The Creation of Harmony

by Time Ponies are cool

Rainbow

Chapter XXV: Rainbow

Twenty-one years ago, in the pegasus city of Irida, on the Western edge of the Sunrise Mountains, near the source of the River Hibernis, which flows from the Sunrise Mountains and merges with the River Aestas, which empites into Hoofrican Lake Riziki...

A little pegasus colt with a white mane and a black coat watched the Sun setting in the Western horizon and his parents and older sister working with other pegasi to prepare clouds for evening rain. He looked down at the farms below at the base of the mountain and watched as the earth ponies lit up their homes for the coming night. The rainclouds were at an elevation only a few feet below the cliff the colt sat on. Once the clouds were done, they appeared to the colt like a pristine sheet of orange fluff as they reflected the light of the setting Sun. It was a sight the colt enjoyed every week. He wanted to grow up to be a weather pegasus and create beauty like this, as was shown in his cutie mark: paintbrush lying on a cloud. The colt's name was Ourano Vafi

Ourano then saw his family swiftly flying their way back and he returned to his house built at the edge of Irida, right by the cliff. But when his father, mother and sister arrived, they both looked panicked and hurriedly collected their valuables.

"Gather your things, Ourano" the father said, "And hurry!"

"What's the matter papa?" Ourano asked.

"Hoofricans, son. An enemy army. They've rowed up the river." The father held his son and looked at him lovingly. "But worry not. So long as we reach the inner city, far from the cliff, we shall be safe."

Ourano quickly went about the house collecting his favorite clothes, his drawings and his toys. He put them all in a little saddlebag and left the house with his family. The four pegasi galloped away from their house as the Hoofrican assault of Irida began. But Ourano suddenly remembered something. "Wait, I forgot something!"

"We don't have time! We have to go!" his mother said.

"I forgot Flopsy! I need to get Flopsy!" Ourano turned and ran back to his house. Behind his house, beyond the cliff edge, balls of fire penetrated the clouds and arced towards the city, leaving behind holes in the once perfect cloud layer. The balls struck the ground around the colt, setting the alpine grass ablaze and cracking the earth. Ourano's father, mother and sister all turned and ran after him.

Under his bed in his room, Ourano found Flopsy, a brown stuffed bunny. But as he made his way out of the house, towards his family, who ran in to get him to safety, a fireball struck. Half of the house collapsed under the force of the strike and the roof and walls fell upon Ourano's father, mother and sister. The sister was crushed and killed by a stone slab thrice her size. The father, in an attempt to save his daughter, got his fore hooves caught under the stone slab, thus rendering him immobile. A burning wooden beam then fell on him and he burned to death. Ourano could hear his father crying in agony as the fires engulfed his body, but the little colt , overcome with fear, remained silent and still. The mother tried to rescue her son when another stone slab fell on her wing and broke it, but she did not allow the injury to stop her. She pulled out her broken wing and hurried to her son, just barely escaping the collapse of the remainder of the house, which completely buried her husband and daughter and blocked the way out of the house. Only Ourano's room and the hallway by it remained intact.

Ourano's mother held her son in her hooves and stroked his mane as he wept. She comforted him, saying, "Worry not, Ourano. All will be right. The gods will protect us from unjust suffering."

"Mama, I'm scared..."

"Be not afraid. I'm here and I will never let anything or anyone hurt you for as long as I live. Now, you must be brave, because only you can escape now. You must fly out the window and go quickly as you can to the city, where you shall be safe."

"What about you?"

"My wing is broken and I cannot fly. And yes, I know you haven't mastered flying yet, but there's no other way. You have to go. Now!"

"I won't leave you, mama!"

"Ourano, please!"

Suddenly, the house shook and shifted downward. A fireball from the Hoofrican army below made another strike against the cliff the house was built on and the cliff broke away from the mountain. The house then began to fall. The mother with difficulty stood and picked her son up in her mouth. She brought him to the window and tried to push him out, but he resisted.

"No! No! NO! I won't leave without you, mama!"

"Ourano, you must! Now, GO!" The mother put the last of her energy into turning around and bucking her son out of the window, just before the house crashed into the ground below.

