Evenfall: Waves in a Haven

by Yinglung

Chapter 4 – Breaking Dawn

The Cruzesians and Zebricans had arrived by trains at Ponyville. It was a grand sight for four thousand ponies, zebras, antelopes and cows to walk into town. But most of the locals were by now accustomed to the sights of non-ponies walking among them, due to Zecora’s active presence and the occasional incursions of diamond dogs who shopped at local businesses. Surprisingly, once they dispersed into smaller groups, their presence was almost unfelt in a town of sixty thousands.

The residents had been given extra reassurance that these newcomers would not strain the local infrastructure or require squatting places, for they would be arranged to live in newly built communities next to Ponyville. But there were still some murmurs of discontent.

Only a small minority of Zebricans were arranged to live in a handful of houses at the periphery of the town. Those were all newly bought up by Rarity and Applejack at unfavorable prices due to the urgency. Others needed temporary housing until new permanent ones could be built.

Celestia indicated that the lands next to the Everfree and south of Ponyville by the Saddle River could be used to build camps for the ‘workers’. Since the work permit could potentially grow into proper claim of permanent residence, she reluctantly accepted.

Zecora was surprised and delighted to see so many of her compatriots joining her. She offered some shelters and workspace to them in town and near her forest treehouse. As the one zebra who had the most experience living in Equestria, she took charge of the integration processes at least for most of the zebras.

The other Zebricans have set up camps south of Ponyville. The remaining zebras joined the cowherd and was going to build conical dwellings primarily using thatched hay and spare wood.

The West Zebricans, including Geuse, ponies and antelopes, set up their site slightly more south. They could not find enough mud and adobe in the nearby area, so they planned to build houses with rammed earth and wooden beams.

Still, the most curious situation was with the Cruzesians. The most natural site for the long-time tree-dwellers would be the Everfree. But when the deeply spiritual folks heard of the forest’s reputation, most of them were too spooked to set up tree houses inside. So they only helped the Zebricans to build residence, while they themselves stayed mostly together in the main camp. The modest but sturdy camp was simply dubbed Fortaleza, after the first suggestion of Reinboupolis was shot down.

But out of the large group of Cruzesians, there were still a few who wanted to delist and return to civilian life. Those ponies, numbered in a few hundreds, went to join the trek south and established the small settlement of Rio Fresco next to the Zebricans.

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After the initial chaos and hassles of organizing everyone to their desired places for accommodation, but before any actual construction took place, the mares, Spike, Discord, Mistral Trail, and the five Zebrican companions of Twilight gathered at the entrance to the Everfree.

Rarity looked around and asked, “Spikey-wikey, where is Trixie?”

“She’s out of town for the moment. I think she’s recruited to the Crystal Empire by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor for… something, I don’t know.”

Mistral Trail was standing next to Rainbow Dash and appeared flustered. “Y- Your Grace, I mean, I’m honored. But this seems to be a private occasion for you, your friends and friends of Dona Twilight.”

“Nonsense, you’re of course one of my closest confidantes. You set me up on this journey in the first place, and you should of course also come with us… Misty.” Rainbow Dash teased with a gentle jab to her snout, which caused Mistral Trail to blush and fidget.

Fluttershy asked the chaos spirit next to her. “Discord, you’ve got Twilight with you, right?”

“Aye, neatly tugged in my pouch.” Discord smirked.

“How can you hide Lady Twilight in such a small place?” Verna asked with interest.

“Chaos is magic, you know.”

“Is it safe?” Fluttershy asked.

“No more dangerous than placing her in a train car that shook like we all have a grand mal episode.”

Discord smirked to the eye-rolling mares. “Seriously, I was just placing her in a pocket dimension literally in my pocket. It’d not cause any problem for a short amount of time.”

“How quaint.” Kanipha nodded. “Your chaos magic is clearly something else altogether compared to what I’ve seen Twilight use. It’s admittedly impressive.”

“Finally! Someone openly appreciate my feats of chaos. It’s about time I get some respect, y’know.”

“It’s also about time we go.” Applejack deadpanned. “All of us want to see Twilight in health as soon as possible.”

“Meh…”

They walked by the busy streams of Cruzesians who were busy chopping trees and transporting materials to build their elevated mini arboreta.

