• Published 30th Mar 2019
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Dissonance: A Hidden World - Braininthejar



"That which can be destroyed by the truth, deserves to be." But does it always? And just what is the truth about the Elements of Harmony?

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Chapter 15: The Shattering

Applejack shook her whole body like a dog, and coughed out a feather.

Being turned into a bird was by far the strangest thing that had ever happened to her. Despite her past experience with balloon flying, she was very grateful to finally be on solid ground again.
“What’d we do now?” she asked Obsidian.

They had landed in some bushes in the palace garden. Obsidian had just finished shedding his own feathers, the small stick he had been carrying in his talons growing and reverting back to its proper staff form.

“Now we need to get inside, obviously,” answered Obsidian, looking warily around. While flying above they hadn’t seen any visitors in the gardens, but there were several guards patrolling the area. “Try not to make too much noise.”

“Why couldn’t we just fly inside?” asked Applejack in a stage whisper.

“Because,” answered Obsidian, “birds actually attract a lot of attention when they’re out of place. Also, this place is full of ponies. If Gloria added some last moment defence spells here, they would have to be configured to let ponies through. Getting in the pony way makes it easier to avoid detection. This way,” he explained, pointing with his staff.

The two moved from bush to bush, heading towards the nearest entrance that would let them get out from between the hedges. All the while Obsidian’s staff kept bobbing slightly beside him, like a dowsing rod.

A sound of hooves approached. The two earth ponies froze in their hiding spots as the two guards passed by them. As soon as the coast seemed clear, Obsidian checked his staff again. “It looks like there are no barriers here. I should be able to use magic undetected. This should make things faster.”

He passed to the other side of the hedge and looked for another hiding spot, Applejack following suit. This part of the garden was filled with a collection of tall, marble statues.

“Somepony’s coming,” whispered Applejack, her ears twitching. She looked for a place to hide, but the bushes were more sparse here.

Obsidian made no effort to hide. Instead he waited as the sound of hooves on a gravel path approached. When the pair of unicorn guards came into view, he walked right in front of them, his staff briefly flashing blue.

Applejack watched as the two guards froze, their gasps of surprise silenced as the spell left them staring forward with blank expressions. Obsidian walked closer, looking from one to the other. “Continue along your path,” he said. “Pay no attention to other ponies, unless addressed.”

He then moved aside, the guards continuing on their way, not even nodding to acknowledge his statement. Obsidian simply continued along the gravel path, Applejack chasing after him.

“Why’dya do that?” she asked.

“We’re in a hurry,” answered Obsidian.

Applejack was unconvinced. “Couldn’t you use your magic to make us invisible or something?”

Obsidian shrugged. “Not my style. I was never big on illusion magic.” He waved his staff around, looking for any magical defenses in his way. To Applejack’s surprise, he then stepped off the path and approached one of the statues.

“What are these?” he asked, pointing at the nearest one, an upright earth pony holding a scroll.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Some old… symbols I think. It’s a big tourist attraction. Statues that mean things important to ponies.”

Obsidian walked closely to the nearest statue, closed his eyes and sniffed. “Let me take a look...”

“Hey, didn’t you just say, we’re in a hurry?” asked Applejack impatiently.

Obsidian scanned the statue for a moment, before stepping back with a sigh. "Twilight mentioned a spirit of chaos that was left on display here. It made me curious about the other ones, but there's no soul in this one. It's just cold stone, if very finely detailed."

Applejack scowled. "Really? What kind of a pony do you think Celestia is?"

"One with great attention to detail," said Obsidian. "These were sculpted with her powers. I wonder what or who she wanted to commemorate. As for the rest of what she is, you'll see soon enough."

He then turned to continue towards the castle. But before he could clear the gate out of the gardens, there was a flash of blue light spreading from the castle all over the city, and the ground shook ominously.

Obsidian shuddered as the magic washed over him. “And with that,” he said, “it looks like the time for subtlety is over.”

***

Pinkie Pie was the first to wake up. As her eyes snapped open, she threw the blanket off herself and then rolled out of bed and onto her hooves.

She had just taken a breath to warn the others when the shock wave came. The whole castle shook, causing the mares to wake up and jump on their hooves in panic, much less gracefully than Pinkie Pie had. Dust fell from the ceilings and here and there window panes cracked.

Pinkie Pie bolted through the door and into the corridor, where she almost collided with Rarity.

“Pinkie, what’s going on!?” shouted the unicorn. Her mane was a mess, a clear sign that she hadn’t had the time to perform her usual ritual of going to sleep.