Ourano, still holding his doll, Flopsy, struggled to fly as he fell down after his mother kicked him out of the window. He could not flap his wings enough to fly, so he instead used his wings to guide his fall, and he fell into the River Hibernis. He looked up and saw Hoofrican river ships above him. The river carried him down away from the mountains and past the ships. As he drifted down the river, Ourano began to run out of breath and he did not know how to swim. He was on the verge of drowning, but as he was about to lose consciousness, he saw a unicorn's head reach down into the water from above him and lift him up to the surface.

~~~~~

Ourano awoke next to something pleasantly warm. As his vision came to focus, he saw in front of him a small cylinder that emitted a yellow light. The cylinder had a metal base covered in a variety of buttons and light emitting dots, and the rest of it was glass. Ourano looked up and saw that he was in a barn, an old and long-abandoned barn with the starry sky peeking through the holes in the roof. He then heard a voice behind him say, "Do you like my heat lamp?" Ourano quickly turned around in surprise and saw a brown-maned alicorn with a cream coat. His horn was more magnificent than that of any unicorn Ourano had seen before and his wings were the most impressive he had ever seen.

"A-ar-are you the king, sir?" Ourano stuttered. He had never seen an alicorn before and knew that the only alicorns in the world were the king and queen of Ponytopia and the crowned successor. He had no idea how to act in the presence of royalty.

"Don't worry, Ourano. I'm not the king. No need to give me any special treatment."

"Wh-who are you then? How do you know my name?"

"I've known your name for a long time, Ourano. I had a vision once that there would be a little pegasus who would need me. A pegasus without a family, without friends, without anypony to look after him. It was my duty to take up the responsibility of caring for this pegasus, and his name is Ourano Vafi. Now for your other question, it's a bit of a long story, but to put it simply, I was once the crown prince of Ponytopia, heir to King Concordius. But my father betrayed me. He took away my place as heir to the throne, made my sister an alicorn and named her crown princess. He then banished me from Equites and erased all memory of my existence. Does that answer your question?"

"Um, yes, sir."

"Excellent. Now, you must be hungry." The alicorn went to the corner of the barn and took a bucket of oats and placed it before Ourano. The famished little pegasus immediate dove in and devoured the oats. When he finished, he watched as the alicorn levitated the bucket away.

"Are you very skilled at magic? Can you show me some of your powerful spells? I've never seen any impressive magic back home."

"Well, you see, I never learned magic. My father and mother never taught me magic or put me under the apprenticeship of a sorcerer. The only spells I know are levitation and one that I taught myself, a spell for imprisoning a pony in an emerald sphere. So don't you get any ideas about misbehaving or I might have to imprison you, and I don't know any spells to break open the sphere."

"Oh... that's unfortunate. I'm sorry I asked."

"It's quite alright," the alicorn said as he kneeled down, "Now, hop on my back. We have a lot of flying to do to our new home."

"New home?"

"Your family is dead, Ourano. You saw it happen with your own eyes. And your home also is destroyed. All that's left for you now is me."

"Oh... my family is gone..." Ourano began to tear up, but with effort, he pushed the tears back and said, "Very well then, sir." He jumped onto the alicorn's back and held on to his long neck. He then asked, "Before we fly, sir, can I ask, what shall I call you?"

The alicorn chuckled before responding, "Well, since I'm going to be taking care of you, teaching you and raising you from now on, you can call me, 'Master.'"

~~~~~

The alicorn flew North, into the Great Northern Desert and, after three days, landed on a rocky outcropping. It was a small spot in the desert free of sand and its height gave it a good view of the surrounding desert, though there was nothing of interest anywhere in sight, just sand. It was a safe place where Ourano could live and grow up isolated from the rest of the world. On the rock, the alicorn had already built a home, a little shelter composed of a cloth tarp and three dry wooden walls. The side lacking a wall was the Eastern side, thus letting the light of the rising Sun into the shelter. At the base of the rock was an opening into a cavern underneath the rock, but the alicorn forbade Ourano from ever entering.

Ourano and his master spent ten years living on that rock. Somehow during those ten years, they had remained completely alone. Even when Ourano saw caravans of camels pass by once a month, carrying their valuable cargo, the camels did not pay any attention to the little home on the rock. Ourano longed to meet others, but his master strictly disallowed any interaction with the outside world, and he obeyed for ten years. The alicorn looked to Ourano's every need during these years. He was especially attentive to the food, drink and medicine he provided. The meals all seemed to be familiar enough to Ourano, but had a very subtle difference in taste. The water too tasted ever so slightly different from the water Ourano was used to in Irida.

