The Bearers of Harmony

by Naren

The Element of Kindness

Sunset was kneeling in front of her bag, checking that she had packed everything necessary. In her bag was a few extra rations, a bottle full of boiled water, and some extra clothes. To ehr side was the Journal, and Sunset hesitantly picked it and flipped to the last page with writing. She sighed, and closed the book. There was still no response from this Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Despite the fact that Sunset’s memory had been shattered, and the fact she was unable to remember any names, she was still able to remember faces. She was able to remember her friends' faces, how they talked, their voices, and how they acted. She was just unable to remember any of their names. However, the name Twilight Sparkle was a complete void in her mind. There was no face, no body, no voice, nothing to attach the name to. It was a complete void in her mind, despite that fact that she felt, she knew that she should recognize that name. Perhaps, like her name, and Celestia’s name, she would come to remember who Twilight was.

She had hoped that Twilight would write to her back, perhaps revealing crucial information that could help end this madness, but there had been no luck. Instead, Sunset would have to put her faith in a person from her dreams. He had told her to save the bearers of Harmony, which she could only interpret as her forgotten friends. She knew how she would save them, let alone find them, but she would try regardless. It was better than lying down in the dirt waiting for the end to take her.

Once she finished packing and stood up, her eyes drifted to the object stabbed into the ground. The sword, Para, was impaled into the ground so that the hilt was sticking straight up. Light from the window reflected off the blade, creating a halo like effect around the blade. The six-pointed star in the guard was actually glowing, shimmering with a soft pink light. The small gold engravings in the blade made it look like a sword straight out of fantasy, and considering that it was magical, that probably wasn’t that fat off.

Sunset hadn't touched the blade since she had used it to help save Celestia. There was something different about it, and when she held it it felt like it had a mind of its own. Another reason she hadn’t touched was the fact that she could have sworn it had had an intent. An intent to kill Celestia. It had helped her save Celestia in the end, but the fact that it had gotten so close to killing her sat very wrong with Sunset.

Despite all this, Para remained a tool and weapon that would be very useful in the chaotic wasteland that was once the city. Not only was it a weapon that she could use to defend herself, if it could help her do magic it would prove it’s worth a thousand times over. So she walked over to the blade, and hestatied. It wasn’t a tool made for peace, but a weapon made for war. To kill. Sunset contemplated this for but a second, before realizing the answer. Sometimes, to ensure peace and harmony, you needed to kill. So Sunset grabbed the sword.

Unlike her expectations, nothing happened. No fanfare, no voice, not even a different will. Just a metal sword in her hands. Even as she pulled it out the ground, and into the stale school air, there was no difference. No glowing, no mixing of energy, nothing. It was as she finally released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in a thought occurred to her. She had nothing to hold the sword. No sheath, nothing.

As she looked around for something to hold the sword in-the bag wasn’t big enough, and it was a sword-she felt an odd weight on her hip. It didn’t take her very long to figure out what exactly was on her hip. There was a sheath attached to her belt, and it was made of similar material to whatever Para was made of. Golden metal was prominent around the bottom of the sheath, and the tip as well. Across the silver metal golden filigree ran up and down it, with small symbols engraved into the blade. The most prominent of them was that same six-pointed star. Something about that star was important, but like the rest of her memory, she couldn’t remember why. Still, she couldn’t get it out of her head that it was supposed to mean something.

Sunset slid Para into the sheath, before shouldering her backpack. It was as she took a deep breath in, and let it out, that she heard noise from outside the classroom. It was the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall, but inherently wrong. For one, they sounded heavy and light at the same time, like that of a predator. For two, there was a distinct clack accompanied with every step, a result of the creature's oversized claws. The sounds stopped right in front of the door to the classroom Sunset was in.

Sunset approached the door, and opened it slowly, to reveal a beast on the other side. It stood a head or two taller than her, despite the fact that it was visibly hunched over. It had four, long, muscled limbs that ended in savage claws. The beast’s face was twisted into a snout with long, sharp canines. Behind its head flowed a mane the color of pastel rainbow, clearly at odds with the rest of the beast's features. Most importantly however, was the fact that it was smiling. Or trying it at least.

Celestia tilted her head towards Sunset, as if to ask if she was ready to leave. Sunset answered wordlessly with a nod. She hadn't been able to hear the once Principal's thoughts since Sunset had helped her overcome the beast. In fact, Sunset hadn’t been able to do any magic at all since that fateful moment. It didn’t feel like it had left her, just that she didn’t know how to do the spells and sorcery.

