Tales of Symponya: the Tower of Harmony

by NightCoreMoon

0- Mother

/x/x/x/

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there existed a giant tree that was the source of all magic. Two regal goddesses, two sisters, ruled together and created harmony for all the land.

As time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The bitterness in the young one’s heart transformed her into a wicked spirit of darkness, known only as The Nightmare.

She vowed to shroud the land in eternal night: this caused the tree to wither away, and a hero’s life was sacrificed in order to take its place.

The great hero wielded the magical Elements of Harmony to defeat The Nightmare, sealing her away into the moon. Grieving over the loss, the elder sister disappeared unto the heavens.

She left the alicorns with this edict: “You must wake me, for if I should sleep, the world shall be destroyed”. The alicorns bore the Chosen One, a bearer of the Elements.

Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic.

The Chosen One headed towards the tower that reached up unto the heavens.

And that marked the beginning of the regeneration of the world.

/x/x/x/

CHAPTER ZERO: Mother

/x/x/x/

“Come on, Soarin...”

Sprinting through a forest, a yellow-coated mare jumped over tree roots and ducked under low-hanging branches. Her teeth were tightly grit, a frantic look of panic glued on her face. Her armor, mainly composed of crossed leather strips and lavender plates of metal, was thickly stained with blood. She raised her sword to cut through a bush, and continued to run.

“Soar!” she cried, wild eyes glancing in every direction. “Where are you!? SOARIN!”

Her bright orange hair clung to her face and the back of her neck, wet with sweat and gore. Coming to a clearing, she put all her weight on one foot before pushing off, leading in with her opposite knee. She performed a flip, landing lightly on her shoulder before rolling fully back up to her feet, bringing her sword to eye level.

Corpses were strewn across the forest floor, mangled and destroyed, limbs separated from their torsos. Pools of blood drenched the air in the salty stench of death. A horrible monster laid in a heap in front of her, green and deformed. Her attentions weren’t focused on any of these details, however, but only on a small shoe sitting in the middle of everything.

She dropped her sword.

Falling to her knees, she simply stared at the shoe. It was nothing special; light brown, tanned hide, befitting of a small child around three years old. Her shoulders slumped, and she let out one shuddering breath before slowly reaching out. She picked up the trinket, so small in her hands. A single tear drop fell onto it.

“Soarin... why...”

Her hands began to shake, and closed around the shoe. She sobbed once before leaning forward, clutching it to her chest. She had difficulty breathing, and began shaking uncontrollably.

“...why?” she croaked, letting the tears fall freely now. “...why... this?”

She could hear her pursuers now, crashing through the forest in her direction. It would only be a matter of time before they found her trail and caught up. It was all over now. They won. They finally found her and took away everything she loved. Now they were coming for her. It wasn’t fair! She was finally happy, and now...

“...Tirek... you bastard...”

She could grieve later, but she had to move. Now.

She grabbed her sword and took off running, never once letting go of the shoe. Vengeance was unattainable, he was too far up in the ranks. There was nowhere to go now. Nowhere, except... back to Her.

/x/x/x/

“Nnn...”

A toddler, no older than three years old, awakened on a lumpy bed in an unfamiliar room. She cast her magenta eyes back and forth, taking in the windowless stone walls. It was dark, only lit by a single candle. She shivered; it was cold in this room, and she was missing a shoe.

“...mommy...” she whimpered. She had a scary dream. Where were mommy and daddy?

With her feet, she pushed back the thin blanket covering her body, and turned to jump out of the bed. Tears began to well in her eyes as she remembered more of the dream. Lots of yelling, lots of teeth and claws, and the color red. Not at all like the crimson of her dress, but darker. She let out a sob.

“Daddy!” she called, before landing shakily on the ground. There was a very big door, so she ran over to it, reaching for the handle. “Mommy!” It was just out of reach. She jumped once, twice, but still failed to grab it. Fortunately she didn’t need to, as it had begun opening by itself. Unfortunately, the one who opened it was a big, hulking, scary-

“Oh, you’re awake now? Are you hungry?”

“DRAGON!” the child screamed.

“...oh boy.”

