The Hag, the heroes, and a few other things

by Amaranthine Thought

End 4

Due to the scales, finding Honest wasn’t too hard. Or, at least, finding where he had put them wasn’t hard; he’d been clever about hiding himself away. He used several different identities to secure each one in turn, and using other ponies to help ensure that if anypony did start asking around, they’d wind up going in circles.

It was quite clever really, and I admit; it got me. In many ways, if not for Honest himself, I would never have figured the whole mess out for myself, at least not without some overt measures. However, I didn’t need to worry about it much at all; Honest gave himself away.

You might remember when I threatened Honest what I’d do to him if he upset Rose. He certainly did; it was a big part of why he’d gone so far to hide himself.

Anyway, I’d been grumbling about his web of lies, walking down a street when a random mailpony looked at me apparently heading right to him, irritated and muttering, and screamed in terror.

I leapt to an easy conclusion, and he made it easy by slamming his panicked head right into the mailbox, getting him to suddenly turn colors and which also let me get to him before he could run. As for the ponies shocked to see an old mare tackling somepony in the middle of the street, Rose helped me with that. As Honest panicked in my grip, certain that I was going to kill him, Rose managed to get him to start thinking again by yelling that she still loved him.

Which got the nearby ponies to assume that it was a relationship thing, and not an attack, and relax again, which helped. Honest helped again by being a smart pony and calming enough to tell us to follow him to the little place he’d rented out in Canterlot, so we could have some semblance of privacy.

Once there, we talked. In short, Honest was feeling guilty for lying to Rose and hiding his true nature, while Rose was feeling guilty over having acted how she did when she found out; doubly so since Honest had saved her. Neither seemed really able to understand why they would be that way, and both unwilling to let the other forgive them for what they felt guilty about until they themselves were forgiven.

It sounds silly, but in a heated conversation between a wife heavily pregnant and a worried, depressed father, things were far from so clear.

I stayed mostly out of it, aside from assuring Honest that no, I wasn't there to hurt him. It was between him and her; I found him, but it was up to them to solve it. At least I stayed out of it until I got sick of it all.

So I asked him, “Was anything you ever said or did to Rose because you were a changeling?” and then to Rose, “If he had been a changeling the whole time, would it have mattered?”

That, at last, got them to stop and think and finally let them forgive themselves and then each other; remembering the true love each had for the other. It was emotional, but by that point, Rose was exhausted from it all, and Honest was little better, having finally been relieved of his guilt and fears. Still though, I had someplace to be, and Rose found the strength to keep going for a little while longer.

She fell asleep on the train ride back to Ponyville, resting against Honest, in perfect peace. As she slept, and I stared out the window, Honest surprised me, breaking the silence with a quiet “…Hag?”

That was the second time he called, but I turned then, wondering what it was; I had been focused on what laid ahead for me.

After a moment, he continued, “I was… hoping you could answer a question.”

“Speak it then.” I told him, deciding to listen.

He hesitated a moment, and then spoke, “…Do you know anything about our child?” In a tone suggesting worry, or concern.

I relaxed, sure that it was just new father worries and told him, “The child is healthy, Honest. No need to worry for it.”

“I wasn't really asking about that.” he said. “I was more wondering… what the child would be.”

“…They’ll be what they one day choose to be.” I answered, wondering what he meant, and he shook his head.

“Between pony and changeling...” he said, “What comes to be?”

I blinked, finally realizing what he meant. I felt somewhat confused as I asked him, “Don’t you know?” He shook his head, and I bewildered, asked him, “Changelings feed on love though; surely, a child between pony and changeling has been before, has there not?”

“Changelings do not form permeant bonds with a pony, normally.” Honest answered me. “All changelings are more parasitic, capturing a spouse or child and pretending to be them, gathering love for however long they aren’t discovered. My hive in particular was predatory towards ponies; it was the big reason I deserted.”

I nodded, listening; the story was familiar, in some minor part. I knew of changelings; fey creatures that snatched human children and replaced them with their own. What the child was meant for, no one knew, but the changeling would grow as a human until it was either discovered or reached the age of eleven, at which point it would flee back to its own kin, its true nature becoming apparent.

Changelings of Equestria were similar in their ability to shapeshift, but I don’t know if they have any connection to the changelings I knew, and honestly, I would say they don’t. The changeling I knew didn’t have a ‘real’ form like Equestrian ones, and I don’t think that the ones I knew of feed off love either. But who knows; maybe I’m wrong.

Perhaps they captured children to gain a love source, and the changeling child left behind was to be fed by the unwitting parents. I don’t know.

“Even if it did happen, changelings are born sexless, with the exception of the queen.” Honest continued, sighing. “We only mimic having a sex.” A short time passed before he finished, “I didn’t know I could get Rose pregnant, and now that it’s so close, I can’t help but wonder if the child will be… well, normal. And I was really hoping you knew the answer to that.”

