The Spirits of Harmony

by TinCan

Chapter II

Hours later, nothing had happened.

Twilight had been sending every relevant type of magic she knew of through the crown, and the element had dutifully resonated and amplified the spells, causing the ether to reverberate with echoes.

There had been no reply.

Pinkie sat with her head resting on a table, ostensibly monitoring a bank of indicators, but actually half-asleep and staring off into space.

Twilight wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, then cast yet another spell through the Element of Magic. Lights blinked and needles jumped across the equipment.

“Did you see anything unusual from that one?” she asked Pinkie.

“Nuuuh,” Pinkie groaned.

“Yeah, me neither. I guess this is a bit of a blow against my theory, huh?” She levitated a dog-eared copy of Standard Sorcerous Soundings toward herself and began flipping through it. “Tried that, tried that, tried those…” Twilight flipped to the appendix and sighed. “Is there any spell in here that I haven’t tried?”

“Night Watch’s Ward of Warning, page one hundred fifty-one.”

Twilight flipped to pages 151-2 with some difficulty. “Good catch, Pinkie! The pages were stuck together. How’d you know I skipped that one?”

The earth pony was staring wide-eyed at a dark corner of the room. “Um…I didn’t say anything.”

“Huh?” Twilight replied. The voice had seemed a bit different from Pinkie’s, but who else would be down here? “Spike? Was that you?”

There was no reply.

Pinkie gulped and jumped behind the unicorn. “It must be one of those ail-chemists! Save me Twilight, I don’t wanna be turned into gold!”

Twilight stepped toward the shadowy corner from which the voice had come. “I told you Pinkie, there aren’t any alchemists! Anyway, it sounded like a child.” She beckoned toward the shadow and tried to appear as non-threatening as possible. “C’mon out now. You’re not in trouble, but it’s not safe to be wandering around down here.”

A small, blue earth pony filly crept out from behind a large piece of lab equipment and blinked owlishly at the two mares. Her cutie mark was an ornate mirror.

“Hey there, little pony!” Pinkie exclaimed, her worry forgotten. “I haven’t seen you around here before. I’m Pinkie Pie, and this is Twilight Sparkle! What’s your name?”

“My name is Verity,” the filly loudly announced, and then smiled as if she’d accomplished some notable deed.

“Well Verity,” Twilight began, “you should stay up on the ground floor. This isn’t actually part of the library.”

Pinkie gave the filly a sly look. “Actually, shouldn’t she be in school? It’s Thursday. Did you come down here to play hooky and hide from the truant officer, Verity?”

Verity did not appear least bit bothered by the accusation. “I came here because I was called.” Again she beamed as if expecting praise for her statement.

Twilight looked askance. “I should’ve known this would happen. Filling the ether with those sort of spells would draw somepony here. Though…how did you know about the spell I missed?”

“It was there.”

Neither of the mares knew what to make of this explanation.

“Is my sis botherin’ you ladies?” drawled a voice from the top of the stairs.

An earth pony descended, this one a stallion with a uniform light gray coat and mane. His flank was blank, and he wore a sleepy, placid expression.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal,” Twilight bluffed, hastily throwing a sheet over the crown. “We were just doing some simple magic experimentation. No place for kids, right?”

Verity smiled at Twilight and shook her head. “No, you were using the Element of Magic to try and summon the Spirits of Harmony!”

Twilight gaped and spluttered.

Pinkie, sensing the time was right for a distraction, stepped in front of Twilight and vigorously shook the stallion’s hoof. “Oh wow, kids today! Such great imaginations, am I right? I bet she’ll grow up to be a big famous author. So, is your family visiting or are you moving into Ponyville? I ask because I know everypony in town and I mean every pony and I’ve never seen you before!” She batted her eyes endearingly.

The stallion’s face slowly spread into a goofy grin. “Yeah…yeah, I guess that’s about the shape of it. Not sure how long we’ll be stayin’ yet, though.”

Pinkie smiled right back. “Well we’re all glad to have you! I’m Pinkie Pie, pleased as pink punch to meet ya!”

The stallion stopped shaking Pinkie’s hoof with reluctance but kept gazing into her eyes, obviously smitten. “Pinkie Pie…pleasure’s all mine. Name’s Concord, and this is my lil’ sister Verity.”

“Welcome to Ponyville, Concord! Let’s get out of this musty-dusty old basement and I’ll give you two the two-bit town tour for free!”

Twilight nodded, sweating bullets. “That sounds like a great idea! Don’t mind me, we were just finishing up down here when your sister came in.”

Verity glanced from her brother to Twilight. “She wanted us to come here, but now she wants us to leave.” The young pony didn’t seem disappointed; she simply stated her fact with the same exuberance as all her other declarations.

Without looking away from Pinkie, Concord reached over and tousled his sister’s mane. “What’d I tell ya, Ver? Ponies don’t know what they want most of the time. You just have to bear with ‘em and keep an even keel. Let’s go with La—I mean, the lovely Miss Pie, and see the sights.”

