Game of Harmony

by CommanderApplejack

Chapter 4: Everfree

Chapter 4

Everfree

Strange sounds and smells assaulted the five travelers as they were walking through the thick underbrush of the Everfree forest. Luckily for the three ponies they had yet to run into one of the creatures the forest was infamous for. "So, how did a pegasus and a unicorn end up together?" Applejack asked as she tried to distract herself from her surroundings.

Twilight chuckled, ''That's quite the story, Applejack." She said making a quick scan of their immediate area, "Over a month ago now I was patrolling a patch of forest south of the Black Sea when I and my team stumbled upon Rainbow. She was trying to travel south and into earthpony territory, she actually put up a decent fight but my squad was six unicorns strong so it was only a matter of time before we overpowered her. We had her pinned down and me being the highest rank present was tasked with her execution." Twilight grimaced as she recalled that moment, "I'd fought pegasi before but I never had to execute one, Rainbow would have been the first if I didn't get the idea to spare her life to interrogate her."

Rainbow chuckled, "Glad you didn't, but now you bring it up, why did you keep me from being executed even after it became painfully apparent that I didn't know any useful information?"

"To answer that question I'd have to give some background context." Twilight said, "Unicorns are taught from the moment that we're born that earthponies and pegasi are just about equivalent to the corrupted mare herself. Me and my brother grew up learning just that but then Shining got picked for training at the Canterlot officer academy..."

Twilight suddenly looked really sad as she recalled this part her youth, "Shiny used to be BBBFF's but after he went to that school he went from a caring big brother to 'Empress this, Empress that', they turned him into a pony who didn't even resemble his former self. Sometimes the old him would break through the cracks but it would immediately be stamped back down. I didn't understand why but after I myself was picked for that school it put everything in perspective. Where the usual education just makes you believe unicorns are superior to other races, the officer academy tries to make you think the Empress is a god herself."

"If so then how did ya remain relatively sane through it all?" Applejack asked the lavender mare.

"I used to have a good teacher and I just reminded myself of Shining, I never wanted to become like him." Twilight answered, "But that also brings me back to Rainbow. I could have just followed the Empress's orders and executed you, Rainbow, but I wanted to learn. All throughout my youth, I heard pegasi were evil and now I had one I could personally interrogate."

Rainbow smiled to herself, "You were in there with me almost the entire day with me before they dragged you out and accused you with treason, which you didn't even deny."

"I was only allowed to interrogate you for an hour following official guidelines." Twilight said with a smirk, "I went completely off the reservation when I stayed with you for that long and when they finally pulled me out of that tent every preconception about pegasi I had had been shattered. After that, I was about to be executed while they were going to cut off Rainbow's wings."

"They were going to cut off Dash's wings?!" Scootaloo questioned bewildered at the prospect.

"Yes but before they got the chance a dragon attacked the camp, giving us a chance to escape. After that, we travelled through Whitetail towards Ponyville where we found you, Applejack."

Applejack was slightly stunned, "That's quite the story, after mah Pa, Ma, and granny got killed by unicorns I just assumed all of ya were just the same."

"We're just trying to find our way in the world, AJ. It's just that the information we're given is wrong." Twilight said as she jumped over a fallen tree, "You also said you had a brother, didn't you? What happened to him?"

"Remember the raid on Ponyville by earthponies a couple years back?" Applejack asked Twilight who nodded. "That raid is infamous within the Empire, a group of earthponies tracking up north unseen to raid one of Canterlot's food production sites. It might not have had that much of an effect in the short term but it seriously shocked our leadership."

Applejack nodded, "Mah brother went back with that group, ah stayed behind with Applebloom her because she was still too young to make that trip. But he promised that he'd come back to us."

A tear fell from the corner of Applejack's eye, "That was the last time ah saw mah brother."

Twilight stopped and put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder, "We never caught that raiding party and after its hit, we tightened border security so your brother would have never gotten the chance to come and get you."

This seemed to give some hope to the earthpony, "Thanks, Twilight."