“…Why would I possess that knowledge?” I asked him.

“Because you’re, well, you.” He said, and I blinked. “You just… seem to know everything, sometimes.”

“I don’t know everything, Honest.” I told him. “Just a lot.”

Honest smiled at that, though I could still see the worry in him.

I sighed, and told him, “What will be, will be, Honest. Even if the child is born with chitin, would you love them any less? Would Rose?”

Honest shook his head, taking a slow breath, and seeming better for that thought.

“…Once we get back to Ponyville.” I said, drawing his attention again, “I’ll be gone for a while.”

“Where will you be?” Honest asked me.

“Elsewhere.” I told him. “I want you to take care of Rose while I’m not there; I couldn’t have stopped her from coming along with me this time, but she can’t follow me any longer. Not in her state.”

“I will.” He said, “But what do you have to do so urgently?”

“I need to finish what I started.” I told him. “I might be a while, but I’ll be there when Rose needs me.”

“I know you will.” Honest said, stroking Rose’s mane. “I could not imagine you not being there, in fact. Not even if you had to move a mountain to arrive.”

I looked back out the window, and a short time passed before I heard Honest yawn.

“…I never thought I’d ever have a family.” He said. “I spent so many years just a member of a swarm, then out on my own, thinking that would be the same until I died. But now, I have the perfect wife, a child soon to come, and a grandmother that somehow terrifies me and yet makes me feel safe.”

I chuckled, and told him, “Stay awake until you get back home with her. It’s a stallion’s responsibility to support his wife, and I ain’t about to lug you both through town.”

Honest nodded, tired, but enduring it.

“…I ain’t going to call you grandson though.” I said after a moment. “You’re always going to just be the stallion who married my granddaughter.”

Honest laughed, and I smiled.

---

Honest was a lot stronger than I remembered him being. Despite his being tired, he managed to carry Rose on his back without falling over, and even managed to get her into the bed without toppling over. I’d had thought I’d have had to carry them both out of the train, but he impressed me.

He had come a long way from the weak stallion I had met in Manehatten.

I got them both comfortable, and then set out to the Everfree once again, despite the night coming. I asked the Everfree to ensure I didn’t fall asleep or otherwise grow tired; I anticipated a long time I would stay awake.

Remember when I said my dreams were busy?

That was because the crystal tree invaded them, possessing a will to speak with me and lacking the patience for me to get around to getting back to it on my own.

Within my dream, it appeared as a great, shining tree, rising high into the skies, but its voice came from a pony made of light, pure white sparkling in many colors. It had a lot to say.

It began by telling me about itself; about Harmony. It claimed to be the cause of Equestria itself, having forged the land from the primordial chaos before, and giving it its first lives: ponies. But even so early, all was not right, for Harmony fought many things. Its rival Discord, was the greatest threat, but many opposed Harmony.

In order to protect the very land from being torn asunder, Harmony claimed, it took the form of a crystal tree, using itself as the anchor for the world as the cost of its own freedom. It fought against, near as I could tell, more or less everything; struggling to have Equestria become Harmony’s vision of perfection. It did so quite well, sealing countless threats away and preventing many more form ever entering Equestria at all, but though Harmony defeated and repelled many foes, many other ones slipped past it, entering Equestria and wreaking havoc upon the land and the ponies.

Thus, Harmony decide to splinter parts of itself, and grant those shards to ponies, so that ponykind might wield a fraction of harmony’s power against their and Harmony’s many foes. The first form of the elements of harmony, but the elements were meant for more than merely giving ponies a weapon to defend themselves.

Harmony used those same elements to ‘guide’ ponykind. The elements influenced ponies in many ways, from just by being themselves, all the way to striking out against the ponies themselves, when ponykind fell too far from Harmony’s path. The current bearers, it told me, were pleasing to it; they were easily taught, as compared to the twin princesses, who had actually managed to get Harmony to bend a little.

The elements had never been meant to be used by only two, and yet, the twin alicorns had somehow managed it. The twins had even used Harmony’s power in ways Harmony had not planned them to be used; not just using the elements as weapons, but making them tools of creation and healing as well.

Harmony didn’t disprove of their actions, but hadn’t liked being unable to influence the twins, and didn’t fully approve of their clever uses for Harmony’s minor incarnations. To the extent that Harmony had felt a little relived when Luna had snapped with jealousy; it granted Celestia the power to banish her own sister and then sealed the elements away until bearers more suitable to Harmony eventually emerged.

It told me all that without any hint of regret nor remorse; it was more pride. Harmony didn’t see anything wrong with denying ponies the elements for nearly a thousand years in what, to my mind, was petty vengeance against the twin princesses. It even thought that allowing Celestia to wield all six against her own sister had been a kind act; a sacrifice on its part so as to teach the two a stern lesson.

