My Little Pony: Eternal Harmony

by LightOfTriumph

Chapter 7: The Right Choice

After a moment of shocked silence, the group of friends scattered.

Pound and Pumpkin ran off to the square as fast as possible. After making sure that he wasn't dreaming the strange creature they had just spoken to, Beat tried his best to catch up to his special somepony. Creme decided to talk to Apple Bloom and her sister about what had just happened. This left Luster and Mercury, who went to the square together. Luster was happy for the company. They would all wind up in the town square eventually, but Luster was just as glad to not go to face this creature alone.

When Luster and Mercury made it to Ponyville Town square. The streets were crowded. Packed shoulder to shoulder with creatures of all stripes. Not a single one of them was making a sound.

The had all gathered in a wide circle around something, almost in a trance. They made no resistance and Luster Dawn cut her way to the front. In the center of the circle sat the thing. It's head snapped right to Luster Dawn as she made it to the front of the crowd.

"Good, everyone important is here," it continued in that horrible informal voice. "Okay everypony, you can wake up now."

With that all the creatures in the crowd looked back and forth amongst themselves. A murmur rose amongst them, wondering why they were all standing here. Eventually they all noticed the Thing, and the murmur grew more hushed and worried.

"Everyone, please!" the Thing said loudly. "I am sure you have plenty of questions about your current situation, and I'll be happy to answer all of them if you will all just let me speak."

The crowd quickly quieted down and transfixed their gaze on the monster in the center of the ring.

"First big question," it continued. "Who am I? I'll admit, that's kinda complicated. Even if we ignore all of the other things that question can mean and just focus on the thorny subject of my name. My real name, practically nopony remembers. For the best, honestly. It's not a pleasant thing to talk about. The name I've taken for everypony's convenience, including my own, is Scratch. Second big one. What am I? Even more complicated. Let's go with I'm a civil servant with way... way too much experience. My job, at least on paper, is prison warden. I prefer to think of myself as a garbage man. You see, when you ponies screw up, and make mistakes, you leave behind this kind of... Living refuse. And when it starts to stink up the place too much, its brought to me in this great big magical landfill you ponies call Tartarus. It's my job to keep the place tidy.

"Third big question," Scratch continued. "Why are you all standing here in Ponyville Town Square talking to me, when its fairly obvious I am bad news? Luckily, that's an easy one. Because I told you to. Isn't that better? Isn't it better just to have someone, who obviously is good at gaining control of a situation, simply make the decisions for you? Take away the confusing thoughts, the moral dilemmas, worrying about what is right or wrong, and just let someone else guide you exactly where you need to go. Just to cut down all the noise, right? You don't need to worry about why you're here. You're here. And that's exactly where you need to be. You all can thank me later, right now what you need to do is pay attention."

There was something Luster didn't like about that last little monologue. It was obvious that he meant every last word of what he said, and that was very unnerving.

"Here's a why that you're entitled to, though," Scratch sighed. "Why have you been having the feeling all day like somepony walked over your grave. Welp, here's the whole deal. I am an incredibly ancient magical entity, and due to the nature of my current existence, my magic is kind of... well... leaking everywhere. It seems like you've all been picking up this weird kind of... magical feedback? Is that the right word? Whatever. You've been sensing what I've been doing as I've done it.

"And that leads me to the next, and indeed most pertinent question of the hour," he said as an awful grin made it's way across his face. "What have I been doing. Well I'll tell you, it's been kind of a draining project.

"Over the last eight hours, I have systematically kidnapped every member of the Equestria Council of friendship," he explained calmly. There was a shocked gasp from the crowd. "It wasn't hard. This form I'm stuck in may not be as powerful as the real me, but it is more than enough to take care of an Alicorn of Twilight's abilities with a bit of work. Not that I needed to, though. When I made the ultimatum clear, most of them were quite willing to come along.

"Two more questions you've got, now," he continued mercilessly. "Where? My place. You ponies call it Tartarus. And why? Well, it's kind of personal. Don't want to get too into it. Long story short, a very long time ago somepony told me that you... Tiny, mortal, ephemeral you... were all able to safely handle a power that was reserved for deities. I didn't buy it. I still don't buy it, and it's all been going on since time immemorial. Welp, now you're getting a chance to prove it. One of you gets to go into my home and try to convince me that it's worth it. Or, the more likely scenario, bust them out. You guys are gonna have to send out a representative. Which I will now pick at complete random. Ernie, meenie, miney...

The grin seemed to get even wider on the creature's face. Luster was convinced that it was about to unhinge his jaw and swallow one of the crowd whole. When he turned slowly and methodically to meet Luster's eyes, her heart nearly stopped. "Luster Dawn," he said calmly. "Could you please join me in the center of the ring?"

