The Spirits of Harmony

by TinCan

Chapter III

Pinkie Pie had taken Concord and Verity over most of Ponyville. Verity had given everything from the bustling market square to the water tower the same look of wide-eyed wonder, but she hardly said anything unless Pinkie or Concord asked a question. She must have been brought up really strict, the pink mare thought, recalling her own childhood out in the rock fields.

Concord, on the other hoof, was chatty and cheerful. He praised every part of town Pinkie took them to, but his eyes seldom left the tour guide, and the adoring, star-struck expression never left his face. Though she usually enjoyed friendly attention, Pinkie was, for one of the few times in her life, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

The group approached the bright red schoolhouse near the western end of town. Recess was just coming to an end, and Cherilee was ringing the bell to call her students back to class.

“…And this is our town’s little school for fillies and colts,” Pinkie said. “Miss Cherilee teaches, and all the students are super-duper nice. I’m sure you’ll make tons of friends, Verity!”

The filly didn’t respond, or show any sign she’d heard Pinkie at all.

Pinkie tried again. “You’re going to school while you’re here, right Verity? It’s important! Little ponies who don’t get an education have their brains turn into tapioca pudding, like mine did!” She made a silly face at the filly.

This time she got the little pony’s attention, but Verity appeared utterly flummoxed. She glanced from the schoolhouse to Pinkie to Concord and back. “Will I? I…um…will I be going to school? I…w-well…”

Her brother shrugged. “Sure, why not? School’d be great for a lil’ thing like you! You like to learn new things, dontcha Ver?”

All trace of confusion instantly vanished from Verity’s face. “I do like to learn new things!”

“Great! I bet you can teach them all sorts of stuff too. Let’s just head over there and see if we can get you enrolled before the afternoon lesson starts.”

Verity nodded and galloped toward the schoolhouse with the other children.

As Pinkie Pie and Concord walked behind her, the stallion leaned over and beckoned to Pinkie. “My sis, she has a hard time dealin’ with things in the future,” he whispered apologetically. “If you ask her about the present or the past, she’ll just belt out whatever she thinks, but if it hasn’t happened it throws her for a loop.”

Pinkie nodded sympathetically. “I gotcha. It’s okay; everypony has their little quirks. Think how boring it’d be if we were all alike!”

Concord winked at her. “If ponies were more like you, you wouldn’t hear me complainin’!”

Pinkie laughed. “Oh, stop it! Everypony’s pretty amazing in all sorts of ways. Some are awesomely cool and fast like Dashie, and some are smarter than a stack of encyclopedias like Twilight and some can work all day long making things grow like AJ or care for every kind of animal like Fluttershy or make clothes so you feel like you’re wearing an art gallery like Rarity does.” She paused in thought a moment. “The comfy kind, not the ones with all the rusty spiky things and melted dolls and stuff.” The pink pony looked askance. "I’m not like that, I mainly do parties."

“Still, wouldn’t it be nicer if everypony could treasure everypony else the way you do?”

“I guess it might. It’s great being friends with everypony, like you and your sister.” She hadn’t been consciously intending to put emphasis on those words, but there it was. If Concord took the hint, he didn’t show it.

Cherilee waved to greet the unfamiliar filly who rushed up to the schoolhouse door. “Well hello there, young lady!” she called, “Can I help you?”

The little blue pony skidded to a stop and furrowed her brow, giving Cherilee’s question far more thought than the teacher expected it to warrant.

“Yes you can!” she finally declared as her brother and Pinkie Pie arrived at the door.

“Glad to hear it,” Cherilee gently teased. “I was getting worried for a moment there.” She looked up at the two older ponies. “Hello, Pinkie! Friends of yours, I presume?”

“They sure are! This is Verity and her brother Concord. They’ll be in Ponyville for a while, so we were hoping you could squeeze her into your class. That’s okay, isn’t it?”