The group turned their attention back to the forest as they continued walking, "Is it me or did the forest just become really quiet?" Rainbow asked nervously as she tried to pick up the sound of animals. The fact they'd come this far without any dangers of the Everfree showing themselves was remarkable but they didn't know how long that'd last.

"She's right, this ain't normal." Applejack said as she looked at the underbrush around them to see if she could pick up movement. Twilight looked ahead and saw the forest thinning in front of them, "I think there's a clearing up ahead." She said as she led the other four ponies on.

The supposed clearing turned out to be a large chasm with an old rope bridge connecting to the other side, fog rising up from the large gap in the earth obscuring the other side. "Rainbow can you check out the other side of that bridge?" Twilight asked the pegasus, who dropped off Scootaloo and took off towards the other side while Applejack and Twilight stood took up defensive positions in front of the two fillies on their side of the bridge.

Rainbow landed on the foggy side of the cavern, from what she could see from her surroundings she saw a couple of bushes and trees but nothing suspicious came to her eyes, she turned to inspect the rope bridge's supports on her side of the chasm as she got tackled by something behind her, extending her blade she slashed at the thing attacking her. Two blades clashed as another attacker appeared and made sure Dash's blade didn't hit his ally. Rainbow struggled to get out of the grip the two attackers had her in but when a third attacker appeared to hold her down she knew she had lost. She took a good look at the attackers who had pinned her down.

They were all black or grey-furred ponies but that wasn't what Rainbow focussed on. It was the fangs, slitted cat-eyes, and bat wings they possessed.

"Rainbow! What's going on over there!" Twilight shouted from across the cavern, The first black pony holding its blade on Rainbows throat. "Tell them the coast is clear." He said baring his fangs to the pegasus. Rainbow snarled back at him, "I don't betray my friends." She hissed back at the bat-like pony, the third attacker seemed to notice something on Dash.

"Guys look at this." A feminine voice said as she pointed at the slightly glowing gem that was stuck on Rainbow's wristband, "Do you think she's one of the prothesized ones to heal the Nightmother?" The female asked as the second attacker raised his eyebrow.

"You think she's Loyalty?" He asked, the female nodding. The first attacker groaned, "Call your friends over and they might live to see the sun rise above the horizon once again." Rainbow hesitated as the large stallion seemed sincere, "We have been stalking your little group for a couple of hours now, pegasus. I would only have to give the order and your friends would be gone."

Rainbow shivered for a moment as she suddenly understood why the forest had been quiet. "Girls! Come on over!" She shouted over at the others. The bridge began swaying as Twilight, Applejack, Applebloom, and Scootaloo started crossing. Applejack was the first one across the bridge followed by the fillies and Twilight, "Rainbow what took you so long?" Twilight said as she tried to spot the pegasus through the thick fog, immediately drawing the short sword she carried when she saw Dash being held down by the three ponies.

"Relieve yourselves of your weapons and you'll be spared." The large stallion holding Dash down said as his companions had already removed Rainbows blade. Twilight glanced at Applejack who was looking the strange pony into its eyes, "It ain't lying." She finally grunted as removed her gauntlet and threw it in front of her, another bat-pony suddenly appeared from the fog and snatched the gauntlet away before disappearing again into the thick mist. Twilight grimaced as she tossed her own sword forward, it too being taken by a pony who appeared from the fog.

"How do you know our words aren't a lie." The female bat-pony asked Applejack, the earthpony just shrugged. "Ah get a bad taste in mah mouth when someone's lyin', ah've always known when someone does it."

"Interesting." The female replied, turning to the large male. "Honesty and loyalty, don't you think?"

The large male just glared at the other ponies, "Follow me." He said, getting of Dash, several new armed bat-ponies appeared from the fog to escort the five ponies to their destination.

"Eight centuries." The large Stallion said as they followed a path, "We kept this place a secret from the outside world for eight hundred years so our species would not be extinguished by the others."

"Kept what from the outside world?" Twilight asked as the fog suddenly stopped revealing a slightly overgrown but clearly maintained Castle, "Whoa." Twilight said as she gawked at the keep.

