The Adventure of Harmony

by epiccuttlefish

Chapter 1

It was nighttime in town of Hollow Shades. Of course, it has been nighttime in all of Equestria ever since Nightmare Moon took over almost eighty years ago, though many would say that it had always been nighttime, and that 'day' was just a myth.

Dusk Wing was one of them.

Physically, Dusk was not too far out of the ordinary. He was more muscular than average, though not as much so as some ponies. He had navy blue fur, a dark blue mane, bright blue eyes, and a scar under his left eye. His cutie mark consisted of a crescent moon emblazoned of a shield. Like all thestrals, he had a pair of bat-like wings, similar to how pegasi have bird-like wings.

But his past was another matter.
Almost two decades ago, the army of Queen Nightmare Moon and King Sombra had descended on his village, reducing it to ash and rubble. It was then that he had earned his cutie mark - and his scar, protecting the other colts and fillies of the village as they escaped from the attacking soldiers. At one point, he had thrown a rock at one of the soldiers from behind, knocking him to the ground, in order so save a filly half his age. At the time, he was too busy running for his life to check if the soldier was dead or just unconscious, and had never bother to find out which was true at any time since then.

As soon as he was old enough, he became a bodyguard, protecting those with causes he found just from bandits and the evil regents' forces alike, plotting ways that he could overthrow their evil rule. He knew that none of his plans would ever go anywhere, but it was fun and cathartic nonetheless.

But recently, he had been getting... nudges, to take a break from being a bodyguard to act on his plans, to act out against the evil King and Queen. He ignored them for a while, but they kept getting stronger until he gave in.

Which is why he found himself being led by a unicorn guidepony to a secret room underneath a bar, where he was told he could find some ponies who could help.

He and his guide quickly reached their destination, an unassuming cellar filled with large casks of beer. The guidepony looked around for a moment, before inserting his torch into a specific sconce. He then walked over to one of the casks and opened it, revealing it to not actually be a cask full of beer, but rather a secret passageway, lit by a turquoise magelight. He then used his magic to retrieve his torch and indicated for Dusk to enter the passageway.

"Shouldn't you go first?" Dusk asked.

"I have to close the 'cask' behind us," the guidepony explained.

Dusk nodded and entered the secret tunnel. While his guide closed the secret entrance behind them, he explored the stone-brick tunnel.

It was a dead end.

"This is a dead end! Where are you taking me?" Dusk asked.

The guidepony simply smiled and knocked on a specific stone brick in a particular pattern. Two knocks, three rapid knocks, a brief pause, two more knocks.

About a second later, a wooden door opened in the near the end of the passage, the illusion spell that had been hiding it failing as it did so. He indicated for Dusk to enter.

On the other side of the door, there was a small room. There was a small table in the middle of it, obviously intended for two ponies to have a discussion. Bookshelves, about half full with books of varying ages, lined the back wall. The left wall was bare, and the open door prevented Dusk from seeing the right wall.

"Have a seat," a voice called from Dusk's right, startling him. The voice sounded like a mare's voice, but distorted and deeper than any mare's voice had any right being.

As Dusk did as the voice bid him to, the guidepony (who he still didn't know the name of) stepped into the room behind him and closed the door. As he did so, Dusk realized that the room was L-shaped, and that the secret passageway that he had taken to get here would intersect the room if it extended any further.

The owner of the voice came around the corner soon after. They were tall (about half a head taller than Dusk), and wearing a baggy cloak that prevented him from determining any of their other physical features, even gender, though the shape of the hood indicated that the were either a unicorn or were wearing a fake horn.

"Thank you Astral," they said, looking at the guidepony, before turning to look at Dusk. "Anyway, sorry about the wait, however short it may have been. I was just doing some research. Would you like something to drink?"

When Dusk nodded, the mystery pony used their magic (turquoise, Dusk noted) to retrieve a decanter of a pale yellow liquid and three glasses from a small, frost-covered metal box that Dusk hadn't noticed earlier.

As the mystery pony began pouring the liquid into the glasses, Dusk's mind made a connection to something he had seen earlier. "The magelight outside. It's yours, isn't it?"

The mystery pony paused for half a second before replying. "Yes. How could you tell?"

"Magelights are always the same color as their owner's magic, and can only be recharged by their owner, so I knew that that magelight's owner had to be somepony fairly close, that could be trusted to stay close, and has turquoise magic," Dusk replied.

The mystery pony passed out the three glasses (one to Dusk, one to the guidepony that Dusk now knew was named Astral, and one for themselves) as they replied. "Not many ponies know that."