Cherilee laughed. “Oh, of course! I wouldn’t be much of a teacher if I turned away a willing student, would I?”

Verity grew anxious again and looked back to Pinkie and her brother for support. “W-would she?”

Assuming it was nervousness at meeting new ponies, Cherilee bent back down to the filly. “It doesn’t matter because I won't. I’m Miss Cherilee, Verity. Do you want to join our little class? We’d love to have you.”

Verity instantly relaxed. “Yes I do!”

“So enthusiastic! I can already tell you’ll be a wonderful student.”

Pinkie winked at Cherilee and patted Verity on the head. “She knows all kinds of stuff. You better watch out or she'll be teaching the class!”

Cherilee chuckled politely and then looked up at Concord. “School’s out at five. Since you’re new in town, be sure and come to pick her up. I don’t know how Ponyville compares to where you’re from, size-wise—”

“Ponyville has a smaller area but a greater mass!” Verity announced.

“—But we don’t want her to get lost on the way home.”

“Ah, she’ll be okay," Concord said. "She’s got a better sense of direction than I do.”

Cherilee gave him a well-practiced no-compromise look.

He hastily bobbed his head. “Yes’m. Five o’ clock.”

The teacher turned and ushered Verity into the schoolhouse. “Class, I’d like you to meet…class?”

Shouting, laughter, hoofbeats and squeals from within drowned out her words.

She glanced back at Pinkie Pie and Concord. “They’re usually very well-behaved. I just had to cut recess short today on account of the storm, so they’re still a bit rambunctious.” Cherilee led Verity to the side of the teacher’s desk and tried again. “Class, there’s a new student I’d like you all to meet.” The roar continued unabated.

“Allow me,” Concord said, tapping the dust off one of his front hooves. He stuck his head in the door, placed the hoof to his lips and blew a shrill whistle that sounded over and slowly replaced the noise of the children.

Pinkie felt a tickly feeling pass through her like a wave, starting at her nose and going to the tip of her tail. It was probably Pinkie Sense, but she wasn’t sure what this one meant.

Concord slowly lowered the pitch and volume of the whistle until it died. The entire room was silent. The students sat at their desks, looking attentively at their teacher and the new addition to the class.

“T-thank you Mr. Concord,” Cherilee said, not entirely sure what had happened.

The stallion inclined his head humbly. “S’no problem. Seeya later, Ver!”

As the two ponies walked away from the schoolhouse, Pinkie was the first to speak. “Well, this is the edge of Ponyville! It’s just farmland beyond here, and you don’t need to see all that. That’s the end of our tour; you’ve been a wonderful audience!”

“How did the teacher know we were new in town?” Concord asked out of the blue.

“Probably because she hasn’t seen you before and because you’re with me! I always make sure new ponies feel all welcome-y when they get to town.”

The dopiness of Concord’s perpetual grin intensified, and his face began turning red. “You're even more...wow,” he said with honest admiration. He cleared his throat and slicked back his mane. “So…have you had lunch yet? I haven’t, and it’s a bit late so I was thinking we—”

“Oh gosh!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking up at the dark and glowering clouds the weather team was moving into position, “It is getting pretty late. I need to get back to Sugarcube Corner for the big evening rush. Everypony’ll be coming in to get their pastries and candies after work, and I’ve gotta help make them! Well, guess I’ll see you later!” She took off at a canter.

Concord followed. “How about this weekend, then? I should at least do something nice for you showin’ me and Ver around, right?”

“I work at a bakery!” Pinkie called back, increasing her pace. “Weekends are super-duper busy!”

The stallion continued on, undaunted. “Dinner! Next Tuesday! My treat!”

Pinkie sighed and came to a stop, causing the amorous stallion to nearly bump into her. She turned and looked Concord in the eye. “Gee, Concord, you seem like a really nice guy…”

Concord swelled at the compliment and nodded excitedly.

“…But we just met, and I hardly know you, and I’m really glad to have you as a friend, really, I am! …But I just don’t think I ought to have a special somepony in my life right now.”