“MOMMY! DADDY!” she cried, tears streaming down her face, slowly backing away from the monster. She fell on her butt and continued scooting back, wanting to get as far away from this vicious fire breathing monster as possible.

“It’s okay!” she gently whispered, dropping down to all fours rather than standing up at her full height. Her head came even with the child’s, who was still in hysterics. “I’m a nice dragon,” she attempted to placate. “I’m not gonna eat you-”

Saying this only made the child scream louder. The dragon changed tactics.

“Where’s the dragon?” she asked, covering her head with her wings. The child’s crying didn’t falter. “Here I am!” she cried, revealing a smile. Which showed her teeth. Bad idea. Man, kids are hard.

Round two.

“Where’s the dragon?” and this time she waited a few moments before revealing her eyes, this time whispering “Here I am” in a calm even voice. She repeated the process; hiding her face, asking, then showing just her eyes. She did this a couple times, and the sobs slowly dissolved to hiccuping whimpers.

“Where’s the dragon?” she asked one more time, before feeling a tiny hand on her wing.

“Here.” the child stated, clearly still afraid, but clued in to the game. This monster was playing a game that mommy and daddy played, so maybe she wasn’t that scary after all?

“You found me!” she said, rising slightly higher, but not too high. “Are you feeling better now?”

A hesitant nod was her response.

“That’s good... my name is Ember,” she whispered. “What’s your name?”

“R... Raimbow Dash.”

“Rainbow, huh? Just like your hair? Okay, good. So Rainbow, can you tell me how old you are?”

She held up four fingers.

“So you’re four?”

Rainbow shook her head side to side, and more insistently waved her four fingers in Ember’s face.

“...three?”

This time the child enthusiastically nodded yes, now smiling despite the fresh tears still wet on her cheeks, not even having soaked into her cyan colored fur just yet. “I’m three years old and I can count to ten!” she remarked, triumphantly resting her fists on her hips.

“Wow!” Ember replied, putting on a facade of being impressed by the bravado. “That’s really high! Your mommy and daddy must be really proud of you.”

Rainbow nodded again, and Ember’s smile faded slightly.

“So, Rainbow. You’re really smart. Can you tell me your mommy and daddy’s names?”

Rainbow put a finger on her lips and stared at the ground in thought. She furrowed her brows. Mommy and daddy called each other different names. Sometimes it was ‘babe’ or ‘my love’, which aren’t names. But before her scary dream, she did remember them saying something else. Unfortunately she couldn’t replicate all the sounds with her mouth correctly.

“Biss eye oo aaaannnnd... Zorn.”

“Please,” the monster whispered, slowly dragging its hand towards Ember. In its grasp was a crystal, in the shape of a lightning bolt with red and blue accents. “Take the child and this cutie mark far away from here. My name is Soarin... I’m...” It coughed. “I’m her father.”

“That’s really good!” Ember encouraged, though her smile no longer reached her eyes. That monster was telling the truth after all. But that means...

That means this kid’s an orphan.

There was a village nearby, Ponyville. Full of equines. Ember occasionally dealt in business with some of them. She was a craftsmith by trade. Maybe she could pawn this one off on one of them. But the monster... Soarin made it seem like the crystal was important. Clearly it must have been important to the Shadowbolts, since their corpses littered the clearing where she’d found little Rainbow. And if it was important to them, they just might drag this child to the Factory...

No, it was unsafe to trust her care in anybody else. At least out here in the forest she would be safer. Ember vowed to check in on the town, make sure nothing was out of place. There was a child born there recently, she knew, the Chosen One fabled to cleanse the world of hatred and evil and bring harmony to all. Maybe she would speak to her parents.

“I’m hungry.” Rainbow bluntly stated, jolting Ember out of her reverie.

“That’s right,” she reminded herself. Food. Most of what she had was heavily spiced dried meat, but she did have some food more fit for equine consumption in the pantry for guests. Not much, but enough. “Do you like hay fries?”

Stars shone in the toddler’s eyes as her jaw dropped and she slowly nodded yes.

“...You have to eat some vegetables too.”

Rainbow’s jaw locked back shut and she crossed her arms, glaring at the ground. This was gonna be harder than she thought.