They passed through a veritable wall of thick trees and bushes. The forest surrounding the cave seemed to have become even more impenetrable than before.

Despite the difficulties, they arrived at the crystalline cave that contained the Tree of Harmony. The white-blue tree was still shining brightly, and the Elements hung on the branches as with before.

“So these are the Elements…” Rosencross muttered. “The magic is incredibly strong. Even I can feel it from here.”

Kanipha added with unhindered enthusiasm. “Comments aside, what are we going to do with the Tree to bring Twilight back?”

“We don’t know. It’s going to be all trial-and-error.” Rarity said.

“Oh, so it’s going to be another puzzle. I love puzzles.” Kanipha grinned. “I know it sounds obvious, but can you guys take down the Elements after you returned them?”

“We definitely tried.” Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “They stuck on the branches like having been greased with super-glue! We couldn’t take them down without risking to damage the tree itself.”

Rarity added. “And even if we did take them down, it was likely of no use. When we returned the Elements, we did not merely do so physically, but exchanged our direct links towards the individual artefacts for the alternatives that the Tree might offer.”

“So that idea was out. What about the slabs on the floor?” Kanipha pointed at the crystal-white slabs next to the tree. “They look a lot like the prayer mat I once saw from a Saddle Arabian merchant I encountered.”

“So are you saying that we are supposed to kneel on them and pray?” Fluttershy asked.

“Just an idea. I don’t know what you could have said or prayed for though, except the obvious.”

“There are six slabs.” Geuse pointed out. “Which six of us should sit there?

“As hard as it is to admit for us, you five mares plus Discord were Twilight’s original six friends.” Kanipha shrugged. “Maybe when the Tree spawned those slabs, it hadn’t taken account of us yet. So why don’t you six try sitting there and thinking hard for Twilight’s health first?”

The six looked to each other and gingerly nodded. They separated and knelt on the slabs. They each thought hard about Twilight’s return to health.

After a good while, no reaction was coming from the Tree.

Pinkie Pie opened one of her eyes and whispered to Discord, “Hey Discord, can you put Twilight out here in the open for us to see if anything happened?”

Discord nodded and snapped his fingers. Twilight appeared together with her white sheet and bedding, but little had changed.

Everyone sighed or shook their heads. Just thinking really hard didn’t seem to work.

Mistral Trail cantered towards Rainbow Dash to help her up, but as she also walked onto the slab, something rather unexpected happened.

Somewhat miraculously, the slab suddenly reacted with a blast of white. A kaleidoscope of sights from her relentless pursuit of Twilight, and how Mistral Trail trekked north to locate the prophesized one flashed before their eyes.

When the light dimmed, the slab they were standing on had vanished.

“What happened?” asked with concern.

Rainbow Dash yelled with elation, she jumped and hugged the bashful-looking Mistral Trail.

“I knew it! I don’t mean to brag, but our efforts paid off! This is what we need to activate the Tree of Harmony and save Twilight!”

“I don’t understand!” Spike said. “Can someone explain?”

“Isn’t that obvious? The slab has disappeared after they both stood on it. This means they must have passed whatever test the Tree had set down for them.”

Kanipha smirked. “Say, what have you experienced, and is there anything you would like to tell us?”

“Of course! I’m so glad the Tree recognizes our efforts and common endeavor!”

Rainbow Dash pointed towards Mistral Trail and proudly proclaimed. “Mistral Trail is a shining beacon of faith and loyalty. Not only to me of course, but to her compatriots and her nation. She risked her life to go north only to find someone who might be able to save her nation from certain destruction.”

“Y- Your Grace…” Mistral Trail muttered.

“… Just Rainbow for this once?”

She gulped and nodded. “Rainbow is being generous. She is the one who left her work and everything in her home town just to go look for her one best friend. She spent six moons of her life stepping into dangerous situations and bearing with harsh living conditions. But loyalty aside, she was also an upright and honorable mare. When she realized that she had been misled by my description, and that the Amarezons was not where Twilight was, she did not choose to abandon us. Rather, she did not hesitate to join us in our fight and defeat the evil that threatened to destroy our homes. Moreover, she did not do so in hope of selfish gains. Her integrity was one of the big reasons why our soldiers were so eager to serve.”