Regardless, Sunset gripped the strap of the backpack with one hand, and rested her other hand on Para. She and Celestia walked out of the classroom, pushing past rubble and debris, along with the occasional pile of gleaming white bones. Every time they walked past the piles of dead, Sunset could see Celestia shrink into herself. Sunset placed one her hands on
Celestia’s shoulder, and she could see the Principal turned beast relax.

Eventually they came across the main foyer of the High-school, and they were met with an extraordinary sight. The foyer was in a similar state to that of the rest of the school, but plants and foliage covered the floors and walls. Sunset heard the sounds of small animals, and even a few birds. It was as she let out a sigh her eyes took in the most significant thing in the room. In the center of the foyer was a tree made of pure crystal. It wasn’t very tall, as it looked to only be six or so feet tall. There were symbols inscribed into the limbs of the tree that seemed to glow with a soft light, casting the entire room with light.

At the bottom of the trunk was the same six-pointed star on Para, and the Knight-Regents armor. It differed to those versions, as it was surrounded by five white stars. Small white spikes poked from the edges of the Star, giving it a more even variety. In the center of the trunk, where all the limbs gutted out from, was Sunset’s symbol. It was her duel colored sun, and five limbs jutted out from it. On each end a different symbol, a trio of balloons, a butterfly, a cloud with rainbow lighting, a trio of apples, and a trio of Diamonds. With closer inspection, however, revealed four more symbols. On the corner points of her son were four different shaped gems. One was another sun, one a moon, one a heart, and one a shield. Sunset realized with a start that the shield one looked to be the exact same as the one on the Knights Armor.
Another interesting thing about the tree was where the glow originated from. The glow appeared to emanate directly from the symbols, as if there was a fire behind them. It only seemed that three of the symbols were glowing, however. The Star at the bottom, Sunset’s sun, and the sun which she reasoned must be Celestia’s. As she inspected the tree, she realized that each of the symbols represents a different Bearer of Harmony. The ones that were glowing must have been the ones that had been rescued, which were so far just Sunset and Celestia. There was only one problem with this theory, however. Why was the bottom star glowing, then?

Before she could muse further on the topic, she heard, and felt something humming. It didn’t take her long to realize that it was coming from the sword sheathed to her hip. She then noticed that a new glow had filled the room. It outshined even the other lights from the tree, illuminating the entire room with a soft yellow. Sunset felt the sword shake in sheath, picking up pace, rattling her entire body-before it suddenly cut out all at once.

Instead of feeling Para shake violently, she instead felt as the sword was trying to peacefully pull her in a certain direction. It was small, but noticeable. The swords pommel, which stuck up and out of the sheath, glowed with the same light that had lit the entire room prior. It was a soft yellow, meek, yet also holding a hidden strength.

Sunset could see Celestia shaking her head, and blinking her eyes repeatedly. Eventually her eyes focused on soft glowing light coming from Para, and she tilted her head in Sunset’s direction.

“It’s acting like a guide. Like it knows where one of them is, and is trying to pull me towards them.” Sunset answered the unspoken question, her voice raspy from disuse. Celestia only nodded at that, accepting the answer and waiting for Sunset's plan. She mulled over the events that had just occurred, and she found that she was left with only one option. To follow the sword's pull.

---

Underneath an ever twisting sky of a thousand colors, Sunset found only desolation and ruination. Where once there had been roads and houses, now the broken corpses of buildings lay forgotten. Some of the house had been taken over by a horrifying amount of foliage, which appeared to be squirming like it was alive. Other houses simply leaked a dense fog, rolling out of open windows and doors. The ground itself appeared to jut out at random intervals, as if a hundred small earthquakes had occurred.

The school was in extraordinarily good condition compared to the rest of the world, and Sunset would wager that if had to do something with that crystal tree. The plants in the foyer had seemed to be peaceful, helpful, and harmonious. The plants outside were twisted, thorned, and were acting more like predators than plants. Occasionally they would see bones and limbs sticking out of a mass of vines and bushes, and they would steer far clear of the piles.

There was something worse, something far, far worse than the plants and landscape. Every once in a while, the duo would run across things that had once been human. They were often twisted into horrifying shapes, creatures that caused pain in sunsets head by simply looking at them. The worst one she had seen was what Sunset could only assume had been a family once. They must have been driving a car when the end struck, as they were all fused to the inside of a vehicle. Long, spindly legs made of sharpened bone stuck out of windows and doors, hoisting the creature up so that it appeared like a spider. The hood had been open, and in it she had seen–NO.