It turned out that not only did Rainbow hate vegetables, she also hated a lot of fruit. She loathed tomatoes entirely. Naps had to come frequently and they did not come easily. Although, with the naps came the bad dreams, which was perfectly understandable. Ember had no idea how much Rainbow remembered of what was surely a gruesome fight scene. Hopefully none of it.

Aside from Rainbow being a picky eater and a fussbudget about naps, there weren’t very many issues. The girl had once gotten so dirty that her coat was brown, so Ember had no choice but to give her a bath. It wasn’t that hard, though; fur just needed a little more attention than scales. Clothing was a bit of a problem, too, as she only had the one outfit, a simple red dress.

Ember waited until nightfall one day, after a particularly rough day of playtime and adventure engineered specifically to tucker Rainbow out, and sprinted into town. She checked out books on sewing and purchased a couple reams of fabric, earning many strange looks from the merchants, but they didn’t say anything. Would you say something untoward to an out of breath dragon with crazy eyes asking politely for things while surrounded by highly flammable materials?

Rainbow didn’t take well to the first dress Ember made. Not that it wasn’t a lovely dress if she said so herself, but it never stayed worn for longer than a few minutes. Rainbow was certainly rambunctious and a bit of a tomboy. Ember then got the idea to make pants instead, and the girl was instantly enamored with them.

She also managed to get Rainbow into keeping a shirt on; dragons weren’t exactly bound by the same social norms as ponies (considering their very different biology) and honestly didn’t care about nudity, but other ponies DID care. The last thing that Ember needed was the village bringing torches and pitchforks because they thought she was a child-napping pervert as well as a foreigner. Not that Rainbow would even hit puberty for a long time. She shrugged, it was whatever. There were bigger things to worry about anyway.

Such as...

“Tank!”

Ember was struck dumb upon exiting her house to see what else but a giant turtle standing and nuzzling Rainbow, who was on her tiptoes and returning with a hug.

“That...” she struggled formulating words. “That is... a turtle.”

“Tortoise!” Rainbow smugly corrected, before crawling up on its shell. She hugged Tank some more before the blissful expression of contentment on her face faded away into a sad confusion. “Why is Tank here but not Mommy or Daddy?”

Oh... Ember’s face fell. She was hoping to put this off for as long as possible, but...

“Your parents just... went to a faraway place for a little while.”

“Far away?”

“Uh huh,” Ember lied. “I’m gonna take care of you for a while until they come back.”

“But...” Tears began to form in her eyes. “I wanna see Mommy and Daddy!” And now she was on the verge of sobbing.

“You can!” Ember panickedly cried. “They’re just...” oh no. “They’re deeper in the woods right now, but you can’t see them yet. They love you but... you won’t see them unless you’re a good girl, okay?”

Rainbow sighed. “Okay...”

“Go inside and I’ll make supper soon, okay? Play with your pet.”

Rainbow dejectedly rode Tank inside the house. It took awhile, but eventually Ember was alone. She punched a nearby tree, knocking it completely down.

“...Draconic vow number eleven... Lying is the first step towards the path of thievery... Ugh.” She turned around and leaned back, resting her head against the stump and watching the clouds. “But I can’t just tell her the truth. She’s just a little kid!” Ember raked her claws down the sides of her face in frustration. “I’m not exactly lying... they are far away...” she rationalized. “And I’ll tell her when she’s old enough...”

The dragon sighed and dug her palms into her eyes.

“Why do I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here...

/x/ Three Years Later, in Another World... /x/

“MOM!”

I shouldn’t do this.

“HELP ME!”

I’m such a coward...

“PLEASE!”

But it’s for her own good...

The vortex is open. It’s too late now; even if I wanted to stop it I can’t. She’s reaching her free arm out to me... But I can’t do the same. My body refuses to respond. My daughter, my precious daughter is being taken away from me forever, and I can’t even reach out to her! I’m such a horrible mother, I...

No...

This is for the best. She’s only twelve years old right now, but through the portal she’ll have a better life than I could ever give her here. A life free from discrimination and hatred. A life in Equestria. I wish I could go with her, more than anything else in the world, but I can’t go. I have to stay. For selfish reasons but nonetheless I cannot join them.