"Keep moving unicorn, it was your kind who harmed the Nightmother in the first place." One of the escorts growled at Twilight as she had slowed down a bit too much. "Nightmother? Who's.." A couple of gears started turning in Twilight's head as she remembered a particular song, "...You mean Luna?"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY HER NAME AGAIN UNICORN!" The leading stallion shouted in Twilight's face with a sudden unmatched rage with bared fangs ready to sink into her throat, "YOU'RE NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO SAY IT! "

Twilight trembled at the berating, not willing to use her magic in fear these ponies would retaliate. "Keep moving to the castle, we'll find out if the hunch my companion had was correct." He grumbled as he got off of Twilight and started moving towards the castle again, Twilight being helped up by a concerned Applejack. As the group entered the castle they immediately stepped into a throne room, Two banners hung from the ceiling above two empty thrones, one night blue with a half crescent moon among stars and another yellow one with a stylized sun with eight arms.

"Twilight, Look at that sun," Rainbow said, Twilight nodded in acknowledgement as she had also seen it.

"It's the mark of daymother," The female bat-pony said as she heard what Rainbow said, "You've seen it before?"

Twilight instinctively levitated the scroll she had in her saddlebag out to show to the bat-pony as she heard swords deploying around her, The female motioned for the other to calm down. "You should be careful with that magic of yours, my kin aren't that comfortable with it." She said as she picked the scroll out of Twilights magic with two small claws in the middle of her wing.

"You've read Starswirls prophecy?" She said with a raised eyebrow, "Do you possess any other items that are connected to daymother?" She asked, Twilight nodded and levitated the compass out of the bag, getting glares from the other escorts.

"I-Impossible!" The female said as she took a step backwards, "That Item was in daymother's care when we last saw her."

"We're here" The stallion cut the mare off, they entered a side room where a few older bat-ponies were sitting. "What's the meaning of this Nightwing?" the eldest at the head of the table asked the stallion, "Why have you brought these day-dwellers here?"

"I have brought them here to seek your council, Elder." Nightwing said, "Pegasus, step forward. Moonlight, show the elders the items from the unicorn." The female bat-pony stepped forward and put the scroll and the compass down as Rainbow stepped forward. "Moonlight here seems to think these mares have a connection to the elements."

The Council of elders seemed baffled at the sight of the gem but the eldest one took a hold of the compass and fiddled with it, the device suddenly gave a click as he pulled on the ring and the red and orange gemstones that were embedded in the base plate started glowing as the needle swung between Applejack and Rainbow.

"By Starswirls beard!" One of the councillors said as he looked at the compass, "Bring them to a room and feed them, they have a long journey ahead of them." The eldest said as he pushed the compass back towards Moonlight, "The council will have to converse about this discovery for a while. But before that, you are to tell them our knowledge of the elements."

Nightwing nodded and motioned for the others to follow, he lead the group to another side chamber with a few beds in it and food on the table, mainly fruits. "Moonlight will answer any questions you have while you wait for the council to finish its session," Nightwing told them as he and all other guards except Moonlight left the room.

Applebloom and Scootaloo went up to the table and started eating the fruit that was placed there. Twilight heard Applebloom whispering something to the pegasus filly, something she was glad for since she hadn't said a thing since the incident in Applejack's room, something Twilight was responsible for. Moonlight meanwhile took a seat on one of the beds, "So, what exactly are the elements?" Twilight asked her curiously.

"The elements are a collection of powerful artefacts that have the ability to restore harmony to a being that's corrupted. But the gems are only one part of the equation, you also need the wielders who represent the elements themselves. The pegasus, for example, represents Loyalty and the Earthpony the element of honesty." The bat-pony explained.

Twilight nodded, being slightly annoyed that she didn't have any tools with her she could use to write any of this down, "So what are the other elements of harmony then?" She Inquired, Rainbow and Applejack had sat down next to her to listen in on the bat-pony.

"There are six of them, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter when those elements are brought together the last bearer will be revealed although I know of its location I do not know what it represents." She explained, itching Twilight's curiosity even further, "Do you know of all the locations of these elements?"