Pinkie giggled at the flattery, ending with a snort, and led the way up the stairs, Concord and Verity close at her heels. Twilight leaned against the sheet-covered crown and exhaled in relief. The little filly had somehow guessed exactly what she was doing, but her brother didn’t seem to take her seriously. Probably nopony else would either.

After shutting off and putting away the lab equipment, Twilight exited the basement and locked the door behind her.

The library was a bit busier than usual for the early afternoon. Several patrons were distractedly browsing the shelves or curled up in corners reading, casting curious or annoyed glances over at a group of ponies clamoring noisily beneath a window.

“Ooh! Do a funny one next!”

“No, a sad one!”

“I’d rather hear a love poem.”

“Do you know any epic ballads?”

A huffy-looking coal-coated pegasus noticed Twilight emerge from the basement and walked over to her. “What kind of library are you running here?” he whispered. “That dip’s been doing magic and belting out lousy poetry for almost an hour now. Between him and his groupies, those of us here to actually use the library can’t hear ourselves think!”

“I’ll take care of it,” Twilight said. “I’ve been a bit preoccupied today, sorry.” She trotted over to the group and cleared her throat loudly. “Excuse me everypony, but a library really isn’t the place for a recital. If you’d like to borrow a book, do it without bothering the other patrons, please.”

The group of ponies parted, some frowning and others looking guilty, and Twilight saw the ringleader standing in their midst. The white unicorn looked like the stereotype of a poet: dark, soulful eyes, gaunt features, a mane carefully styled to look unruly, and, to top it all off, a cutie mark of a heart pierced by a quill. The poet bowed elaborately to Twilight and took a deep breath.

“No need even
To take out
A book: only
Go inside
And savor
The heady
Dry breath of
Ink and paper,
Or stand and
Listen to the
Silent twitter
Of a billion
Tiny busy
Black words.” (1)

A few of the poet’s fans chuckled. Twilight narrowed her eyes and addressed the unicorn again. “We can’t listen to ‘silent twitters’ or anything else while you’re all in here making a racket. If you want to do a reading or a signing or something, you have to reserve one of the side rooms at least a week in advance. If you’re just going to sit around here and bother the ponies who want to read or study, I’m going to have to show you the door.”

A twinkle appeared in the poet’s eyes. He cleared his throat, placed a hoof over his breast and began to recite once again.

“Go and open the door.
If there’s a fog,
it will clear.
Go and open the door,
even if there’s only
the darkness ticking,
even if there’s only
the hollow wind.

“even if
nothing
is there,
go and open the door.
At least
there’ll be
a draft.” (2)

The gathered ponies laughed and stomped appreciatively against the wooden floor. Twilight whinnied in annoyance, but stepped over to the door and held it open. The poet bowed to her again, and he and his admirers exited in single file.

Watching the ponies troop outside, Twilight noticed the ground around the library was covered in bright yellow leaves. She stuck her head out the door and looked up into the tree-building’s branches. Indeed, all the leaves were shining yellow in the afternoon sun. Twilight boggled. First, it was much too early in the year for the leaves to change, much less begin falling, and second, when they did last two autumns, they were a mix of red and orange, not this solid, brilliant yellow.

“What happened to my tree?” she cried. “Did something kill it?”

The poet looked at her over his shoulder and winked.

“I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.” (3)

As if on cue, a gust whirled through the treetop and sent a fresh fall of golden leaves twirling down to the ground. The poet turned and continued walking away. The other ponies followed, laughing.

“Hey, that’s vandalism! Get back here!” Twilight yelled, and ran out after him. “Whatever spell you did, undo it right now!”

The poet ignored her.

She galloped around in front of the crowd and blocked their path. “Where do you think you’re going, mister?”

He looked at her strangely, as if she ought to know the answer to her own question.

“I have desired to go
Where springs not fail
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.

“And I have asked to be—” (4)

Fed up, Twilight gave him a painful but otherwise harmless zap from her horn. The poet flinched, lowered his head and stepped aside, gesturing back toward the library and muttering unintelligibly.

Twilight’s gaze followed his outstretched hoof and she started in surprise. The leaves of her home were as green and alive as ever, and none had fallen.

“How did you do that?” she asked. “Was it just an illusion all along?” She turned back to where the infuriating unicorn had been standing, but there was nopony there. The ponies who’d been following him seemed just as startled as she was at their idol’s sudden disappearance. He must have teleported.

“Well, good riddance,” Twilight said to herself, trotting back to the library, “I just wish he’d done it sooner.”

---

(1) Library by Valerie Worth
(2) from The Door by Miroslav Holub
(3) from Galadriel's Song of Eldamar by J.R.R. Tolkien
(4) from Heaven-Haven by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Comments

[Qussar]

The spirits are trolls

[Festive Sombrero]

It would be interesting if eris is the spirit of magic

[Twilightsparklefairy]

from Galadriel's Song of Eldamar by J.R.R. Tolkien

Eeeeeee, you took something from the Silmarillion!!!
(right? It's from the Sil, not something from Lothlorien in LotR? It's hard to keep track of all the songs and I haven't read either in too long...)