During this time, the alicorn trained Ourano to become a skilled flyer. Every day, they would drill wing flapping, steering, rising, diving, gliding, and so on. Countless hours of training made Ourano an extremely powerful and agile flyer, and within five years, he became more skilled than any flyer in all of Ponytopia. He could fly at impossibly great speeds and turn with the precision of a hummingbird. He could dive as fast as a falcon and shoot himself into the air like an arrow. The rate of his learning also was incredible, as he achieved in five years twice what a professionally trained flyer could achieve in fifteen. Ourano noticed this anomaly and asked his master how he could become so skilled so quickly. The alicorn merely told him that he was an incredibly naturally talented flyer, but Ourano could not believe this as he had always been a poor flyer back in Irida.

At the same time, Ourano's master also trained himself, studying and practicing magic through the hours of the night. Every week, Ourano would find new books and scrolls lying in the shelter or around the rock, and they all seemed to come out of nowhere. On the nights before the appearance of the new books, however, he would hear a strange noise, a whooshing noise like nothing he'd ever heard before. The source of the noise was the cave under the rock and Ourano believed that it was the snoring of a terrible monster, so he kept away from the cave opening. One night, however, he saw his master approach the cave wearing a saddlebag. He followed and, from a hiding spot behind a boulder saw his master enter the cave. He heard the monster's snoring and then, after the noise stopped, his master came out carrying books and scrolls in his saddlebag. Ourano did not question anything he saw, as he knew his master would be cross at him for eavesdropping. When Ourano went to sleep during the night, his master would read through the books for endless hours and at times fly out into the desert to practice newly learned spells. Sometimes, Ourano would wake in the middle of the night to the sound of explosions, electricity or other magical noises and see bright flashes of white light coming from the desert.