The wind is picking up now. I can’t see her violet eyes anymore behind her midnight blue mane. I refuse to blink, I need to preserve her image in my mind for as long as I may live, as this will be the last time I ever see her. I just wish she wasn’t crying. What I wouldn’t give to hold her one last time, either of them.

Little Starlight is crying too. That makes three of us shedding tears currently. The glow from the mirror is so strong now, I can barely see her. I close my eyes as she screams in pain. I couldn’t look at her any more even if I wanted to... and in just a moment, everything stopped.

She’s gone, the portal is closed, and now it’s just me and Ponehenge. The breeze ruffles the grass at my feet, and I feel myself falling to my knees. She’s gone. I can no longer support my own weight, and now I’m bent over on the ground, and I can’t stop crying. She’s gone.

She’s... gone.

My beautiful darling daughter is gone...

I should have gone in with them.

But I didn’t.

Because I’m a terrible mother.

“I’m sorry... Twilight Sparkle, I’m so sorry...”

/x/ One Year Later... /x/

“Why do you have all those trees?” Rainbow inquired from behind her popsicle.

Ember stood up on her hind legs and worked out the kinks in her neck before turning to face her seven year old charge.

“It’s for our new house, Rain. We can’t just live in my cave for the rest of your life, after all.”

“Will mommy and daddy live with us?”

Ember sighed. “...go back in the house,” she ceded. “And don’t open the door for anyone but me.”

She walked away, pulling the wheelbarrow full of trees as thick around as the door. The stupid door taunting Rainbow. The dumb stupid idiot jerkface door that she slammed shut and turned around, storming off the other way.

“This isn’t fair!” she cried, picking up a stick and swishing it at the ground. “I’ve been a good girl. I take my dumb nap every day. I take my dumb bath every day. I eat my dumb tomatoes without complaining every... almost every day. I take Tank out for a walk two times every day. I always do what Ember says.” She turned and furiously threw the stick off into the brush before crossing her arms and slumping down on the ground.

“She’s not my mom, she’s just a big dumb stinky smelly dragon. I want my real mom. I miss her.”

She heard a distant thud, followed by a distant growling and a crashing noise that was getting louder and louder. Slowly, Rainbow craned her neck and saw two glowing orbs in the distance rapidly getting closer and bigger and- oh no.

Gasping, she got to her feet and started running the other direction as fast as her little legs could carry her. She jumped over a tree root, ducked under a low hanging branch, but lost her footing in the dirt. She went flying, sprawling out into a familiar clearing that smelled faintly metallic. Behind her, a giant wolf came leaping out over her and landing gracefully in the center before turning around and baring all of its teeth. It had a bump on its head.

“Nice doggy...” she whimpered, sitting up and holding one hand out placatingly. “You’re not gonna hurt me... where’s the puppy? There it is!” She smelled its breath; hot and rancid. She could swear that it licked its lips. “I’m not scared of you, I’m not scared of you, I’m not scared-” It barked twice and she screamed.

“MOMMY! DADDY! HELP ME! I’M SCARED!”

Rainbow was backed against a tree, the wolf’s snout inching closer to her throat.

“I’LL BE BETTER!” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “I WON’T BE MEAN TO EMBER! I’LL DO MORE CHORES! I’LL EVEN EAT ALL MY TOMATOES! I’LL DO ANYTHING! PLEASE HELP ME!”

The girl’s mind brought her back to an incident where she’d been bad about one year prior, an incident she regretted not having apologized for before now, since she wouldn’t have a chance to after this wolf eats her for breakfast and picks its teeth with her bones.

Ember had found a young girl, a unicorn, as well as a baby. Twilight and Starlight, two siblings from some other place. Their mother had abandoned them for seemingly unknown reasons, and they had been wandering for days without food or water. Ember fed them and gave them some spare clothes and then dared to ask Rainbow to share her bed with Twilight for the night.

She flipped. Her. Lid.

“No, that’s MY bed!” she had yelled, stamping her foot. “I’m not sharing it with anyone! Her clothes are weird and her hair is weird and her horn is weird and she SMELLS BAD!”

Ember had snorted black smoke at this.