Sunset pushed the thought from her mind. She knew her mental state was already fragile enough, and thinking about the horrors that populated the once great town. Instead, Sunset continued to follow the pull of Para, the soft light from the pommel excluding a sense of peace and calmness. Celestia followed close behind her, and just being in the presence of her once principal gave Sunset even more peace of mind. It was enough to calm her, and give her the strength to continue on in the journey.

Things had been going smoothly until Celestia raised her snout in the air, sniffing for something. She suddenly lopped off in a random direction, leaving Sunset alone. She stopped, staring at the direction where Celestia had disappeared. She raised her foot to follow, but froze she heard a horrible sound. It was a mix of a groan, panting, and a sob. In fact, there was quite a lot of sobbing. As she slowly turned her head to look at the source of the sound, Sunset eyes widened to an incredible size.

The noise was coming from another person turned beast, and it was just as terrifying as her previous experiences. It must have been walking its dog during the end, as there was an extreme mix of human and dog parts. It walked with six legs, some ending in paws and others human feet. At the front of the beast was an almost snake-like appendage, ending in a head that was a horrific cross between a human and dog. Unlike Celestia, whose face had been twisted into a wolf-like snout, this one was a fusion of dog and human. A snout that ended in a human mouth let out moans of agony, while eyes that dotted its head flicked around in a random pattern. There was no intelligence in them. While its head was the most horrifying part about it, its backend was no different. It walked like a horse, and a mess of small tendrils flipped around, having carved themselves out of its body.

Then it stilled as all its many eyes landed on Sunset. Sunset let out a scream as the thing let out a roar that shook her very mind. Sunset scrambled backwards, just barely dodging the creature's lunge. She dove behind one of the ruined cars that littered the road, giving her just a second to catch her breath. As the thing lumbered closer, Sunset felt a pulsing sensation, coming from her hip. The thing appeared to be able to lunge, but was rather slow when it came to traversing the landscape, which gave Sunset more time than she thought she had.

Almost on Instinct, she drew Para from its sheath. The monster instantly shied back from the pale pink glow that exuded from the blade, almost as if it feared it. It narrowed its many eyes, before making a final leap towards her. Time appeared to slow down, and Sunset found that she couldn’t do anything. She was stuck in place, frozen, watching death itself leap towards her. Despite the fact her body wouldn’t respond to her commands, she did feel energy begin to move up her arms. Reddish light swirled around her hands and the sword, and she watched as light projected itself in front of her.

Time sped up again, and the beast slammed into a wall of red light. It bounced back as the energy in the shield began to burn it, letting out screeches as the areas that came in contact with the shield burned. Then a blur came from out of nowhere, slamming into the shrieking creature. A blur made of fur, claws, and a pastel rainbow mane. Celestia tore into the creature, and in the process she saved Sunset Shimmer.

Eventually the creature stopped moving, the burns, and Celestia, doing it in. In response, Celestia let a howl of victory before suddenly stopping. She looked over to Sunset, who was having a difficult time wrangling her breath in. Celestia’s eyes filled with shame, but Sunset shook her head.

“You..agh…saved me. Thank You.” Sunset said in between breaths. Celestia stared at her, before looking away. Sunset approached her wolf-like principal, and wrapped her arms around her. Celestia stilled, not used to physical contact, and especially not used to contact while she was in a beast’s body. Still, she awkwardly tried to return the gesture with some level of success.

Eventually they parted, and Sunset realized that she had dropped Para. As she began to frantically search for the blade, she realized that she couldn’t find it. It wasn’t lying on the ground, and without it, she wouldn’t be able to find her friends and the Bearers of Harmony. As Sunset began to panic, she felt something nudge her side. It was Celestia, and as Sunset looked at her, she saw that Celestia was staring at something. Something on her hip. She followed her Principal's gaze down, and found a sword that was sheathed upon her hip. Para was sheathed on her hip, still glowing lightly, and still pulling her towards Celestia knows where.

Sunset let out a sigh, then suddenly she smiled. She remembered a swear, granted a small one, but one from her past. Perhaps, perhaps her entire memory would return soon. To remember everything of who she was, the names, and who she could be again. It was a nice thought, but she still needed to survive the ruined world, find her friends, and maybe try to destroy the tower.

As they began walking again, following Para’s pull, she realized where she was at. They were at the entrance to mainstreet, the main road through the town. The pull had gotten a little stronger, and it was definitely headed into the middle of town. Besides, who knows what else they could find on the mainstreet?