In addition to flying, the alicorn also taught Ourano some intellectual skills. Some of the books were books on writing, rhetoric, law and history. First The alicorn taught Ourano more eloquent writing and speech. Ourano was very quick to learn rhetoric and was soon a skilled orator with a very moving voice. Lastly, he studied Ponytopian law and history. He was not fond of these subjects, but he worked hard in his studies to please his master. His master was a stern teacher and trainer, but an effective one.

~~~~~

Ourano only entered the cave beneath the rocky outcropping once in his ten years in the desert. It was in the winter of his fifth year. The alicorn woke Ourano one cold morning and said, "Get up. It's time to move on to the next stage in your training. Follow me."

Ourano put on a scarf followed his master down to the base of the rock. The Sun was just starting to peek out of the Eastern horizon. The steam of his breath was very thick and visible in the cold dry desert air. The alicorn tucked in his wings tightly, lowered his horn and crouched low to the sand. He crawled through the little hole in the rock and into the dark cave within.

"Come in, Ourano."

"But, you said it's forbidden to enter that cave. And there's a monster living in there."

"How ever did you come up with that nonsense? The only thing here is me. And I'm making this one exception. Only this one time can you enter this cave, because it's important that you do."

Reluctantly, Ourano crouched down and crawled through the hole. Inside was not a totally dark cave, but a dimly lit one. The source of light was a tall blue box standing at the corner of the cave. At the top of the box was a little lamp and the box's doors were slightly open, letting out the white light from within. Through the door, a strange metallic rope came out from the box and attached to yet another exotic item; it looked like a knife, but much larger and longer. The metal blade had a perfectly straight blunt slide and a sharp curved edge for the other side. The blade was pristine and completely flawless and brilliantly reflected the light from the blue box. The handle of the blade was an odd shape, like a deformed bell, but Ourano noticed that it was shaped to perfectly fit a hoof, namely his hoof.

"It's called a sword."

Ourano quickly turned around in surprise and saw his master standing behind him. He asked, "What is a sword?"

"It is said to be a weapon of the gods. In the old legends told by the Judoon, foot soldiers of the Shadow Proclamation, the gods bore weapons called swords which they used to fight away the evil forces that threatened the Universe. But one day, the gods, disappointed by the wickedness of mortals all over the Universe, decided to give up on their effort to protect the mortals. So they gave the responsibility of keeping law and order in the Universe to the Judoon and granted them the power to wield the sword. The Judoon have for quite a long time stopped using swords. It's a primitive weapon to them now, since they have gamma ray guns, but here I have one just for you, Ourano."

"I'm not sure that I understand."

"Well, you don't really need to understand. Just know that it's a very powerful weapon, and it will bring you far. In this weapon lies your destiny."

"But, I've always wanted to be a weather pega-"

"Don't be daft. There's no glory in that. You are destined to be a soldier! When I first met you, I said I had a vision that I would raise you, but I didn't tell you the second part. I saw my little Ourano grow to become the greatest soldier Ponytopia has ever seen. The armies of Hoofrica and Drakonia cowered when they heard his name or saw him flying across the sky. To all his enemies, Ourano was the harbinger of death, and he was destined to secure the victory of Ponytopia and end these five-hundred years of war."

"So I can't be-"

"No."

"Okay."

Ourano lowered his head and heaved a sigh of great disappointment. It seemed the Jockeys had woven for him a fate different from what he imagined. He never expected that his place would be on the battlefield. He faced the sword and looked at his reflection on the metal. The sword seemed to have some sort of life to it, and he something inside him drew him towards it.

"This sword's blade has a core of a pure silver wire and the blade itself is made of hardened titanium. It was forged on the surface of a white dwarf star, and it is powered by a piece from the core of that star. In the hooves of a truly skilled swordspony, it can slice through any armor and fire nine-hundred thousand kriphs of electricity up to five hundred paces. I've engineered it to be responsive to your DNA and it will obey your every thought. This is the most powerful weapon on this planet right now, and it's yours. Do you accept it, Ourano?"

Ourano hesitated, unsure if he likes the destiny his master presented to him, but soon he conceded, "I accept."

"Place your hoof into the hilt. That's the bell-shaped thing there."

Ourano inserted his right hoof. His hoof fit snugly into the hilt. It was a perfect fit, tight enough that the sword would not easily slide off, but loose enough for him to take off without difficulty. The alicorn then entered the blue box and came out holding in his mouth a strange device that looked like a metal wand. It had a blue tip and a silver body covered in various buttons and lights. The alicorn took it in one hoof, pointed it at the sword and said, "Now, this may hurt a bit. Also, I should mention the side effects. While the sword is designed to work with DNA, the DNA may not be completely compatible, and so the sword will attempt to alter the bearer's genes to fit its needs. For the Judoon, this side effect meant their heads turning into rhinoceros heads. For you, it will be something... a little different."

"Wait, wha- AAAAGH!" Before Ourano had a chance to comment on the side effects, the alicorn pressed a button on his metal wand and he felt excruciating pain on his right hoof. He tried to pull his hoof out, but it was somehow stuck to the sword. He screamed in anguish as the connection between the sword and the metal rope glowed. Electricity crackled all over the blade and countless sparks jumped from the hilt. Ourano squirmed and struggled to escape the pain but all his efforts were to no avail. The white strands of his mane all stood straight as electricity flowed through Ourano's body, and one by one, each strand changed color. His cutie mark too began to change shape and color. The electricity then stopped and the pain in Ourano's hoof ceased. Ourano collapsed on the cave floor, his right hoof pulling the sword down with him. A moment later he opened his eyes and found that he was facing his flank, and on it was a cutie mark of a sword firing rainbow lightning. He stood and then looked at his hoof and it was attached to the sword. He pulled the sword off with his mouth and dropped it on the ground. He looked at it and the sight of his reflection shocked him. His mane was colored like a rainbow.

~~~~~

For the next five years, Ourano trained with his master in the use of the sword. Just as with his flight training, he spent unending hours perfecting the art. He learned not only the sword fighting styles of the Judoon, but also the styles of other civilizations across the Universe that used swords. He spent his days drilling every motion, stroke, form, block, and lightning strike. He practiced slicing, stabbing, blocking and deflecting. Every week, his master would come out of the cave with a practice dummy for Ourano to fight. The sword itself worked with Ourano perfectly, allowing him to carry out movements with ease and shooting just the right amount of lightning whenever he concentrated his thought into it. Camels passing by near the rock outcropping would wonder about the mysterious scorch marks and melted sand they found around the area. Ourano then moved on to using his sword in flight. First he practiced with objects thrown into the air, but soon, his master brought live birds. The desert around the rock was quickly littered with the corpses of birds cut in two or roasted by lightning.