Luna, disrupting the peace of ponies, was banished to the moon, and Celestia was left by herself, with powerless elements, ponykind reeling from the twins’ fight, and foes realizing that the elements no longer defended ponies.

I can only imagine how Celestia somehow forged the Equestria of today under such conditions.

It then told me that it was greatly impressed by my ability to break those same elements, and more so for my ability to find the pure forms. Harmony respected me, and it told me that it had thought of a great, grand, idea. However, as time was running out, it said it wished to meet with me ‘as soon as your duties elsewhere are done’.

Leaving me to wake groggy and confused, since dreaming like that was near the same as staying awake.

When I returned to the crystal tree that night, it told me of its idea.

Harmony struggled against many foes, and even the elements did not fully protect Equestria. For ages though, nothing could be done, but in me, Harmony saw its ultimate victory.

It envisioned me as its chosen champion; to imbue me with a large portion of its power, and I would become the final piece Harmony needed to fully realize its vision of Equestria. Defeating the threats against harmony, guiding its peoples and even the lands themselves along Harmony’s predetermined path. To, more or less, become Harmony’s avatar.

It didn’t actually say that this would mean I couldn’t make my own choices, but it gave me a glimpse of its vision, and frankly, Harmony didn’t much like anything making its own choices. And if ponies would be restricted to what Harmony desired, I had no illusions that I, its voice and champion, would be limited even more.

I refused it, several times over, but Harmony was adamant that I would somehow be of aid to it, and I was determined to teach it humility, so the dealing began.

I sat arguing with the crystal tree for that entire night and two days more, the Everfree granting me life so as to sustain me during this process. Then, finally, we found a deal we both felt satisfied with, and sealed it.

Harmony would allow me to decide the fate of any of Equestria’s races, since Harmony felt that several, such as the changelings, shouldn’t be upon the world at all. However, I had to, in some way, align with Harmony’s desire; I could not directly decide against it. In addition, Harmony would turn a blind eye to the lands, and allow them their own wills.

It would also allow me to free Equestria’s spirits, on the explicit terms that I would see to their ‘redemption’, or at the very least, ensuring that they no longer posed a clear threat to harmony. In addition, I could only ‘teach’ two spirits at a time, and during their time ‘learning’, they had to be bound to me; I could not have Harmony release every spirit it imprisoned all at once, and Harmony had to approve before I could free them from me.

Finally, Harmony would respond to my calls as any other spirit might, and could be bargained with for favors or gifts in the same manner.

For all that, I had to take up Harmony’s cause for a single day a week, and act as its direct representative; Harmony would freely grant me whatever aid I wished of it during this time. However, even during this time, I did not have to perfectly obey Harmony, though I did have to accomplish its goals to Harmony’s satisfaction. This had the sole exception that I would not destroy, exile, or otherwise wipe out a race of Equestria, and Harmony couldn’t order me to destroy or change anything I created, change my chosen life, or influence or subjugate any land.

I would also act to defend Harmony from any new threats to it, and if Harmony was ever harmed or weakened, I would act to repair or restore it as soon as possible. Finally, I could never directly act against Harmony as I once had.

We would also both remain friendly with one another, and if either of us upset the other, we would immediately act to make amends or otherwise seek to sooth the conflict.

Finally, this deal would not come into effect until after my natural death. I wanted to spend my final years in peace and calm, and Harmony not only granted me that, but allowed for the Everfree to keep its own will; as a gift to me.

That finally done and over with, I finally returned to my hut, to give it a quick clean from its long time empty, and finally rest in my own bed. Even though the Everfree sustained me during those days of argument, the forest cannot aid the mind, and after two days arguing, I was exhausted.

---

Rose had her child two days later; a beautiful golden filly with striking rose eyes and a red and orange mane. She named her New Dawn, and she’s a perfectly normal filly, save for one thing about her:

She has a near perfect ability to know and understand another’s emotions.

It only made the foal more endearing, becoming the glint in her parents’ eyes and the delight of my own heart. Much of the time I had left was spent being with Rose and spoiling Dawn. But I spent time with others as well.

Discord often came to my home, reliving himself of the strain of having to hold back his chaos, and laughing with me at his own antics. I saw the girls now and then, and after some time, managed to understand Scootaloo’s wings enough to ensure that someday, once she matured, she’d be able to fly. Sweetie just liked being around me, but Applebloom took a direct interest in my knowledge of plants.

A knowledge that leaked to her sister, and I talked to Applejack about natural forests as she told me all about farming. She impressed me with her passion for her orchard, and I hinted that, if she took the right actions, she could have her orchard awaken as a forest in its own right. She seemed intrigued, and later on, I would help guide her in doing so. It would take years, but some day, the orchard would gain its own voice.