Dusk was about to take a sip of the liquid when he realized something. "How do I know that you aren't one of Chrysalis's changelings?"

The mystery pony had taken a sip while Dusk was talking, and tapped their now half-empty glass. "This is lemonade."

"So?"

The mystery pony looked at Dusk like he was stupid, which was somewhat impressive, considering how much of their body language was obscured by their cloak. "Lemonade is made from lemon juice. Everypony knows that changelings are allergic to lemon juice."

"Fair enough," Dusk replied. "Anyway, I'm Dusk Wing. What's your name?"

"His name is Astral Bristle," the mystery pony said, pointing at Astral. "You can call me Dusty Cloak. And before you ask, yes, I am a mare."

"Dusty Cloak? That's obviously a pseudonym. What's your real name?" Dusk replied.

"I'm wearing a cloak that hides my features and I am wearing an amulet that is enchanted to distort my voice so that it can't be recognized - which is very expensive to get, by the way. What makes you think that I would tell you my real name?" she responded.

Dusk opened and closed his mouth a few times before replying. "Good point."

"On to business, then. What do you think of our illustrious rulers?" Dusty asked, in a tone of voice carefully crafted to leave it ambiguous whether or not she was being sarcastic.

Dusk decided to be honest. "They're evil and need to die."

Dusty sighed. "That's... a bit extreme. I don't think they're evil. Yes, they are terrible leaders, and yes, they do need to removed from power, and I can't think of any way to remove them from power without either killing them or causing a civil war, but I don't think that they're evil."

"Civil war? Who would be stupid enough to support them?" Dusk asked incredulously.

"Most of the nobility is loyal to them, as are the military leaders (and thus most of the military), as well as Queen Chrysalis and her changelings." Dusty explained.

"Huh. I assume you have a plan, then?"

"Yes," Dusty replied, pulling a binder full of notes out of the bookshelf. "In my research, I have found evidence of a set of six magical artifacts known as the 'Elements of Harmony', which have been used previously to defeat Nightmare Moon and Should work against Sombra as well. If they don't, there's another magical artifact, the 'Crystal Heart', which has been used to defeat him. I am just unsure of how to deal with Chrysalis... I don't know if the Elements would work on her, a I am certain that the Heart wouldn't. But she is the weakest of the three, so seeing the defeat of Sombra and Nightmare Moon might convince her to surrender."

"Sounds like you've done your research. So how do we get and use these artifacts?"

"That's the tricky part. Almost every reference that I've found to the Elements says that they can only be used by six friends who embody the Elements: Honesty, Magic, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, and Generosity. As for getting them, the Element of Magic was last seen in the possession of a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle when she was captured by Sombra and Nightmare Moon almost seventy-five years ago. As for the other five, there are rumors that the other five Bearers at the time hid them in ways that ensure that only future Bearers can find them. As for the Crystal Heart, it was relatively easy to find its location: Chrysalis's main hive."

"Great. The more useful artifacts you found are useless with one destroyed, and even IF we had them all, we would still need to find six specific ponies AND convince them to help us AND get them to become friends! And the LESS helpful artifact is still in one of the most heavily-guarded places in Equestria! How does any of that help us!?" Dusk interrupted.

"It's not that bad. Nightmare Moon tried to destroy the Elements when she first took over, and failed then, so it's likely that the she and Sombra couldn't destroy the Element of Magic and it's just in the Everfree Palace somewhere. And from my research, it seems like the Elements 'choose' Bearers who are already friends - or will be friends when they need to use the Elements. As for finding the Bearers, my cutie mark includes the ancient symbol of Magic, just like the previous Bearer of Magic, so it seems likely that I am the Bearer of Magic. And if I am one of the Bearers, I feel that it is likely that my long-time friend Obsidia is another one," Dusty calmly replied.

"Well, sounds like your plan might work. What should I do to help?"

"I think that it would be best if you joined us on our search for the Elements and the other Bearers. You're a bodyguard, correct?"

"Yeah. So where and when should I meet you?"

"Tomorrow at 9AM, west edge of town. Astral will be staying here to keep an eye out, so it'll just be me and Obsidia."

"Alright then, tomorrow at 9, at the west edge of town."

Author's Note:

I have set myself a writing goal of 500 words/day for the summer, split between this fic and my other fic, Secure Containment for Ponies, so updates for both should be quicker than last summer.

Comments

[BradyBunch]

Consider me interested and along for the ride!

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