Ourano grew to become a magnificent, strong and unique stallion. His forehooves were strong from his sword training, and his chest and wings were powerful from his flight training. His rainbow mane and tail were like nothing the world had ever seen, and wherever he flew, he would leave a rainbow trail in his wake across the sky.

One day in his tenth year in the desert, Ourano noticed something strange about the sky. Early in the morning, shortly after sunrise, the Sun stood still for a few hours. The same happened the following night. When the Moon was at the peak of the sky, it stood still for a few hours. The next day, Ourano returned to the shelter after his training and saw his master sitting on the ground with a tea set prepared. Tea was a very special treat for Ourano that he drank very rarely, so he eagerly sat across from his master and poured himself a cup of tea.

"You have been a brilliant apprentice, Ourano. I'm quite proud of you. You have ahead of you a life like no other," the alicorn said.

"You make it sound as if our time together is ending."

"It is. Your training is complete. You've mastered flight and you've mastered the sword. And so my job here is done. It's time for you to return to the world and fulfill your destiny."

Ourano looked at his tea with mixed feelings. He was happy at the thought that he could finally be free to see the world, but sad that his time with the most important pony in his life was ending. "I don't know what to say, master."

"Just drink the tea. This will be our little closing ceremony. A graduation, so to speak." The alicorn raised his cup of tea, and Ourano tapped his cup against his master's in a toast. Together, the two ponies drank their tea. Shortly after drinking, Ourano began to feel dizzy.

"Now, hopefully the selective memory deletion is precise enough," the alicorn said as he put his tea cup down and stood, "I don't want you to be losing any vital memories."

"Wh-what?"

"Shhh. Just relax and let the chemicals set in. And don't worry, you won't completely forget it all. The mixture will erase certain things from your immediate memory, but they'll still be in your subconscious memory."

"M-m-master, what did... you..."

"Sleep..."

~~~~~

A black pegasus stallion with a rainbow mane and tail woke up in an alley in the middle of some city. He opened his eyes and saw the starry night sky above him. He rolled over and bumped his head against a chest. He stood and looked at the chest, which was labeled with his cutie mark. He opened it and inside was a sword, and several scrolls. He opened one scroll and read,

"If you're reading this, congratulations! You have now begun your new life! You are in the city of Equites, capital of Ponytopia. In the chest is your sword and your papers for identification. Those papers include your name, in case you forgot your name. There's also a letter in there requesting your entrance into the Ponytopian air force. You are to go to the castle, to the office of military affairs and present that letter. The rest is left to you and the Universe. May the Sun bless your day and may the Moon guard your night."

The pegasus then realized that he did not remember his name. He took out another scroll, the one containing his identification, and looked for his name. He found it and read out loud, "Rainbow Sword."

Author's Note:

A kriph is a intergalactic standard unit of electric energy that I just made up. 900,000 kriphs is about half of the energy contained in the average lightning bolt.
Also, while writing this chapter, I developed a pantheon of gods out of the MLP crew. I'm not sure if I'll end up using it very much. But just to give y'all an idea:
(I'll start with the currently most relevant thing) The Jockeys, are the equivalents of the Fates. They are the show's writers.
Sarah Wall, producer, is the goddess of wealth and prudence, Wall the Wise
William Anderson, composer of the show's score, is the god of music and harmony, Anderson the Harmonious.
Daniel Ingram, the show's song composer, is the god of song and friendship, Ingram the Melodious.
Jayson Thiessen, who filled Faust's shoes after she left MLP, is the god of life and death, King Thiessen.
Terry Klassen, the voice director, is the god of speech and unity, Klassen the Eloquent.
Sabrina Alberghetti, a senior storyboard artist, is the goddess of thought and love, Sibsy the Wonderful.
etc. etc. etc

Comments

[A Madman With a Box]

So, 900,000 kriphs is around 55% of a gigawatt? I hope Rainbow Sword can't get up to 88.7!