Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

41 - The Return of Harmony

"You did well enough," spoke one robed figure to the original. "Do you truly intend to do them all?"

The first waved across at the heavy tomes that held the story. "It has been given to me, this task, to write them all with this one change. To quit now? I have no intention."

"You have left threads dangling." They plucked at a loose bit of string hanging from the book the first figure was closing. "Will it satisfy you, having that?"

"A loose thread in one book--" They placed the first book on a new shelf and took a blank to start it. "--can be finished in another. Have you come only to interrogate me?"

"It irritates me." The second figure crossed their arms. "What of her cutie mark? What of their half-tiaras? You--"

"--Answers are coming." The first began to write in slow, specific letters. "Allow me to do that. I don't promise all the answers in this book, but some? Hints are coming..."

"I will wait." The second vanished, to wait for the story to continue.

---

It was a wonderfully sunny day in Ponyville. Applejack had plenty of corn to harvest. At least until they began to pop vigorously in a shower. "What the...?" She was hardly the only pony experiencing the sudden chaos. It wouldn't be long before all the girls received a letter from Princess Celestia to come to Canterlot as soon as possible.

Twilight was gently patting Moon Dancer on the back. "Your spell appeared to be properly formulated."

"But it had no effect." Moon had proven entirely unable to undo the chaos in Ponyville. Only teamwork had held it at bay long enough for them to rush to Celestia. "I miscalculated something..."

Rarity tossed her voluminous mane. "Don't sweat it, darling. We all put in our best and got things under control, for the moment. Let's just hope that Princess Celestia has an answer for what's going on and how to put a proper end to it."

At the castle, they hurried through an equally chaotic Canterlot to hustle into the castle, where Celestia awaited them in a hallway of brightly colored glass windows. "I'm glad you could make it here." She began explaining the threat of Discord, who had come to cause trouble. "I will need you all to use the si--" She raised a hoof to her head to abate a sudden headache. "Seven elements. Luna and I can't use them anymore."

Pinkie shrugged softly. "Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!" She licked her lips with fond memory of the strange weather.

Princess Celestia advanced onto the vault despite that. Inserting her horn and channeling her magic, she willed it to unlock and open. "Here they are." She drew out the box and turned back to her ponies. "Take them and--" She opened them to reveal they were gone, taken. She dropped them with surprise.

Pinkie inclined her head at the empty box and shrugged casually. "Oh, well. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swizzle straw."

Twilight clopped a hoof to her cheek. "The Elements! They're gone!"

Moon scowled at the sight. "That box was protected by--"

"--The very same," agreed Celestia. "Even the chamber it was in is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! This doesn't make sense!"

A new laugh echoed around them. "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"

Celestia took on an agressive stance, her teeth clenched. "Discord... Show yourself!" She looked around sharply for wherever the chaos spirit could be hiding.

Though not spotted, Discord's voice could be easily heard. "Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you. It's quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone."

"Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia flared her wings and narrowed her eyes with an unspoken threat.

Discord didn't sound very threatened. "Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while." He snapped sharply, skipping in place on the many painted pictures.

"You'll never get away with this, Discord!" Celestia finally figured out where he was to glare at properly.

"Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia. It's really quite boring." Discord yawned more dramatically than technically required.

"Hey! Nopony insults the Princess!" Rainbow crashed into the stained glass to no effect but to thud against it.

Discord laughed with glee. "Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent."

Rainbow puffed up proudly. "That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!"

Discord steepled his fingers with a malignant sneer. "We'll see about that."

Rarity tossed her mane with an undignified huff. "I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window."

"The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?" Discord gloated with his knowledge of his rivals.

Applejack snorted angrily. "So you know who we are, big deal." She adjusted her hat. "Take more than that."

"Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack." Discord laughed, only to stop suddenly. "Hold on..." He stepped free of the glass to glare down at Moon Dancer. "You're not..."

Moon inclined an ear at him. "I am the element of magic."

"And I am the element of friendship." Twilight threw a leg over Moon, the two leaning on each other with a shared smile. However scary things were, they had each other. "You may know our strengths, but we are stronger, together!"

Discord counted on his fingers. "Kindness, generosity... No no... This doesn't fit together properly at all..." He looked up at Twilight and Moon. "Back me up, here. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine - laughter. Those are right, right?"

Celestia cocked a brow at him. "I don't know what game you're playing, but it ends now. Where have you put the elements?"

Discord got back into his role. "Oh, so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began." He was gone by the end of his hint.

Fluttershy looked like she wished she could be gone."Can we go home now?"

Applejack was more measured looking. "What do you reckon he meant? Twists and turns and endin' back where we started?"

"Twists and turns..." Twilight paced about with a frown.

"Twists and turns..." echoed Moon Dancer, hoof to her chin as she paced at in counter flow with Twilight.

"Twists and turns!" they realized together. "That's it!"

Moon Dancer pointed out the window. "I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth!"

Celestia nodded with a gentle smile at her eager champions. "Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves."

Moon dipped her head and turned at the same time. "We will do our best. Wait here."