“Rainbow Dash, how DARE you ignore draconic vow number two! Never abandon someone in need!”

Rainbow had snorted back, wishing she could have breathed fire so she could’ve done the same thing. “Oh yeah? Well draconic vow number four! Don’t depend on others! Walk on your own four legs! Or... two legs!”

“Draconic vow number one hundred and thirty four, compassion benefits all dragons! And yes, that includes ponyfolk!”

“Oh yeah???” Rainbow had questioned, realizing she’d been beat, because she’d only been up to memorizing the first seven. But then, mouth working faster than her mind...

“Well, the draconic vows are STUPID!”

The moment the words left her mouth, Rainbow had clapped her hands over it. But it was too late, the damage had been done.

“I’m sorry-”

“Fine.” Ember had interrupted her, turning to glare at the wall, tears already falling. “You can keep your own bed. Twilight can have mine. I’ll sleep on the floor tonight.” She scraped the scales under her eye before turning and slamming Rainbow’s bedroom door. She fell to the ground and started crying, rocking herself back and forth until she had eventually woken up, having been tucked into her bed.

Ember had taken Twilight and Starlight into Ponyville, and when she had returned, they had made no mention of the grave insult she’d made against dragon culture. Things had simply gone back to normal.

Rainbow now wished she had said she was sorry for it, because she truly was. But alas, now it was too late. She was bad, and this is her punishment. Now mommy and daddy will never come to see her. She took one last shuddering breath as its tongue touched her neck. “I DON’T WANNA DIE!”

Thwack!

Suddenly the wolf was gone, and in its place was an uprooted tree.

“LEAVE MY BABY ALONE YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Ember screamed, flapping her wings hard as she could. The wolf shook its head and met its assailant head-on, fangs bared.

It locked its jaws around Ember’s forearm as she turned in mid-flight. Her flight pattern was disrupted as its mouth was very strong, so she found herself laying on her back as the wolf attempted to go for her jugular. It sunk its teeth in, penetrating the scales slightly. With a cry of pain, she craned her neck to the side before bashing her spines into the side of its head, and kicking it across the clearing.

Ember got her footing back and crouched low to the ground on all fours, wings flaring out and tail rising. The wolf followed suit, and the two circled the clearing. It glanced at Rainbow for just a second, which was just the opportunity the dragon needed.

She flapped and launched, this time anticipating that the animal would go head-on, so she curled into a ball at the last moment, and smashed into the wolf, throwing off its momentum. It clawed at her wings, tearing her left between two spines. She growled and swiped at it with her claws, and it jumped in the direction of Rainbow Dash. It turned to face the little girl.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ember cried, running at it and biting its neck. The wolf flipped her around and clawed at her stomach, leaving scratch marks. She screamed, and kicked the wolf off of her before righting herself. The wolf came charging, so she swung her tail around and smacked it in the face. It flipped over, and was still for a moment. This time it feebly stood up, but it heavily favored its left side. Its leg was broken.

Ember stalked it, looking straight in its eyes. Rainbow could see her throat glowing orange. It looked like she’d be eating wolf flambe for the next several days. The wolf licked its snapped foreleg before cowering and whimpering, knowing it was screwed. Suddenly, Ember reared up and shot a fireball directly into its heart, killing it instantly.

She panted, gasping for breath, and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

“Ember!” Rainbow cried, scrambling to her feet and running to her guardian. She ignored the scent of burnt hair and charred meat, and instead wrapped her arms around the dragon’s neck. “I’m so sorry I’m so mean to you all the time. I’m sorry I called you smelly and I’m sorry I said the vows are stupid and I’m sorry I don’t eat tomatoes and I’m sorry that I’m a bad girl and you gotta keep me around because mommy and daddy don’t want me...”

“Rainbow...” Ember brought a claw around and stroked her hair. “...you were almost wolf bait. Don’t ever disobey me again, do you understand me?”

Rainbow simply nodded and continued crying.

Ember sighed. “I think it’s time I told you the truth about your parents.”