---

They must have been walking for hours when they finally realized something was wrong. Mainstreet was in slightly better conditions than the rest of the city, but it was still in a ruined state. Windows were shattered, doors broken down, stone cracked, but there was less…Insanity. It just looked like the town had been abandoned.

Their first clue that something was wrong was when Sunset realized that she had seen the same broken car three to four times now. It was red, missing a wheel, and the windshield had been shattered. It was without a doubt the same car as the last time.

Now that she was looking for oddities, more were jumping out at her. When she looked up and down the road, all she saw were buildings flanking the road. All the way to either horizon, were the same set of buildings repeated over and over. The same broken windows, ruined cars, and ruined streets. Perhaps they had been walking for hours on this Endless Road.

As they stopped and looked around, Sunset felt the pull on her hip stop. Para was no longer guiding her path. It was still glowing with that soft yellow light, though. In fact, that light appeared to be shining even brighter than before. They must have been close to her friend. Sunset tried to remember her name, so all she could come away with was something about a…Fly? It didn’t seem right.

She was cut from her musings when Celestia nudged her. As Sunset looked over to her, Celsetia gestured to one the houses with her head. Why was she doing that? It was just normal-It wasn’t damaged. Unlike the rest of the street, and world, the house was in near perfect condition. It showed some of the wear and tear of time, but it looked like it had sustained no damage during the End. It also wasn’t repeated alongside the road, instead it seemed to be anchored to this one spot.

Upon closer inspection, there were some strange things going on in the house. For one, all the lights were off. Electricity was out, but that didn’t explain the sheer darkness that hid behind the windows. It was as if light itself had been denied entry into the house. For two, The door was open. It was open into the house, but it didn’t look inviting at all. Instead, it seemed to push Sunset away. And three, there was an oppressive feeling of dread emanating from the house. The closer they got, the stronger it became.

When they reached the door that was ajar, that feeling of dread made Sunset hesitate. Then she felt her hip jerk forward, Para slamming into its sheath. As a single action, she drew the sword and pushed the door fully open. The light emanating from the sword did cut into the darkness, but only just barely. The soft yellow light was now pushing with force, yet it only pierced the shadows for a few feet. It was enough light, though, for Sunset to continue. She took her first step into the house, and nearly doubled over.

The dread she had been feeling before slammed into her, making her stomach swirl and palms drip with sweat. The only reason she didn’t fall backwards was the knowledge of what lay in the darkness. Somewhere in this hell was her friend. With Para’s light, Sunset would find her. As took another step, again and again, she motioned for Celestia to follow her.

Celestia, who was already shaking from being so close to the house, tried to take a step forward. As soon her clawed paw touched the inside of the house, she scrambled back. Her ears flattened to the top of head, and her mane whipped around frantically. She whimpered, and backed away from the house of dread. It appeared that Sunset would have to carry on alone.

As She pushed ever further into the dark, the Dread and fear she felt increased by manifold, but so did her determination to save her friend. The Darkness crept ever closer, trying to snuff out the sword's light. In response, Para glowed ever brighter in defiance. It allowed Sunset to continue to push further into the house. She could no longer see the light from the outside, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was saving her friend from this darkness.

After some time in the dark, she found that she had entered a large room. In fact, from the little she could see, it seemed to be bigger than the house itself. Just one more thing that didn’t make sense in this maddening hell. That wasn’t what caught her attention, though. What caught her attention was the ribcage her foot was currently stuck in.

All across the room skeletons littered the floor, which did no favors for her defense against the oppressive dread. The piles disappeared into the darkness, and Sunset didn't want to think about what could have caused so many things to die. It did explain why there were no bodies out on the endless road, though.

“What is a little thing like you doing in my home?” A quiet, shy voice called out from the darkness. With each word, the darkness around her increased in strength. Sunset found she couldn’t speak, the dread causing her barely to be able to stutter. The glow around Para lit up in defiance, and a hiss issued out from the darkness.,

“That light! It’s so awful…so bright. We don’t need that around here.” The voice hissed, before Darkness slammed into her. Para tried to blaze, but the dark was so oppressive, the dread so powerful, that all it could do was light up the sword itself. She could barely see her hand, and the rest was covered in pitch, black, darkness. She fell backwards, landing onto a skeleton. It was crushed, and Sunset couldn’t help but think that was her fate. In the darkness, she could see four glowing dots slowly approaching her. The voice said something else, but Sunset couldn’t hear it as she was in full swing of a panic attack. Sounds become muffled, and sights blurred before she shut her eyes tight. As she felt despair rock through her very being, she felt something else. A…Memory.

