Harmonic Tree

by Shadow Watcher

Chapter 3

The rest of the day had remained uneventful, save for a small encounter with a couple of smaller shadow creatures. One had fallen to a single use of Shine; the other had taken a couple shots of Arcane Bolt. Neither had dropped any items, though they had released a small amount of Harmonic energy that had flowed into the prism.

She may not have idea what this prism was, but it had proved useful before. And if it gathered Harmonic energy, maybe there was some way to use it again in the future?

Music. She halted quickly. A song drifted along the breeze. No instruments, just a voice singing. Quite gleefully from the sound of it. Cautiously, she turned and crept off the road, heading into a clump of trees.

The deeper into the trees she stepped, the clearer the voice singing became. And it was quite a silly sounding song.

“Ring around the toadstools, a pocket full of rosebuds! Newts’ eyes! Fish breath! As I stir the brew!”

Sunset stepped into a small clearing, horn glowing, ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice.

A large cauldron boiled merrily within a circle of toadstool mushrooms. A violently pink mare, dressed in black witch robes and a wide brimmed witch hat pulled over a poofy pink mane, was stirring a purples liquid with gusto as she sang out her song. Sunset immediately noticed that though her eyes were closed, the mare absolute knew she was there.

She stopped (singing; she never stopped stirring) and grinned at Sunset. “Sunset Shimmer!” She reached into her mane for a pocket watch. “You’re late! Or possibly early!” She dropped the watch into the cauldron in order to tap her chin. “More probably both, to be honest. Eh, I guess it’d be a matter of perspective.”

Sunset opened her mouth and promptly closed it. After two more attempts, she finally asked, “I’m sorry, but what, exactly, am I early and late for?”

The Pink Witch stopped stirring and stared right at her in surprise. An excited smile slowly took over her face. “See? That is exactly, precisely, why I told Fluttershy that you were the one! I told her, I did, I says, ‘Flutters, Sunset Shimmer is our pony! Trust me, she’s our gal!’ But noooo! She had to doubt, she did! Mumbling and muttering about ‘testing, to be absolute certain’. Pffft! And here you come, waltzing to me, and you prove yourself exactly as I knew ya would!” Pinkie laughed, giggled, and gave a very satisfied sigh. “Of course, I told the others too. But only one fully sided with me. Flutters claims to remain on the fence, but I can already tell you she’s on our side. So that’s three! As for the others…they’ll come around. Eventually. Yipe!!” Black smoke was beginning to waft up from the cauldron. She grabbed the stick and began frantically stirring. The smoke immediately dissipated.

Sunset could only stare, open mouthed. Finally she shook her head. “Truly, I’m sorry, but who are you? You’ve clearly been expecting me, but why? For what purpose? Do you have something to do with Harmony?”

A single blue eye opened, and Sunset immediately locked up. “My friends and I have everything to do with Harmony, Sunset Shimmer. And you will need us if you hope to restore Equestria.” Her eye widened as it focused on the gem on her horn, and her smile deepened. “It appears you’ve already become a hoof above any others too. That gem is the Harmonic Prism. Yes, I’m aware. Such an original name. You’ve no doubt noticed that it absorbs Harmonic energy. But you more than like don’t know how to tap into that energy.”

She pulled her stirring stick up, revealing it to be a long wooden spoon. She sipped the liquid, nodded, and closed her eye once more. Sunset let out a gasp, not even realizing she’d been holding her breath. The Pink Witch went back to her stirring. “Almost ready for ya, I think. As ready as it’ll ever be, perhaps. As for harnessing the power held within the Prism, that will be a lesson for another to teach, I’m afraid. But you are correct in thinking it can be harnessed. In all sorts of ways too. You already used it for one, leading those ponies to that site of Harmony. Rest assured, I’ve seen to them. They’re safe.”

She pulled the spoon completely out of her cauldron, then reached into her mane, pulled out a kazoo, and blew into it. Balloons sprang from nowhere, obscuring everything from Sunset’s vision.

With a cacophony of pops, Sunset sprang up next to a small site of Harmony, nestled between a couple of large boulders. The nearest forest was a long way off, and there was no sign that a fire with a cauldron had been nearby.

At her hooves were two small stone flasks. She lifted them up with her magic, examining every facet of them. A small amount of energy flowed into the flask from the crystalline sapling. Immediately, they began filling with two different liquids. At least, she assumed they were liquids. One blue and the other red. They almost resembled potions, and if so, the red would more than like be for healing. Which would mean the blue was for her mana reserves.

Comments

[Leo Luce]

So the prism is your explanation on how she can gather runes or harmonic essence or whatever and use it to "level up".

[Shadow Watcher]

11308267
Sort of. Can’t say too much now, or give away stuff later on, but the Prism will be more than that.

[Leo Luce]

11308431
I see. Well, I'll be looking forward to that.