The dragon simply needed to rest a bit before she was able to take Rainbow and the wolf home. She set the carcass down near the smokehouse before striding over to where she had long since buried Soarin’s remains and placed a stone over it. Rainbow had never been curious enough about it to have asked, and that was part of Ember’s rationalization. She can’t lie about something she’s never asked about, right?

“This is a grave, Rainbow.”

This was met with an inquisitive brow raise.

“A grave is where you bury a dead person so their life energy can return to the ground.”

“Their magic?”

“Yes, Rainbow.”

“So... dragons and ponies get buried?”

Ember nodded. “All living beings eventually end up returning to the earth. This,” she dragged her claw across the etching that read, “this is Soarin’... your father.”

“Daddy?” Rainbow asked, tapping it. “I miss you.” She turned back to Ember. “So... if you go into the ground, can you come back?”

Ember gently shook her head. “Once you die, not through any force of nature can you come back. I’m sorry Rain...”

Rainbow looked back at the grave. “Can he hear me if I talk to him?”

Ember pursed her lips. “I like to believe that the dead are still present among us, even if we can’t see or hear them. So yes, Rainbow, I think he can hear you.”

“That’s good.” She said, simply. “But what about mommy?”

Ember sighed. “I don’t know where her body is. But the fact that she hasn’t come here looking for you yet probably means that she’s dead too.”

Rainbow blinked, and a single tear fell. “But if she’s dead and her grave isn’t here then how can I tell her I miss her?”

“Well... I’m sure your parents loved each other enough that they’re reunited in the afterlife, so I think that she can hear you too.”

Rainbow slowly nodded before turning back to the gravestone. “Mommy? I miss you too. I hope you and daddy are having fun together. I'm not lonely. I have Ember. I hope you like her. I like her a lot. She’s really cool. She fought a really REALLY big wolf today to save me! And even cooler, she’s a dragon! An actual fire breathing dragon like in the storybook you used to read me! But she isn’t a mean dragon, she’s a really nice dragon. I should be nicer to her. It would be really cool if she was my mom too. Ember,” she turned to her guardian. “I’m sorry for- oh no! Did I make you sad?”

“No, honey,” she said, wiping away a tear. “Just the opposite, in fact... I’m very happy that I found you.”

“...okay.” Rainbow said, not fully convinced. She gave Ember a hug, which was returned.

“So...” the girl asked, finally pulling away before sitting down and resting her head on one of the dragon’s forelegs. “Can I talk to mommy and daddy whenever I want?”

Ember nodded. “They’re your parents.”

The two sat in companionable silence and stared at Soarin’s headstone for a time, until...

“Hey, I have something for you,” Ember eventually said, carrying Rainbow inside and into her own room.

“What is it?”

The dragon opened a small lockbox and pulled out the crystal that Soarin had given her those few years ago. She presented it to the young equine, whose eyes began to sparkle along with the mark.

“This,” Ember began. “This belonged to your parents. It's called a cutie mark, and it makes you more powerful when you attach it to your body through what's called a shard of harmony. It belongs to you; I've just been holding onto it until you were old enough to use it. And when you're a fully grown mare, I’ll graft it to you.” She placed it in Rainbow’s hand, closing her fingers around it.

“I know that you must be hurt knowing that they're not coming back,” she continued. “But between the grave, and holding on to this, they’ll always be with you. And as for what you said earlier, about me being your mom too... if you really want that, then I can try. I know that I'll never replace your real mom, but... but I do love you as if you were my own daughter, Rainbow.”

The girl had no reply to this. She simply stared somberly at the crystal in her hand.

“It’s time for supper-”

“Okay.”

“Hm?”

“Will you be my second mommy?”

Ember smiled. “Of course I will.”

And so she was.

/x/x/x/

Author's Note:

Hey so this was sitting in my google drive and I forgot about it so here, might as well upload it.

So yeah, this is a marked change from the old, garbage version of this story. If people are interested I'll put a link.

Comments

[MonkeyManiac]

this is a SAD story.

[Prince Lightning Charge]

8686548
Well yeah tales of symphonia had some sad and dark themes.

[NightCoreMoon]

8686548
bruh the original is already heartwrenching enough but i'm gonna be kicking the sads into overdrive :3

[Aerodragon2]

How often will this be updated, it shows great promise.