Pinkie taught me some recipes and I told her some of my own, those that didn’t include meat anyway. She showed me how to use sugar, and I taught her about natural sugars, and how to cook over an open flame.

She taught me how to use a stove, and for my birthday, she surprised me with one of my own. Which came along with her and Rainbow improving upon my hut when I was otherwise preoccupied, and Rainbow gave me a real cloud bed of my very own. They shocked me speechless with that.

Rarity baffled me, talking about design and fashion and etiquette, and I often dismayed her with my own knowledge of the subject. She tried to teach me how to sew and I taught her how to crochet. Fluttershy surprised me with her ability with animals, an I first suspected her of having some talent as a hag. But she doesn’t; whatever has her able to understand and be understood by animals is her own talent, and nothing to do with my arts.

Twilight often asked me about hags, the Order, and anything else I would know. But a lot of what she wanted to know wasn't something I could tell her; some things can only be known as a Hag. Twilight asked me about becoming one, and I guided her through the preparation; she lacks natural talent, but makes up for it with her own determination to master things.

She ultimately turned back from the final step, however. She feared what might change in her if she were to offer a piece of her, and feared what might be asked of her in the first place.

But Rose took it.

As I had already seen, Rose made for a talented and able hag; given just a little advice, I’m sure that she would have trained herself eventually. She made me proud of her; she even got roses to start growing in the Everfree, and the forest is almost as friendly with her as it is with me; entirely due to her, and nothing I did.

Honest worked hard, and managed to get himself a job as a royal envoy, and soon after, Chrysalis herself got him to be the changeling diplomat, working directly under her, the queen who had once ordered his death. Chrysalis relies on him, to his pride, and he was even a part of the diplomatic group when griffons and ponies reconfirmed their treaty as Greatwing slowly reunited the griffon empire.

And, four years later, I died. In my own hut, in the bed Rainbow had given me, surrounded by those important to me. Given the opportunity to say the last words to those I cared about, and to hear their own goodbyes. I breathed my last with a smile on my face.

Now, you know I told Discord I gained something more from Avarantus. In the simplest terms, I’d spent my final years as an Avar, and after my death, I’d become a spirit myself. Not wholly so though; there are differences, and honestly, I’m pretty sure I don’t know all of them, even now.

Starting with the experience of floating out of my body, feeling renewed and powerful, and then realizing I didn’t know how to move myself. Wasn't like anypony there was aware of my struggle, but, thankfully, Discord was present and spotted me, flailing around.

He kept silent and later taught me how to handle myself, and soon enough, I was free to go where I wished.

I’d already made up my mind. I wasn't going to linger around Rose. I had a deal to keep, and a whole world I wanted to see. Someday, I told myself, I’d return.

I would never imagine I would do so like I did.

Comments

[Fireeaters]

RIP

[Holydude]

Least she died happy. I hope harmony doesn't make her do anything to bad

[Syroc]

Sequel hook?

[ABitterPill]

This story really deserves more reads and upvotes than it has. It was a treat to read and I'm missing it already now that I've finished it. And I only started today too..

I do hope this story sees a continuation of some kind, some day. It would be very interesting to see where it would go.

I kind of have to disagree with Harmony's definition of itself. Things must be done it's way, or be eliminated/suppressed. That is less indicative of Harmony and more indicative of Order. I find Harmony to be the balance between Order and Chaos. Though this is my personal view.
With Hag's guidance Harmony was more harmonious than when it was acting by itself.

I wonder, does Hag's deal with Harmony extend beyond her mortal life? If not, now that she's dies, is Harmony going to begin suppressing the Everfree forest and other spirits again?

Once again. Wonderful story. Thank you very much for sharing it with us!

[PhycoKrusk]

10564407
Story's not over yet.

Almost. But not quite.

[Nihilistic Janitor]

This was just a beautifully tight story, snappily paced and spinning ever forward with this wonderful and energetic momentum. Its an absolutely brilliant use of the fish-out-of-setting vibe, its plotted so that everything that happens feeds wonderfully into everything else, and it stays fresh all the way through without ever twisting you with something that feels like twistiness for twistiness' sake.

I cannot overstate how much I loved it.

The characterization was also brilliant, making every character and every interaction and every dynamic feel unique and interesting and special! The tension is masterfully built and maintained, the stakes are raised without leaping forward into ridiculousness, and the whole time it stays firmly grounded in Hag's own rich internal life, dialogue, perspective, and struggles.

Quite frankly, you've convinced me that you're an absolutely brilliant author, and if you'll excuse me I am going to painstakingly read through literally every one of your stories in the hopes I can glean some of your skills for myself.

Thank you so much for writing this!!!

[Neece]

Finally got around to reading the last chapter, must've missed it over a year ago. And I like it very much.

I just hope you don't tease us much longer with that sequel hook though, sounds intriguing!

[Starlight Nova]

Will there be a squeal?