh, we don’t approach near that. Our songs are more fun. In fact, we’ve even reworked some to fit this world so they make sense. We hope to do more over time.”
“However,” interjected Quill, “We haven’t learned how to play with…well, you know.”
“Well, you brought a few instruments a piece,” answered Celestia, “I am certain there is something you could play.”
The twins looked at each other, thought about it, and Downy said, “What about the dulcimer and the autoharp? I am sure we could use those. I just hope we can get them out of the baggage car.”
“Leave that to me,” said Twilight, as she jumped up confidently, disappeared, and then reappeared with the two instruments in question. She opened the cases for them and levitated them to the twins. Quill took the dulcimer and Downy the autoharp. Quill figured he could slide with one hoof and strum with the other. After fiddling with it, it seemed to work. Downy could strum well enough, and work the buttons, but she said, “I’m having a little trouble working the sharps/flats button. Normally, I would extend a pinkie over and press it, but I can’t do that.”
Celestia levitated it up, looked at it’s mechanics, and said, “I think I can solve that.”
The autoharp then glowed, and then set back down before Downy, and now there was a lever along where she could press her wrist, and it went to the end of the chord button box, turn 90 degrees, and then went down into where the damper was that sharpened or flatted the chord. “Will that work?”
Downy strummed a few chords and realized she could use one corner of her hoof when pressing the lever and the chord button at the same time. She took about five minutes practicing chord changes with the new lever, and she then said, “Oh, thank you, your highness…”
“Oh please, you can call me Celestia when it’s just us,” answered Celestia, never having been all about royal trappings when she did not have to, but Luna protested mildly, saying, “Truly, sister? We must not grow overfamiliar with our subjects, you know, even if they are our friends. Tis always best to remember to maintain a respectable distance in these cases.”
Celestia just laughed and smiled, saying, “Still haven’t caught on to the modern world yet, have you?”
“I most certainly have,” protested Luna, “I just do not forget proper decorum.”
“And as close as these two have been, (pointing to Twilight and Moon Dancer,) and as close as they will have to be to learn their abilities, (pointing to the twins,) they are, and shall be, practically family. Thus, if we are not that way with each other outside of formal occasions, then they should not be.”
She hesitated in saying this, possibly sounding like she was playing favorites, but then said, “Besides, Twilight has nearly been a daughter to me all these years, if not a close niece.”
Twilight blushed at the compliment, and Celestia said, “So, if I must, then I can make it a royal decree they can speak informally to us if they so choose in private.”
“I would so prefer we do that,” said Luna, “Lest somepony finds some grounds for accusations against us for who knows what.”
Celestia sighed, smiled, and then said, “It will be done. Now, enough about all this. Let’s hear some music!”
They whispered back and forth, and then Quill said, “This one is called ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.’”
Quill started off on the dulcimer in a slightly Latin rhythm, and then Downy started playing the lower chords in time with Quill, and then their voices blended in perfect harmony to the bouncy song. When they finished, they all stomped fore hoofs on the floor, which then awoke a napping Spike. “Geez, enough with the racket,” protested Spike, but then he saw the instruments, and he said, “Oh, you guys are playing? Cool! I’ve wanted to hear some of what I’ve been told you can do.”
He then sat up attentively, and Downy said, “I know what we can do. This is a song about youth and the loss of innocence, about growing up and leaving some things about child… foalhood behind. This song is about a boy and his imaginary friend, which happens to be a dragon.”
“Imaginary?” said Spike, with a confused look on his face, “Don’t I look real enough?”
Downy giggled and said, “No, no… I understand, but in this case, this dragon was special because it was one in his imagination that made him feel safe and confident. However, such games go away once one begins to find himself and personal confidence and worth, and this is what it is all about.”
Spike scratched his head and said, “I think I get it.”
“We’ll just play it, and that should help,” answered Downy, and they both began to play the song. As they played, all of them thought of their own childhoods, and remembered fondly the games they played and the great journeys they took that only their imaginations could take anypony on. Spike, however, was a little sad, saying, “Poor puff… He lost his good friend.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Spike, the point is that Puff never really existed except in this colt’s mind. Didn’t YOU ever have any imaginary friends?”
She smirked and gave him a knowing look, to which he just began to squirm and blush, now wishing that the subject would change.

As they went, they played different songs, altered to fit that world. They played an altered form of “This Land Is Your Land,” with the names of places in Equestria, and a Simon and Garfunkel song called “America,” but altered and called, “Equestria,” with, again, names of Equestrian cities and landmarks mentioned. Luna then mentioned the songs of angst they sang in Quill’s dream, and Downy said, “Well, we’re not trying to make things depressing,” but she requested them anyway. With that, they cut into “I Am a Rock,” and, “Sounds of Silence.” Moon Dancer was a bit shook about those songs, knowing that the lyrics would have fit her eventual fate in life had not Twilight not come along and patch things up with her. Celestia then said, “I tell you, even if you weren’t Bardics, it would seem that music would have been a part of you regardless. You seem to take to it like a duck to water.”
“Well, we had a lot of time together alone,” answered Quill, “So, once we learned to sing and play, it only seemed natural for us to perfect our craft.”
With that, they wondered if they should play more, but Celestia assured them that they were almost at Canterlot, and after a moment of silence, Quill then said, “Um, we’d like to make a small request.”
“What would that be?” asked Luna.