Luster froze. Not under her own power, she stepped to the middle of the Crowd to meet up with Scratch. Eventually her legs stopped themselves, and she stood directly across from the creature.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts," Scratch said loudly. "This is Luster Dawn. She's a mage unicorn from Canterlot, from a mostly wealthy noble house. She very much enjoys reading but has issues communicating with beings her own age. As such, the princess thought it would be wise to send her to Ponyville to learn all about the magic of friendship. Call me crazy, but does that sound familiar to anypony else?"

"What do you want?" Luster asked. She realized something looking at this thing. Scratch, make no mistake, was a pony to be feared. However, the more this pony talked the less frightened she felt. Now, all she was feeling was angry.

"Like I said, I'm trying to prove a point," Scratch continued. "You mortals have something that doesn't belong to you. Its something you don't deserve. Something you can't handle. I'm here to take it back. Problem is that I'm kind of stuck. Tartarus is holding me prisoner. The form you see me in is the one freedom I'm allowed. My voice. That's the only way my magic can manifest itself. At least... It was. Been quite some time now. As you can see, the lock is getting rusty. I still can't open it on my own. Only the Chosen, also known as Alicorn magic, can release me."

"That's why you kidnapped the princess," Luster reasoned. "To force her to release you."

"Yes and no," Scratch said. "See, I can't force anypony to do anything. Comes with the territory. Even what I did to just there. You could have broken out of that an any time you wanted. And I certainly can't make somepony do something that's against their nature. Part of what I'm trying to fix here. But I would be lying if I said getting her to Tartarus was unrelated. Which brings me to you."

"I'm no Alicorn," Luster shot back.

"You don't have to tell me, sweetheart," he laughed. "I've met almost every Alicorn in Equestria. They don't like me very much. But do you know what you are? Ticked off. Very, very ticked off."

"Was it that obvious?" Luster said through gritted teeth.

"Ooh, I'm really getting to you ain't I?" Scratch smiled. "Good. If I'm getting to you that means you're probably determined. You're going to need that if you want to save them. I need you to head over to my place. When you get there, you and I are going to discuss things. We're going to see if you can convince me that the gift you Mortals have been given isn't completely wasted on you. Meanwhile, I'll be trying to convince you to see things my way. A real meeting of the minds between us. If you manage to convince me, which you won't, I'll let them all go. Again, you're not changing my mind. I've thought the way I think for over a million years. I'm kind of set in my ways. I'm quirky that way. That said, it'll be easier to think of a plan to stop me if you know the whole situation. Talk to Starlight. She'll know how to find me. In the meantime, I'll leave you to get ready. Take your time, there's no rush."

"I promise you," Luster said, her voice now quivering with rage. "You are going to regret ever doing this. I'm going to make sure of it."

"Aww, that's adorable," Scratch said in a patronizing tone. "Its trying to be intimidating." He turned to face the rest of the crowd. "Shows over everyone! We've all heard what nefarious plan is happening. We've all seen who is behind it, and we know who will at least try to stop him. That said she is a Mare just out of college who none of you know. So, trust me, no one would blame you if you all decided to panic. I say go for it. I could use a good laugh."

The crowd stayed silent, but Luster could feel the tension grow thicker by the second.

"In the meantime," Scratch said, walking to the edge of the crowd. "Luster, I'll be expecting you. Everyone else, about your business."

The world seemed to grow darker and darker until at last, it was pitch black. When the light returned, Scratch was gone. The only trace of his existence was a casual laughter that was left behind.

The crowd stood silent for a few moments, all utterly stunned by what they heard. Then a wave of unrest washed over them. Unrest turned to anger, and anger gave way too fear. Creatures shouting over each other, and nopony ever getting a word in edgewise.

Luster looked at the frenzied crowd in silence wondering if Scratch had more control over creatures' will than he wanted to admit.

---

He had watched the entire scene transpire from the tree he had perched himself on. Typical of Scratch, he had always was to arrogant to magically check is surroundings when he had made enemies. He was able to watch the whole thing without anyone expecting the little Bluebird in the park tree.

"That's your game, is it?" he said calmly. "Interesting... I could warn you that it isn't going to work. Trust me, Scratch, better ponies than you have tried... Although the ponies you picked... Hmm... I think I see what you do in her. That could be a problem... And the end of the day, however, that's her hurdle to overcome. When it comes to handling you, however... There I feel I can help."

The bird took off from the tree, and made for the school of friendship.

"'You're not going to get involved'" Discord scoffed, and evil smile spreading across his beak. "Scratch, it's like you don't know me at all..."

Author's Note:

Here it is folks, the end of act one. See you all for Act 2!

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Comments

[ObsPerson]

This story is really good! I wonder why no one is as invested in it as I am. It's a shame that the author decided to abandon it though. Probably because of the lack of interest.