“Something magicky exploded right over there,” declared Pinkie, pointing her hoof dramatically towards Canterlot Mountain. Rarity turned to look in that direction, followed by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“Is Canterlot under attack again?” asked Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air. “You think it’s Obsidian?”

“It must be,” agreed Rarity.

“We should go there and check,” said Rainbow Dash firmly, taking off in the direction of the noise.

“Wait.” said Fluttershy. She didn’t raise her voice, but everypony but Rainbow stopped. Fluttershy turned her head meaningfully towards the other end of the corridor.

Rarity gasped. “Wait! Rainbow Dash!”

The pegasus, who was almost out through the door, halted abruptly. “What?”

“The fillies,” said Rarity. “We can’t just leave them like this. It might not be safe here.”

“I could stay with them,” volunteered Fluttershy, raising her hoof.

Pinkie Pie was right in her face. “No! Don’t split the party! That’s a rule!”

“She’s right too,” said Rainbow Dash. “We need to stick together. So what do we do?”

They all looked from one side of the corridor to the other, unsure what to do.

There was a sound of running hooves from the exit. After a couple seconds, a blue unicorn guard ran into the hall. He skidded to a halt in front of the girls. “Is everypony okay here?” he asked, somewhat breathlessly.

The four mares nodded in unison.

“What is going on?” asked Rarity.

“We don’t know yet, miss,” replied the guard. “We might be under attack. We’re looking for intruders right now.” He looked towards the door at the far end of the corridor. “I’ve been sent here to make sure your sisters are safe, so you can move unhindered. Are they?”

Everypony followed his gaze. “I think so,” said Fluttershy.

“In that case-” started the guard. He then froze, his ears twitching. Far in the distance the ponies could hear the sound of an alarm siren. The stallion rolled his eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud… Go! Find your Elements and defeat the enemy. I will keep your sisters safe.”

He saluted the mares before running towards the closed door. The four mares headed in the opposite direction. They were already outside, running towards the source of the alarm, when Rainbow Dash stopped. “Wait. Applejack is still missing, and Twilight is still with the princess. We can’t use the Elements with just the four of us here.”

“Where do we go then? I don’t think we can stop Obsidian without the Elements” said Rarity. The four friends looked at each other.

“Let’s look for princess Celestia and Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “They should know what to do.”

They ran towards the throne room.

***

Twilight stood shakily back on her legs and summoned a gust of wind to blow away the acrid smoke.

The lights in the room had gone out, but the still glowing bits of molten metal outlined the contours of the chamber. Twilight was standing in a clear circle in the middle, the bubble having protected her when the spell collapsed. Everything else was an image of utter destruction, bits of broken metal, shattered crystals and even a partially collapsed wall and ceiling strewn everywhere.

Twilight tried to fight off the panic and piece together what exactly had just happened. “Dr Stone?” she called feebly, trying to avoid inhaling the smoke and dust. Seeing a darker patch among the rubble, she lit up her horn.

As the light exposed the details of what was there, Twilight’s pupils shrunk into pinpricks.

“No. No. No, no, no, no, this couldn’t have happened,” she mumbled, in full panic mode, stumbling backwards out of the chamber, through the mess of splinters that had once been the door and into the corridor.

“Somepony… anypony, help!” she screamed, tears welling in her eyes. She was answered by the sound of metal on stone. From one of the adjacent rooms, an armoured figure lumbered. At first it looked like a pony in full plate armor, but as it walked through the smoke, Twilight saw the empty space inside the helmet: there was nothing inside except for blue lights where the eyes should be. The armour regarded Twilight for a moment, before lowering its head, the long metal spike serving as the thing’s horn pointing right at the unicorn. The lights flickered and turned from blue to red. Then the corridor was filled with a sound of an alarm siren.

Twilight backed away as the armor advanced at her, her ears pressed flat to her head at the sudden noise. “Wait, it wasn’t me… I mean… It’s not my fault,” she tried to argue, but in vain. As the guardian charged in her direction, Twilight teleported out of its way and then galloped towards the exit to the surface.

***

“What’s going on?” asked Scootaloo when the tremor passed.

Tourmaline looked around with worry. “It sounds like something blew up, something big.” She squinted her eyes as she tried to put the direction of the noise on her internal map. The look of worry on her face deepened.

“That was the high energy lab! We need to get out of here!” she said, jumping off the bed and towards the door.

“How?” asked Scootaloo, worried and slightly confused.