Kanipha nodded. “I think the reactions from the Tree of Harmony seem to signal the actual purpose of this whole set-up. It demands us to conduct actions that embody the concept of Harmony… and maybe also make friends with each other. When all the tests are fulfilled, it’s likely that the magic of Harmony will fully reactivate and return Twilight to normal.”

“But we’re already Element-bearers… at least we once were. What more can we do to prove that we’re really true to our Elements?” Rarity frowned.

“And we’re all friends already!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully grinned.

“I don’t really know about the first part. I suppose we’ll each need a memorable lesson or some such to appease this immobile magical Tree. As for what Pinkie said, I guess we’ll have to be friend-friends, not just hello-goodbye friends.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “You’re one cheeky miscreant, Kanipha. I’m just glad that I already had a stalwart partner that I encountered on my way of finding Twilight.”

“Aha.” Kanipha nodded. “So it’s becoming clearer now. Rainbow Dash, your Element is Loyalty, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Bear with me for a second.” Kanipha smirked. “As Twilight once informed me, the Elements of Harmony are magical manifestations of the virtues favored by the Spirits of Harmony. However, we zebras have long known about an unerring truth about virtues. Virtues should never exist alone. Those that exist alone inevitably lead to excesses. Virtues complement each other and form a network of rectitude.”

He pointed towards Rainbow Dash, “For example, loyalty is of course a genuine virtue. It tied us together as a society, be it loyalty to friend, family, tribe, organization or nation. But loyalty alone is problematic, for it could very well lead to blindness to needs, thoughtlessness to harm and exploitation. Loyalty must especially be tempered with a sense of right and wrong, in other words, integrity. Presumably, this is what we need to do to return Twilight to health, a renewal and reconstruction of the Elements.”

“… Whoa.”

“Huh?”

The zebra colt rolled his eyes and sighed. “To put it into simpler words, the remaining of you four need to find some way to rediscover your Elements. With a new friend, I also presume, given the role of companions in both of them.”

“But, um, who?” Fluttershy gingerly asked.

“Fluttershy, this is silly. Look at all these new friends here!” Pinkie Pie grinned.

“But-”

“Nah, I get you covered as well.” The pink mare reached into her mane and took out two small jars of lucky straws. “I just have the dooziest twitch ever! It tells me that we need to pair up in order to help Twi out like Rainbow and Misty did. Now, we pick this jar and you pick that jar. Whoever get the straws of the same number will be a pair of companions!”

Kanipha’s eyes twitched. “Twilight told me not to question this kind of stuffs, but one day I’m so going to…”

While the zebra muttered under his breath, the mares and Zebricans had already taken their picks.

“Woo, Rosy, we really seem to be tied by destiny.” Discord cheerfully whistled.

“W- Who is tied by destiny with you?! Get off me!” Rosencross twisted herself to get away from his patting paw.

“Hey! Geuse, we’re both number one!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully waved.

The orange pegasus raised a brow, and exhaled with a grin. “Huh, very well then.”

“Oh, it seems that we’re a pair again, Vernie.” Rarity raised a brow and smirked.

“It seems to be so, Lady Rarity.” Verna smilingly nodded.

Fluttershy and Mkondo looked at each other and then again at their number three picks. The yellow pegasus sheepishly said. “… Hi?”

Mkondo smiled diffidently. “Mkondo says hi to you too, Fluttershy. Long may Mehet-Weret blesses our friendship.”

“What is this, Pinkie?”

Applejack looked at the pick she had incredulously. It was colored with a smudge of green. There seemed to be no corresponding pick in the other jar anymore.

“Chryssy needs a partner, too.” Pinkie Pie said bashfully.

“What?!” Applejack’s eyes twitched as she yelled almost incoherently. “Ah-”

However, her outburst was interrupted by a disgruntled Kanipha, who simply blinked at the quick progression of events. “Hey! I think there is a slight miscalculation, Pinkie Pie. What about me?”

Pinkie Pie tapped her chin, and grinned. “Ah, I did forget to add your and Spike’s pick… Heh! We can just pair the spares!”

The zebra exhaled incredulously. “What? Oh you mean…”

“Pinkie!” Spike said with a hurtful expression. “Are you saying that I’m just a spare in your eyes?”