The bat-pony nodded, "After daymother fled she hid the gemstones deep inside the great fortresses of Equestria. Honesty lay in the Dustwatch to the south, Laughter in Westrock Castle, Generosity in the Dragonskeep, kindness in the underground fortress of Manehattan, and loyalty used to reside in the Cloudsdale fortress but that is clearly no longer the case since you carry the gem with you. As for the last element, it is located somewhere within Canterlot castle."

Twilight's eyes went wide open, "Canterlot castle?! That place has been made impenetrable!"

"Daymother always liked her pranks back in the day." Moonlight said with a grin, "She alway's told my ancestors about the secret passageways she'd installed in the original castle to prank the nobles. If you figure out where they are you might be able to sneak in and out undetected. But all that is still a long time away since that is the last element to reveal itself." The bat-pony ended.

"Why would 'daymother' hide all the gems in the first place?" Applejack asked, Midnight just shrugged. "You would have to ask her, she left us over a century ago and hasn't returned."

"Wait, what do you mean 'Hasn't returned?' Wouldn't she be long dead by this point?" Rainbow asked bewildered, Moonlight had to stop herself from laughing as the ponies wouldn't have any way to know, "Night and daymother are both ageless, they have seen centuries go by, wars fought and they have endured."

Rainbow and the others were gawking at the revelation, "She has lived for over a thousand years? She must look ancient." Moonlight giggled at Rainbows statement, "One of the benefits of agelessness is that she physically stays in her twenties but the elders say that that's just an illusion she uses to fit in with regular ponies."

Scootaloo, who had been listening from the table with Applebloom stepped forward to the bat-pony. "What kind of pony are you exactly." She asked.

Moonlight smiled at her, "We have been called many names through the years, Night terrors, Vamponies, bat-ponies. But the name we got from our nightmother was Thestral." She said, satisfying the little filly.

"But now I must ask you to rest, the council will not keep you here as it is in their interest to reunite the elements since they are required to lift the curse of darkness the unicorns placed on nightmother in their rebellion." Moonlight said as she lay down on the bed.

"Ah agree, it was already evenin' when we were outside, it's long past bedtime for them two," Applejack said as she pointed at the fillies. Twilight nodded and telekinetically levitated them over to a bed, Scootaloo grumbled but Applebloom tensed up as she got caught in the telekinesis, "Let me handle mah sis, Twilight." Applejack said as she plucked Applebloom out of the magic field, and put her into bed manually. A few minutes later all the ponies were lying in bed slowly drifting to sleep as they waited for the council to come out of session.

"Wake up, pegasus." The voice of Nightwing woke Rainbow from her slumber. Rainbow groaned as she looked outside, the sun was still under the horizon but she could see some of its light already illuminating the sky. Twilight and Applejack were already up and were carrying Scootaloo and Applebloom respectively while the two fillies were still sleeping.

"The council will see you now." He said, Twilight levitated over Rainbow's saddlebag for her to put on. A few minutes later they were all standing before the council again. "Welcome back all of you." The eldest started, "We decided to let you sleep till dawn because the western sections of the forest are too dangerous for even us to traverse at night. We hope you will take up the task of reuniting the elements before the next summer solstice next year."

"That's all well and good but why?" Rainbow asked sceptically, "Why would we risk our hides for you guys?"

"A fair question." One of the councillors said, "Before the rebellion daymother kept the three tribes in balance having them live together in harmony, but with her sister gone she doesn't have the will to do so."

"Tell us pegasus." Another councillor started, "Would you prefer the tribes living separate to each other or would you want them to live together in peace as they did once before?"

"I-" Rainbow stuttered as she realized the stakes though she may not have been entirely sure such a fantastical future could ever be. Twilight tapped Dash and Applejack on the side motioning to huddle up,

"What should we do?" Applejack asked as the three had their heads together.

"Doesn't sound too bad, I mean we're getting along fine aren't we?" Rainbow commented.

"I for one vote for going to find the elements." Twilight said, "I don't really see the negatives to living and working together."