Tourmaline dug her muzzle into her bag and emerged with a small, round device she pressed to the door. Scootaloo had no idea what it was, but it had lots of turning parts, some of which were marked red or blue and resembled magnets. With a series of clicks, the door unlocked.

“So, you could have done it the whole time?” asked Scootaloo, as his friend packed the device back into her bag and pushed the door open.

“Yes, I could,” answered Tourmaline. “Now follow me and keep your head low. We need to get out of here, in case anything else explodes, but the shortest way is right past where the accident was. I hope there isn’t a fire there.”

It took them several turns to get to the right intersection. The smoke was still there, but was already beginning to clear. Tourmaline was leading the way, with energy Scootaloo hadn’t seen her display often.

“Hey!” called the pegasus behind her, “You said it’s the shortest way out. Isn’t there a safer one?”

“There is,” said Tourmaline without turning around, “but I don’t have clearance there. I could sneak in on my own, but not with you, and not in an alarm. There might be some more safety systems on right now.”

Just on cue an alarm siren sounded, the nearly deafening noise making the two fillies speed up, so much that they almost collided with an armored figure standing behind the corner. Scottaloo shrunk as the glowing, red eyes turned to look down at her.

Tourmaline didn’t look intimidated. She looked the moving armor straight in the face plate. “Tourmaline, clearance level yellow, emergency password: saltlick,” she recited on a single breath.

The armor’s eye lights flickered and turned blue. Tourmaline pushed past the guardian and gave a passing glance to the inside of the ruined lab.

“No flames. Good. Let’s get out of here. The adults will handle this.”

She turned towards Scootaloo, only to see that the pegasus was already running down the corridor. “Hey, wait for me!” she shouted indignantly as she chased her friend.

Scootaloo didn’t slow down. “I’m not sure, but... I think I’ve just seen Twilight Sparkle!”

***

Applebloom emerged from under the tangled blankets and looked around in confusion. The sudden explosive wake up had made her fall off her bed. She emerged only to see the scared eyes of Sweetie Belle looking down at her.

“What’s going on?” asked the farmpony.

“I don’t know,” answered Sweetie Belle. “It’s like something blew up. There are panicked ponies running everywhere,” she said, pointing outside the window. “It’s like when those bug monsters showed up at the wedding.”
The two fillies kept looking through the window, trying to see everything while staying as small as possible.

“I dun see any bug monsters,” said Applebloom after a moment.

“They could change into ponies, couldn’t they?” asked Sweetie uncertainly.

Applebloom turned towards her. “Yes, but-”

Then an alarm sounded. Both fillies looked in the direction of the door.”

“We need ta get out of here!” called Applebloom.

Sweetie grabbed her over her withers. “Wait, we can’t go out there! What if there are monsters, or… or that Obsidian guy!”

Applebloom looked her in the eyes. “What if it’s a fire alarm? If there is a fire, we can’t stay here hiding, or we’ll get trapped! That’s what mah sis taught me.” She walked purposefully towards the door. “Come on, we need to get out of here!”

She reached for the door knob, but the door opened before she could touch it. There was an armored, blue unicorn stallion standing outside.

“Are you two alright?” he asked.

The two fillies nodded in unison.

“Good,” said the stallion. “You need to get out of here. This place will become very dangerous for you very soon.”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with alarmed expressions. “Where are we goin? And who are you?” asked Applebloom.

The unicorn sighed, then removed his helmet. “I’m Enigma. Your friend, Tourmaline knows me. There is going to be a fight here soon and you don’t want to be near that.” He looked over his shoulder and then produced two amulets, small, onyx gems on thin silver chains, from inside his helmet.

“Please wear these,” he said as the two pendants flew forward in his telekinetic grip. “They will protect you from being found by the enemy.”

The girls looked down on their chests as the necklaces clasped themselves on their necks.

“Never take them off, do you understand?” Suddenly there was something in the stallion’s voice that made the fillies return his serious gaze, giving him their undivided attention. After a second, the two nodded slowly.

The stallion crouched low, bringing his head level with the two girls. “You will have to be very brave now. Stick together and help each other. And whatever you do, don’t let princess Celestia find you, or your sisters might die.”

The two nodded before their minds fully registered what the unicorn had just said. They opened their mouths in shock, about to demand further explanations, but right then the unicorn’s horn flashed bright cyan light and everything disappeared.

***

Down in the lab, the alarm fell silent.

Something moved in the pile of rubble. Something that, by anypony’s assessment should have already been dead. The one good eye blinked, the mouth opened to take a whizzing, painful breath. There were soft crunching noises as the body shifted, looking for the signs of another pony nearby.