---

Sunset Shimmer was walking through the garden. It was night, a pale moon with the symbol of a unicorn shining down. Castle walls and buildings surrounded her, but the garden itself was empty. Save for someone else. Sunset approached the figure, who was simply sitting in the grass, looking up at the moon. As she approached the figure, she suddenly spoke aloud.

“Do you know why I have brought you out here, Sunset?” She asked in a soft, melodic voice.

“It wasn’t just to admire the night?” Sunset responded with a question of her own. Princess Celestia let out a small laugh before answering.

“ Hah. No, unfortunately. There will come a time when I cannot help you anymore, Sunset. So I want to give you a gift, one that will always light your path. Before that, do you know why when a Unicorn casts a spell, their horn lights up?”

“It's excess energy, like the heat from a fire. Right?”

“Indeed, my gifted student. Now, do you know how to cast a light spell?”

“You just push magic to your horn, then let it go.”

“Not exactly. You do push magic to your horn, but you need to pull it back at the same time. Create a continuous loop of magic in your horn, and you will light up the whole world.”

---

Sunset opened her eyes, and was met with the pitch black darkness. Four red eyes were crawling ever closer. Para was subdued, its light barely a match for the oppressive dread. But Sunset didn’t feel any of that fear. Her eyes were clear, the sounds crisp. Despite the sheer absence of light, the room got a little brighter.

She felt the sword in her hands, and she realized what Para was. A substitute for a Unicorn's horn. Sunset grasped inside of her, reaching for the well of magic that she knew she had inside of her. Then she felt it. A reservoir of unparalleled size. She grasped with all her might, and pushed it though Para, before pulling it back.

The world exploded in light. A pure, white light expanded from the blade, slamming into the darkness. Then it pushed past the shadowy abyss, destroying it utterly and completely. The room was illuminated by the light of a second sun, Sunsets already strong magic amplified tenfold-no twentyfold by Para. That was what it was doing. The sword worked like a Horn and conducted magic, but it also amplified the magic.

The beast screamed, its shadowy domain erased by the pure light of the sword. It hissed and stumbled back, and Sunset got a good look at the beast. It had the top half of a girl, and the bottom half of a spider. If you could call it a spider-It had way more than eight legs. Tens, if not hundreds of shadowy legs emerged from its shadow body. It merged with a girl's body about her stomach, which looked remarkably normal for the world. She was wearing ragged clothes, and long, tattered pink hair hung around her. The weirdest thing about her body was her four eyes, which were squinted against the light.

“What…Sunset?” The girl asked, her voice drowsy as if she had just woken up.

“..Fluttershy?” Sunset asked as well, her memory ever returning to her.

“W-what's going on? Why a-am I-Like this?” Fluttershy stuttered, cleary beginning to panic.

“Fluttershy! Stay calm, I know this is weird and probably scary. Try to stay calm.” Sunset called out, trying to keep her from freaking out. Sunset was saved when she heard a familiar sound of paws and claws hitting the ground. Celestia must have seen the darkness be destroyed by the light and come in to investigate. Unfortunately for her, before the End Fluttershy had loved animals.

“OH! Look at you. You poor thing, you must be suffering. Come here, let me take a look at you” Fluttershy nearly shouted, while rushing over and picking Celestia up with her spider-like legs. Celestia looked up at her with wide eyes, before turning a glare to a laughing Sunset.

“Fluttershy…Hah..please put down our Principal. I don’t think she appreciates it.” Sunset tried to tell Fluttershy, while simply trying not to bust out laughing.

“Principal Celestia! Oh oh I’m so sorry. I thought-” Fluttershy apologized while instantly putting her principal down. Celestia once more shot a glare towards Sunset, before trying to give a smile to Fluttershy.

“It's fine, Fluttershy. I’m sure Celestia didn’t mind too much, and besides, your back. You are sane, alive, and for the most part, safe. Things are finally looking up.”

Author's Note:

And here is the second chapter. I hope I channeled my inner Lovecraft enough for the monsters. May Harmony prevail.

Comments

[TheGJ90]

Poor Fluttershy...

Thank goodness that, just like in many other universes, Sunset is there for her!

[Starlight Nova]

Does Wallflower Blush play a big role in this story?

[Naren]

11507665
To the best of my knowledge, no. It could change, but as I understand it, Wallflower Blush is not a main bearer of Harmony. Not in the same way that the Main 6, Sunset, or Celestia are. I am sorry if I have disappointed you.

[Pete100]

I’m starting to think discord has something to do with this.