They charged out towards the hedge maze to discover it had become even more ominous than usual. All the light and natural splendor replaced with lurking malignance.

Fluttershy tried to hide behind a wing with limited effect. "W-We have to go in there?"

Rainbow zipped into the sky with a cocky smirk. "Nope! Dopey Discord forgot about these babies! I'll just do a quick flyover and we'll have the Elements in no time." At least until a bit of chaos deprived her of that advantage. "My wings!" she cried, ending up right back on the ground with a thump.

Moon reached up to pat at her lack of horn. "Hm. This complicates the situation."

Discord laughed at their plight, eyes set on them easily. "You–You should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!"

Twilight stomped a hoof. "Give us our wings and horns back!"

Discord smiled with no great tension. "You'll get them back in good time. I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating." He gestured over the lot of ponies. "You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic."

Moon hiked a brow. "Please continue."

"The second rule is everypony has to play, or the game is over, and I win. Good luck, everypony!" Discord vanished with an echoing laughter.

Moon turned towards her friends. "We can overcome these hurdles with cooperation."

Rainbow punched at the air. "Yeah! Like Moon said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!"

Twilight took her first step towards the maze. "Alright, girls, let's do this!"

"Together," they all echoed, though that energy was short-lived as barriers sprang up between them all, forcing them to deal with a unique challenge of their mental state and friendship abilities.

"Stay calm, girls," cried out Twilight.

"We can overcome this," joined Moon. "Let's find where the paths rejoin."

"To the middle," finished Twilight. They all nodded and started forward.

The exploits of some of the ponies are already well known, but others are changed, as they must, and at least one is entirely new.

---

Applejack stomped at the vision displayed to her. "Ain't no way a sister ah mine's gonna turn on me just causa some cockamamie maze!"

The apples fell to the ground, their gambit foiled. "That's no fun." Discord stepped out from nowhere in particular. "You're just getting your feeling for these other ponies. Why are you so confident?!"

Applejack cocked a brow at him. "Yer kiddin', right? One of 'em's mah dang sister! Half the others are long friends, even if we don't see eye to eye all the time..."

"You barely even know this one." Discord conjured an image of Moon Dancer, wandering the maze, lost. "She could turn on you."

"Maybe." Applejack shrugged. "But then Twilight'd whoop her backside but good and tell her to pull it together. Face it, ya tried your best." She reared up to cross her arms. "But ya done lost."

---

"Hey there." A pony came in from the side, joining Moon in her march. "Where're you headed?"

"The center." Moon did not slow for the new appearance. "Do you know how to reach it faster?"

"Sure!" burst the mare all too loud, causing Moon to pause in a wince. "Just that way." She pointed down one of many hallways.

"Thank you." But a hoof was in the way. "Is something wrong?" She turned to the pony but recoiled to see them in tears. "What?"

"I'm really upset and you didn't even notice," sobbed the mare. "What kind of pony are you?! You were gonna just walk away..."

This was all a bit much, over the top, or so many ponies would quickly discern.

Moon Dancer didn't have quite that discernment, pacing from hoof to hoof. "I didn't mean to... How can I help?"

"You can care about me." The mare turned away. "You're so focused on what you're doing, you don't have time for me."

Being gaslit only confused Moon further. "I didn't mean to..." She had already said that... "Let's correct the situation. What is required?"

"What is required," taunted the mare with a disgusted expression. "--is for you to start paying attention."

"I am paying attention." Moon inclined her head. "I'm sorry." She focused on the mare, trying to get a grasp on the emotions at play. "You are upset."

"Of course I'm upset!" She threw a hoof in the air. "And you're only just noticing that?! What kind of pony are you? Being so bad at friendship, you know Twilight's gonna dump you eventually? She's literally the element of friendship. She can't take this--" The mare waved over Moon Dancer. "--forever. I don't even know what she sees in you in the first place."

Moon took a step back, color draining from her as the visions overtook her. "N-no... I'm trying my best!" She took off running, tears streaming in the air behind her.

"It's not near good enough," called the mare, a vicious smirk on her face.

Author's Note:

Discord may have failed against AJ, but that was a critical hit on poor Moon Dancer.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

A good story is one that can have every part of it changed, and yet remain the same?

Poor Moondancer. Rolled for Logical response and got a Pi.

[redmar]

I doubt Discord cares much for Applejacks response since he cheats to win anyways. He'll just brute force Applejack later like he did with Fluttershy in the episode. Of course I might be wrong since Discord tends to be unpredictable.

[Venerable Ro]

Poor Moon, dot was a nasty one. One wonders what the reverse will be though, 'ard-rocking adrenaline addict?

[Greenhorn]

I am curious at who were they in the first paragraph. Did one of them Discord?

[SudokuBrony]

Pinkie shrugged softly. "Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!" She licked her lips with fond memory of the strange weather.

Had to do it.

[YewUnicorn]

11430610
Nah, those were just the ones behind The Text. If you've read other stories by this author, you'd recognize the all powerful force that likes to mess with the order of events to fit their narrative.
I love it. Though this time it's a little different... 😏