The three turned to the council again as Twilight spoke, "We'll try to find and unite them, If we three..." Twilight pointed at herself, Rainbow, and Applejack. "...can work together then I believe everypony could do so."

The eldest nodded, "We appreciate your commitment, as we understand you are on the run from both the pegasi confederacy and the Empire we'll have you escorted to the south into earthpony territory. Please, for the sake of the nightmother. Do not stray from the path as for when she returns she will not last long against the curse"

With that, the ponies were being led out of the chamber, "Your weapons will be returned to you before we head back into the forest." Nightwing said while he was leading the group to a storage room where Moonlight was already waiting alongside three new and filled saddlebags, "I took the liberty to prepare new supplies for you to ease your journey." She said as she pushed the saddlebags forward, The three grown-up mares thanked the thestral and quickly replaced their old saddlebags with the filled ones. Outside there were a couple of heavily armed thestral who presented their weapons, less than an hour later the group of ponies alongside Moonlight, Nightwing, and two other thestral were travelling due south towards earthpony territory.

The first day of travelling was nearly completely uneventful as nothing in the forest attacked them but Twilight had spotted the fresh remains of various predators so she made the educated guess that alongside the thestral guarding them directly there were also ones shadowing them and keeping the path clear. Finally, on the second day at the end of the morning, they reached the edge of the forest the speed at which they'd been able to cover the distance they'd had was astounding. One could almost believe some form of magic was involved.

"This is where we part, bearers." Nightwing stated, "May the nightmother guide you on the true path." He said as all thestral except Moonlight turned around. Nightwing noticed this and called out, "Come, sister. Do not delay them further."

"I wish to travel with them, brother." Moonlight told him, standing her ground. "Our species has hidden in the shadows for long enough."

Nightwing turned and walked back to his sister, "If you do you would no longer be welcome at the keep." He said concerned. "And our kind thrives in secrecy, I do not want you to die for what you are."

Moonlight nodded, "I know, but I am done with waiting. If by my actions I can make Equestria a better place then I'll take it and suffer the consequences."

The five other ponies watched with interest as the two thestral talked, "Should we take her with us?" Rainbow whispered to Twilight, "I mean, I like her but she'd be in a lot of danger out here. Hell, worse than even the two of us probably."

"If she wants to come along I'm not stopping her." Twilight whispered back, "She's smart, she'd have thought it through and I think she'd just head out on her own if we said no."

Moonlight walked up to the five watching ponies, "As you have no doubt heard I wish to travel with you, my question to you is, will you have me?"

"Scoots, what do you think?" Rainbow asked the filly.

"I like her. She's cool, she can come with us if she wants." Scootaloo answered with a smile, Moonlight turned to Applejack, "Ya sure the earthponies wouldn't just lock ya up?"

Moonlight shook her head, "Of the three races the earthpony strayed the least from the path of harmony, they will not seek out the other races but if one of them came knocking on their doorstep then they wouldn't turn their backs."

Applejack nodded, "Then ah see no problem with you taggin' along."

Moonlight nodded and turned to the last pony, "You don't even have to ask." Twilight said.

"If you truly allow her as one of your own I will not stop my sister, she will have to make her own choices." Nightwing said to the entire group, Moonlight walked up to him, "We will see each other again after the elements are united and nightmother has been healed." She told him. The stallion pulling the mare into a hug, "I will hold you to that." He replied before turning and disappearing back into the forest.

"Come on Moonlight, we've got leagues to go and if we go now we might be able to reach it in a week." Twilight called out. The companionship heading down south, now with a greater purpose than just getting to safety.

Author's Note:

Changed up the story to fit with the previous chapters.

Comments

[diablo4000]

When will the story about how the unicorns hurt Luna be revealed?

[azeazezar]

9249305
Isn't luna defeated by "Tyrant elder sister", before the unicorns even entered the picture?

[diablo4000]

9250017
History was written by the victors. The bat ponies mention celestia lost the will to continue ruling.
so not the full story been told, plus sure the top unicorns are muddling history to stay in charge.