And indeed there was. A moment later golden light took hold of the mangled body.

“What’s happened here!?” demanded Celestia. “Where is Twilight?”

Dr Stone turned her head. Instantly she heard the sound of dripping from underneath her barrel. “She ran… resisted the spell and ran…” she croaked.

Celestia looked around the ruined chamber. “You were supposed to test her,” she said with sudden anger. “He’s got to her.”

“No,” answered Dr Stone. “She removed it… I checked. It was her…”

Celestia ground her teeth silently. “This can’t be happening.” she looked at her head researcher only to be met with a blank and lifeless stare. She lowered the body gently to the ground. With the kind of injuries the explosion had done, it was a wonder Dr Stone could hold to life for as long as she did.

Celestia closed her eyes, the golden light spreading from her horn, scanning the corridors of the lab, then reaching past the wards and towards the castle.

When she found what she was looking for, it was the worst case scenario already in progress.

***

Twilight reached the surface level gasping for breath. She looked around, trying to find somepony she could call for help. To her surprise, the corridors were mostly empty.

The initial blind panic replaced with a growing feeling of foreboding, Twilight headed for the door leading outside. It was only after she entered the main courtyard that she found a sign of pony activity.

There was a bunch of guards, sprawled on the ground near the entry to the great hall. Heart in her throat, Twilight ran there, teleporting the last couple of paces.

There’s no blood, she quickly realised. Stooping for a closer look at the nearest guard, she found him still breathing, though his expression was vacant.

Then she heard something else; Rainbow Dash’s angry shouting from inside the great hall. Her panic instantly replaced by a feeling of purpose, the unicorn charged headlong, a telekinetic pulse pushing the huge door open before her.

What she found inside was Obsidian standing in a circle of ponies, which Twilight instantly recognized as her friends. Obsidian’s staff was stuck in the lock of the vault and slowly rotating. Only two heads turned towards Twilight when she entered, and a moment later the unicorn understood why; except for Obsidian, and visibly distraught Applejack, all ponies in the room were stuck immobile, held by shimmering blue fields that didn’t allow them to as much as open their mouths.

“It’s not what it looks like, Twi!” shouted Applejack, but it was too late. Twilight charged her horn and sent a beam of energy at Obsidian. With his weapon still occupied, the stallion was forced to dodge, the shot slamming against the magically reinforced door behind him to no visible effect.

“Now, that’s rude,” said Obsidian, rising from the ground, now giving Twilight his full attention. “Where is the usual banter?”

Twilight prepared for another shot, but suddenly realised all her friends were in the line of fire. Dismissing the charge harmlessly, she glared at Obsidian. “Release my friends at once, monster!” she shouted.

Obsidian gave her an amused smile. “In a moment, I will. I’m almost done here.”

“We’re just here for my element, Twilight,” said Applejack in a pleading tone.

“You can’t let him have it!” shouted Twilight in response. Just then there was a soft click and the vault door opened slowly. Obsidian’s staff returned to his side.

“There, didn’t I tell you?” said Obsidian. His power reached inside the vault, retrieving a large, rectangular jewelry box.

Twilight prepared to risk another shot, but then there was a flash of silver light above her. Princess Luna appeared under the vaulted ceiling, storm clouds appearing out of nowhere in her wake. As she glared down, strands of lightning shot towards Obsidian.

Obsidian reacted with a pulse of power that dismissed the field holding Twilight’s friends and pushed them away in all directions. His staff flew in front of him, catching the lightning bolt on its tip and pushing it to the sides, the flailing arcs of energy spraying sparks everywhere as they grounded on the metal frames of the stained glass windows.

“Hello to you too, Absynthe!” shouted Obsidian, grinning.

He lunged forward, his staff striking the jewelry box, causing it to fall open and its contents to spill on the ground. “Take them!” he shouted, before the next lightning lashed in his direction. This one was stronger than the last, causing Obsidian’s mane to stand on end and shattering one of the windows when he barely deflected it.

Twilight dashed forward before she could think of the risk. It was only when she managed to grip the scattered necklaces with her telekinesis that she swerved aside, looking for the meagre cover that the columns lining the walls could provide. Above her, a blue nimbus of Obsidian’s magic grabbed one of the large banners hanging under the ceiling and dropped it on Luna. She flailed for a second before her power set the fabric on fire, freeing her in a burst of force. Obsidian shot a beam of energy from his staff, but the moon princess split it in two with her horn, cutting gashes in the ceiling behind her.

