Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine
Castle of Dawn Ruins
Prison Block

“Ready?” AJ asked, gripping the bar with all her strength, bracing herself against the wall.

“Let’s go.” I answered, doing the same on the top of the window, hanging upside-down. We both kicked out, pulling on the bar with all our power. At first nothing appeared to happen, but after a few moments the stone we had cut out began to scratch against the wall, and dust began to waft from the cracks.

We let up, resting for a moment. “We’re getting there.” She said.

“Right. Let’s try again.” She nodded, and we resumed our positions. Now that it had been uprooted once, it was easier to pull out, but not by much. We managed to pull it about halfway out this time. After another brief respite, we gave it one final haul, and with one final bout of resistance, the iron bar, along with the sections of rock it had been imbedded with, snapped from the wall and lay in my hand.

“Whew. That’s that taken care of.” I peered out the window, and to the ground far below. Our plan had originally been to send me out, and lower the others down. However, I was just unable to fit through the gap as it was, and neither could Applejack. Rarity could have, but there would be no way to get her down. That left...

I turned to Fluttershy, who was still out on the bunk. If she can wake, she could fit through okay, and get out of here. But she doesn’t seem to want to wake up. Unbidden, another thought entered my head. It didn’t make any sense at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like it might just work.

As loathe as I was to do it here, I decided it was worth it. I turned to Applejack. “I have an idea. It's weird, but... Fluttershy seems to like music. Like, she responds to it on a deeper level... Can you give me some kind of drum beat?”

She was confused for a minute, as was Rarity, but soon she made up her mind. “I guess it’s worth a try. Yeah, I’ll get something going for you.” She moved over to the other bunk, cracked her fingers, and began a simple rhythm.

I cleared my throat, cleared my head of all thoughts regarding how stupid an idea this was, and began.

“I used to wonder what friendship could be

Until you shared its magic with me

Big adventure

Tons of fun

A beautiful heart

Faithful and strong

Sharing kindness

It's an easy feat

And magic makes it all complete…”

It was an old song he used to sing to me, and I was able to recite the whole thing without batting an eye. As I came to the end of the song, I could feel that it had- beyond all logic- worked. The lyrics had reached her in whatever dream-state she was in, and her eyes fluttered open at last.

“What... What happened?” She asked. I quickly explained everything that had transpired since we were thrown in here, and shared with her the plan for our next move. “You’re the only one who can escape through this now, and I don’t think we have enough time to knock out another one. If I ease you out, do you think you can get down, and back to town?”

“Ah... I think so.” She said, standing up, unsteadily at first, and testing her wings. It took her a moment to stretch out again, and she was still just a bit unsteady when she turned to me. “I... I think I should be alright, yeah.”

“Are you sure? We can wait for a little while.”

“No, I’ll be okay. We need to get back to the others.” I nodded, helped her out the gap in the window, and when she was upright and hovering, I let go. She was still a bit shaky, but was able to set off in the direction of town, provided cover by the setting sun. How much time do we have? I guess all we can do now is wait...
________________

Town Square
That Night

“Alright, troops. I don’t need to waste time telling you what you already know- we’ve got friends, we’ve got Luna. We separate the two groups. The Castle of Dawn is a wreck already, and it’s only going to get worse tonight. We need to get the four prisoners out of there, and immobilize Luna. We leave in fifteen minutes.”

Spike left the place he had addressed the team of seventeen from, and stepped back into the library one last time before departure. Pinkie remained outside the building, watching over the troops. She had managed to find a few more townspeople who could fight and were willing to join them, but their skill was questionable.

“I hope the others can hold out a bit longer.” She said under her breath. “I wonder if any of them got sick...” Pinkie had been awake for two straight days now and, yawning, decided to get what sleep she could. She sat against the wall of the building, and closed her eyes.

She was about to drift off, when the troops began to make a commotion about something. She opened her eyes again, and saw a small flying figure headed for the square from above, barely visible in the dusk surrounding them.

As it landed and collapsed, she jumped up and ran to it. Fluttershy?! She must have escaped, but where are the others?

She reached the tired form, and pulled her up. Angel had already reached her, and had no plans to leave. “Fluttershy, thank goodness! What happened? How’d you escape?”

“She...” She was speaking between breaths. “She imprisoned us all... Dash and the others... they made a way out, but it was too high up and too small. I was the only one who could use it. They... they told me to come back here and get help. Where’s Twilight?” She noticed Twilight wasn’t with them.

“She’s in the back room of the library, sick. We don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “So was I! Can you take me there? I think I might know how to fix her.” Pinkie nodded, and helped her over to the building and into the back room, Angel following. Spike was just preparing to leave, but stopped when the three came inside.

“Fluttershy! You got away?” He seemed a bit more relieved than Pinkie had, but it might have just been her. She explained what had happened, and what Fluttershy had said. “Well, by all means, give it a try.”

The four entered the room, and saw Twilight, still sleeping fitfully in the bed off to the side. Fluttershy broke off, went over to her, and cleared her throat. Pinkie had a feeling about what was coming, but Spike was clueless. She turned and nodded to him. Just watch.

She began her song once again, the same she had used to pacify the Manticore (Pinkie had of course known what the creature was the whole time, but no-one had asked). Spike was at first confused, but as the song progressed, his eyes widened in recognition. Angel seemed to have heard it before, but still listened intently. As it finished, Twilight stirred, and he stepped forward.

“What... What was that? Where did you learn that song?”

“Ah, a friend who came here a long time ago taught me. She passed away, though.”

“Did she have white wings and blonde hair?” She nodded curiously. He began murmuring to himself. “The missing Heron... This is where she came. But she’s dead now anyway. But that doesn’t explain why Fluttershy singing the song does anything. Teaching it’s one thing, but why does it have the effect still on it?”

Twilight sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Ugh... How long was I asleep? What happened?”

Pinkie was quick with a response. “All day. We got plenty of reinforcements, and were just about to set off for the castle when Fluttershy escaped and sang to wake you up.”

“I did hear a song in my dream. But why did that wake me up?”

“I might have an idea why.” Spike chimed in. “For whatever reason, it seems Fluttershy is like an... 'honorary' Heron. And Heron’s do tend to get really bad sick when kept in a place like that, so far from nature’s voice. That’s probably why she got sick. And Twilight... Is it possible the Elements already took their effect? They may have bonded with the others, and left them all connected to you, the one who would wield the final Element bonded by the others. Now, this is all speculation, there’s no guarantee I’m right, but if that is true, Fluttershy’s sickness might have been reflected onto you.

“Fluttershy, how did you get awoken?” She told him it was Dash, who had sung to her. “It could be you just needed to hear the voice of someone from the other side, and his song was what reached you in your dream state. It makes sense that your song, the Galdr of... Bliss, I think it was, was enough to reach Twilight.”

“Wait, wait.” Twilight said, stopping him in his tracks. “What are you talking about? Herons, Galdr... I don’t think anyone else knows what you’re talking about. I suppose the theory on the Elements isn’t impossible, but I can’t figure out what you mean by the rest.”

“I’ll have to explain on the way.” He said, looking out at the night sky. “We’re marching.”