Downy took up the conversation and said, “Well, this might seem awkward, but, if it is alright, we would like to visit the graves of our parents.”
That set a slight pall over the situation, but Luna and Celestia understood that this must have meant closure for the twins. After all, they had never met them, know only what they had been told, but also that, in an odd way, they had only done what they thought would be the best for them, and this would help them put things behind them for good and then march forward, now shaping their own fates. Therefore, once the train had pulled in, Celestia volunteered to go with the twins with a couple of royal guards to keep the visit private.

The twins remained quiet as they approached the graveyard, and even slowed their pace as Celestia led the twins to their parents’ final resting place. The guard took up their places at the gates once the last visitors had left. They were then led to two nice memorial stones, marked out with relief carvings of their parents, marked with the names of Dusty and Ruffle Feathers, dates of birth and death, and then they were saddened to see a date many years earlier than their mother for the date of their father’s death. “No,” said Downy quietly, “She should not have been alone for all that time. Why didn’t she come for us?”
Celestia had approached after they had had time to reflect and said, “Perhaps Dusty didn’t think it was safe yet to bring you back. Certainly, had she told me, I would have done all I could have to protect you two until the magic you are to learn had been perfected in you two.”
“But…well…okay, I get that now,” said Quill, “So, really, I’m not bitter. But, she could have used us nearby.”
“She made all of us in the castle her family,” answered Celestia, “Because she was such a mother hen, even over Twilight and I. I do wish you could have met her.”
“Could...could you tell us about them, what they were like?” asked Downy.
Celestia gently smiled and said, “Of course,” and proceeded to tell them all about who they were, what they were like, and to help, she created visuals with her magic so that they could actually see and hear their mother and father. At that, the two looked a bit ashen and saddened, now so wishing to have known them, and knowing that could never happen now. However, Celestia then said, “I also wish to show you this: a message your mother put in a letter to me right before she died. With this illusion I am creating, I can have her tell you herself.”
With that, she then produced a ghostly, but not scary, image of their mother before them and said, “Oh, it is so good to see you two and how fine you have grown! If you are as how your father and I knew you could be, you must be quite the musical pair. It is my saddest and most painful regret that I never had the chance to watch the two of you grow. I know you must be upset that we did what we did, as if we did not love you. You must trust me when I say that your father and I dearly did love you, and because of the threat that still hung, and even now hangs, over our heritage, losing you was the last thing we wanted. Therefore, we knew it would be better that we put you somewhere beyond the reach of that threat and give you as close to a fighting chance a normal life—something we did not feel we could offer you once we discovered you had come out the ways you did. In other words, because you emerged, there was a strong possibility he would then emerge, escaped from his ethereal prison in Tartarus. He would most certainly try to destroy you before you could awaken to your powers, because he knows that, if you did, and you could gather others that had similar talents as you, you could easily stop him. Therefore, we loved you, and still do. Therefore, understand clearly what I have to say to you as a command from a mother to her children. Just because I am not there anymore does not mean that I cannot give a command to my children on what they are to do next. Ponaeros is a real threat; make no mistake about that. Therefore, learn as much as is possible about what your particular magical talents are capable of doing, and find others that have similar talents, so that, if he does emerge, he can be stopped. With the help of the four princesses in the world, you can do it. If he does not emerge in your lifetime, so much the better, because that only means strength against him can get greater and greater to where he could be more easily defeated. However, I, as direct ancestor of the ancient Bardics, give you commission to bring the Bardics back to Equestria as best you can. I would not expect you to be like how the ancients were, and would fully expect you to establish a whole new way. Yet, never forget you are Bardics—full blooded Bardics—connected to a rich and noble heritage. Hold your heads, high, my children, and grow strong. Do me proud, and I hope one day to be reunited with you and your father in the Elysian Fields. Quill and Downy Feathers: my love for you has no bounds. May Princess Celestia help light your way, and Luna guide your dreams. Fare ye well, my dear son and daughter, fare ye well.”
Tears were pouring out of their eyes as this was happening, now flowing freely once the image faded. They were in each other’s fore hoofs now, their instruments that they still had slung on their backs. Celestia let them get it out, and then the pair looked at the tombstones, and were able to put enough of their emotions in check as Quill said, “Let’s play them the lullaby our two best foster parents used to sing us.”
She nodded, and they went into an old Peter, Paul, and Mary song called, “Day is Done,” singing and playing it with all the relish their breaking hearts could muster. Celestia watched, quietly weeping herself as she watched their tribute. However, the twins were so into playing that they did not see what Celestia did. Though their magicks were sealed for the time being, their closeness to the graves must have sparked some kind of residual magic in their parents, and two ponies appeared beside the twins, not ghostly looking, each with a hoof around their children, and it was no illusion! She didn’t see their faces, but did not dare to come around to look at them, thinking she would spoil moment. Apparently, their love and that leftover magic sparked something from the Tree of Harmony that permeated throughout the land of Equestria and managed to allow the souls of their parents a pass out of the Elysian Fields to be with their children one last time. The family was at last reunited, in a sense, for one last time, and now the twins could go in in peace. Once the finished, their parents were smiling, turned their heads to Celestia, smiled and nodded as she did to them back, and then slowly vanished away. Downy, wiping away a few last tears, said, “I only wish they could have heard that.”
Celestia put them under her wings as they had one last look at the graves, and they then turned and walked away as she said, “Please trust me when I say, yes, they did, and they are so proud of you.”