“Silly Spike, of course not!” Pinkie Pie smiled. “There is no other Spike in the world!”

“Alright…” Spike turned to Kanipha and greeted. “Hey, bud.”

Kanipha turned towards Spike and tried to suppress his frown. For some reason, he’d taken an indescribable distaste to the placid purple drake. But out of manners, he minutely nodded. “H-”

Suddenly, a trembling hoof landed tentatively on Spike’s shoulder.

Everyone immediately turned. As they realized who that was, they all looked and gasped in disbelief.

“Oh dear, we’ve talked and talked and forgot to check on Twi!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

The purple mare blinked, but she then stumbled and fell on the ground next to Spike.

“Oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash yelped. She and Spike immediately rushed to help the purple mare up.

The zebra colt lowered his head. He breathed in for a long time, and quietly remarked. “… I was just thinking what kind of effect their intervention would manifest as…”

“How are you doing, Twilight?” Spike said, barely holding in his tears.

Twilight, however, looked rather spooked.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Twi?”

Getting no response, Spike raised his voice and asked again.

“I, um, I’m sorry, but you all seem to know who I am and where this place is.”

The purple mare flashed an apologetic smile to the shocked group. “I don’t remember why my eyes, ears and legs all seem to be so wonky like this, perhaps one of you can help me out?”

Discord narrowed his eyes, and then turned unamusedly towards the Tree of Harmony. ”What the heck is this, stupid tree? I think it is an unspoken assumption that even though you don’t have to fix all her injuries and stuffs, she had to at least remember us!”

“Discord!” Fluttershy chastised. “You shouldn’t profane the Spirits of Harmony like this!”

“Doo bee di dah! I’m Discord, the antithesis of harmony! As if I have to care about what a dang tree think!”

“Uh…” The confused Twilight said. “Can anyone…?”

“Twilight…” Spike said with some dread.

“So, my name is Twilight?” The purple mare blinked and asked.

“… Y- Yes… The full name’s Twilight Sparkle.” The purple dragon felt like his heart dropping like a piece of rock in a pond. “You can’t remember any of us? Even me?”

The purple mare shrunk. “I- I’m so sorry…”

Spike looked at her for a while, sighed heavily and patted her in the back gently. “… It isn’t your fault. At least you’re awake, safe and sound. We will figure this out later.”

Twilight gave him an uneasy smile. “T… Thank you. If it is any better, I do feel like… we know each other, and seeing you make me feel happy and safe.”

“What about me? What about us?” Pinkie Pie asked hurriedly.

“You too, and everyone here as well. I feel like I should know all of you, but I… just can’t recall anything, even those about myself.”

Geuse walked near Twilight and studied her face for a long time. The mares looked at her with complicated expressions. They knew the adventurer duo for their long-time goal to become rich and famous, and with Twilight’s amnesia, their hope was dashed for the time being.

“Hey, Twilie, you have absolutely no idea who I’m, right?”

“Uh… um… I- I’m so sor-”

“Okay, tell me if this rings a bell – ‘Wangari Library’.”

Verna looked to Geuse with a slightly shocked gaze, and then snorted.

“H- Huh?” Twilight was bemused.

“Aha!” Geuse almost jumped, but then composed herself quickly under the questioning gazes from the others in the cave.

“O… kay?”

Geuse’s expression quickly turned to one of concern. “Seriously, are you alright? Like, no headache or anything?”

“T- Thank you, I’m fine… I think.”

As opposed to the confusion of Twilight, the mares were slightly relieved that Geuse showed her care about Twilight’s own wellbeing.

“At least Twi’s awake…” Rainbow Dash held her head and sighed. “We can ask questions later, she needs rest to return to full health.”

She turned to the Tree of Harmony. “Perhaps the way to her full recovery also lies in the power of Harmony. We must all work hard to achieve that.”

She turned to the group. “But for now, let’s get Twi home first. Perhaps the familiar environment will help her pick up something. And as much as we all want to spend more time with Twi, we all have our duties and responsibilities to conduct with the settlement of the newcomers and whatnot. We should meet later to see what we can do.”

The mares and others all nodded with some dejection, as Twilight was escorted out of the cave with fretful expression.