Looking around the hall Twilight saw that all her friends were already on their hooves, though even Rainbow Dash wasn’t foolhardy enough to get in the line of fire of the magical duel. Spreading her magic around, the unicorn sent the five necklaces to their owners before placing the tiara on her own head.

“Girls, get ready!” she shouted.

She didn’t have the time to start casting her spell before a golden light appeared at the entrance to the hall. Princess Celestia teleported in, her head wreathed in golden flame. “YOU WILL REGRET INVADING OUR HOME, MONSTER!” she proclaimed in a voice that made the windows vibrate.

She shot a beam of golden light at Obsidian, who conjured an opalescent half-sphere to deflect it. He was sent rolling backwards, briefly landing on his rump, but the barrier held, deflecting Celestia’s shot upward, forcing her to land as pieces of masonry rained at her from the damaged ceiling. Twilight ducked behind cover, as dust fell around her, and heard loud sizzle of electricity: Luna wasn’t going to waste the opening. She peered out just in time to see Obsidian frantically swatting away a ball lightning with his staff - his mane stood on end, and there were blackened scorch marks along his side.

“Now, everypony!” shouted Twilight, charging her tiara.

Six gems flashed to life, but the shot of rainbow power didn’t come. Everypony, princesses included, looked around confused until they spotted Applejack. Her necklace was alight and she was glaring at Obsidian, but she was not contributing to the spell.

“You said nopony can lie to me,” she barked angrily, “Now then, tell me the truth!”

The orange light increased in intensity.

Obsidian opened his mouth to speak, his staff stabbing dramatically into the floor in front of him, just as Celestia and Luna struck first, attacking him in unison. The staff caught the twin spells like a lightning rod, leaving the three ponies locked in a struggle; their eyes glowing like furnaces as the silver and gold of the princesses were met with Obsidian’s blue. Smoke started rising from the stallion’s fur, outlining runic inscriptions running over his body.

“The truth…” he started, struggling for every word while staring down his adversaries “... Is that your princesses are monsters dressed in falsehoods, abominations wearing their victims as disguises!” His voice filled the chamber as he glared through the magic storm, straight at Celestia and Luna. “ENVY AND ARROGANCE OF THE SHATTERED! DESTROYERS OF THE ALICORN EMPIRE AND MURDERERS OF THOUSANDS!”

Just as he finished, his mane caught on fire, strands of magic he could no longer block licking against his head and sides, though his eyes still glowed brightly. He turned his head slowly, painfully, looking at Applejack. “So… what say you… Honesty?” he croaked, barely audible above the magical tempest.

Twilight looked at Applejack only to see her pale rapidly. The farmpony was standing still, staring at Obsidian in silent shock, her mouth half open. Seconds passed before she finally managed to speak.

“He’s telling the truth.”

Suddenly the light of her necklace increased in intensity and then her eyes started glowing the same, orange light. But that was merely superficial compared to what her declaration had done.

The magical struggle ceased, as if everypony in the room suddenly got frozen. Mouths opened and closed, eyes stared in disbelief. Applejack’s words had been barely audible over the noise, but the truth of her declaration reached the hearts of everypony present, striking them with unrelenting finality. For a second the world became black and white, zero and one, yes and no. There was only the truth.

Slowly, Twilight turned towards her mentor, hoping to find something, anything to save her from the black abyss she had felt her heart falling into. What she saw instead made her recoil in shock. The princess of the Sun was crying, her light gone, her features twisted between burning fury and crushing despair.

“A thousand years… of peace…” she said, her voice breaking… “I won’t let you destroy it… even if I have to kill you all.”

This time her horn did not light up. Instead the air around her started to ripple and dim, a growing cloud of vapour forming above her.

Twilight stepped back and lost balance, slumping onto the ground. She just stared at the alicorn, unable to move or speak, just watching Celestia rise to deliver her attack… until something small and orange leapt in front of her, wrapping itself around one of the princess’ front hooves.

“No! Please, don’t hurt them!” shouted Scootaloo.

Behind Celestia, another filly, unfamiliar to Twilight, had run into the hall. She was now shouting at Scootaloo to get out of there.

This finally shook Twilight into action. She started scrambling back onto her hooves.

But before she could do anything, somepony else did; Twilight Sparkle was enveloped by a blue aura and the great hall disappeared.

Author's Note:

To those who started the adventure from this story:
You can now read Tales of a Hidden World : Book 2, without risking spoilers.

TTales of a Hidden World: Book 2
There are secrets long forgotten that still shape the fate of Equestria
Braininthejar · 24k words  ·  12  1 · 481 views
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