Harmony Note

by GorochuVA

Not Quite Lost, but Found

Twilight Sparkle sat quietly at her desk rereading the legend of Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony as her teacher and the other students spoke of conflicting philosophies of justice. She wanted to contribute to the subject matter, but it would be rude to speak out of turn and not wait to be called on. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a book with a golden unicorn head on its cover fall from one of the trees outside her window.

As the final bell to end the day rang out and Twilight packed away her books, another student approached her. “Hey, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get-together after cleaning time today. You wanna come?”

Twilight blushed. “Oh, sorry, Twinkleshine. I’ve got cram school tonight, and a lot of studying to catch up on…” As soon as she had finally escaped Twinkleshine, Twilight went straight to the school courtyard. There, she found the book in a pile of leaves. Strange, as Fall was still a long way away and the Summer Sun Celebration was just around the corner. She wanted to warn Princess Celestia about Nightmare Moon's return, but right now, her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

Twilight walked home alone that day, as was normal for her. She examined the book she found as she went on her way. "Harmony Note?" She read through the instructions on the first page. "'The twisted soul whose name is written in this note-... shall be brought to justice?'" At first, it sounded like a chain letter prank, but she read on. "'This note will not take effect unless the writer has the target's face in mind when writing his or her name. That way, those of good will sharing the same name will not be affected.' There's no way this thing works. You can't just force somepony to change like that."

But once she got home, curiosity overtook her once again. "'If a specific method of reform is written within 40 seconds of writing the target's name, it will happen. If not, the target will simply lose any ill will. After writing the method of reform, details of said reform should be written within the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.' So, depending on who you have in mind, you can either change their heart normally or even have them turn themselves in." Looking out her bedroom window, she could see her classmate, Dewdrop Dazzle, picking on a younger Earth pony who had just transferred to the school a few days prior. "Wait. On the off change this works, can I really use it on Nightmare Moon?" Never taking her eyes off the scene from below, she wrote down Dewdrop Dazzle's name. "A completely new pony in 40 seconds? I guess we'll see..."

Dewdrop raised her hoof to hit the poor filly, but mid-swing, she stumbled backward. She clutched her head, trying to regain balance on her other three hooves. When she finally steeled herself, she held out a hoof to help the filly up, a genuine, kind smile on her face. Twilight's expression changed from merely observant to complete and total shock. "It worked!... The Harmony Note, i-it's for real... I have to tell the princess! Spike! Spike!"

---

Applejack stood from her seat at the bar between Firefly and Snuzzle. "That settles it. I better get going."

"Hey, hold up, where ya goin'?" Firefly called after the orange Shinigami pony.

"Oh, I just dropped my Harmony Note is all."

The two other ponies couldn't help but laugh. "Didn't you already coax Majesty into getting you a second book?" Snuzzle asked. "Don't tell me ya lost both of 'em."

"No, I still have my first, but I need to find that other one."

"Well, we'll help ya look!" Firefly offered. "I mean, ya must have some idea where ya dropped the thing."

"I appreciate the help, but I can find it on my own, because I know exactly where I dropped it. Equestria..."

"WHAT?!"

A pair of black wings sprouted from Applejack's back, and she dove through the Mirror Pool.