The stallion’s face fell. Making anypony unhappy felt wrong to Pinkie, but what else could she do in a situation like this? She soldiered on, trying to remember what Rarity would say when these sorts of things happened to her.

“I’m sorry. It’s not me, it’s…you? Wait, no, the opposite of that! What I mean is I’ve got so many dresses to make and—CAKES! Not dresses, cakes. Great big complicated cakes that take up all my free time and the customers are so-o-o demanding…”

“I understand,” Concord interrupted, eyes downcast. “You don’t have to make excuses. You’re in the Big Six and I’m just a servant.”

Pinkie wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Did he work as a janitor or gardener or something? It would make sense, what with his blank flank.

He raised his head again, eyes shining. “It’s just…ever since I met you under the library and you jumped in to cover for your friend, all the time you were taking me and Ver through town, everypony you met on the way, everypony you even looked at, they all became happier, more alive, more loved than before. I could see it! Ponyville is so happy and peaceful, and it’s because you live here, Pinkie. You’re the conduit. You’re like…like a figure in a stained-glass window. You let the light Outside shine right in through the wall! It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen since I came into this world.” He paused to wipe his eye. “I know I’m not worthy t’take rocks outta your shoes, but if I didn’t try…”

“Aww, c’mon, don’t cry!” Pinkie said, more confused than ever. What had Rarity told her to say when things got all weird and mushy? The magic words that brought stallions to their senses?

She made herself smile. “Let’s…just be friends?”

Concord sniffled. “Of course; I’m your friend forever. But maybe we—I mean, if there’s ever anything I can do—”

“Great!” Pinkie chirped, glad that the problem had been resolved so neatly. Truly, that unicorn knew her stuff. “Nice meeting you, Concord! Here I go, makin’ for the bakin’!” The pink mare dashed into town like a rocket, leaving the stallion in the dust.

Concord watched, mouth open, as she diminished into the distance.

From high above, a pegasus shouted “Okay, hit it!” There was a rumble of thunder, and a steady rain began falling.

Concord sighed miserably and lay down on his belly in the middle of the road. He resolved to lie there until Verity got out of school or a cart ran him over, whichever came first. The chill of the rain slowly soaked through his coat.

After a few minutes, he heard approaching hoofbeats. He ignored them. They were too heavy to be Pinkie's steps; Pinkie hardly touched the ground, especially when she did that adorable hopping gait.

Their owner came to a stop next to the prone pony, and the rain suddenly ceased falling on his head.

“Poor, poor Conky,” said a mocking voice just above him. “Isn’t it unfortunate? He hasn’t had that heart for a day and it’s already broken.”

The stallion opened his eyes and looked up into the face of a red-orange unicorn mare, her black mane held in a complicated braid and the mark of a golden, four-spoked wheel on her flanks. The rains fell as hard as ever around her, but, by incredible chance, not a drop hit her body.

“You leave her alone,” he said, looking up at her warily.

The unicorn laughed. “What, you think I’m going to go and punish her just because she spurned my cousin? You don’t know me very well.”

“I don’t care why,” he said, “just leave her alone. She’s in a good place. Don’t turn her.”

The mare clicked her tongue. “Quietism and misguided sentimentality; just what I expected from you. I don’t always hurt ponies, you know. Hey, maybe next go-around she’ll suddenly discover a hidden passion for weird, overly-forward unmarked stallions.”

Concord put his muddy hooves together in a pose of supplication. “Please, leave her be! Just this one pony!”

She rolled her eyes. “You know I can’t make promises, Conky. Unlike some spirits around here, I actually do my job instead of just bothering the locals.” She smirked and looked back into town. A single column of black smoke rose above the rooftops to blend with the clouded sky. “That’s not to say that the two don’t overlap half the time.”

Her cousin blinked up at her. “Do…my job?”

“Yes! Just because we got dragged Inside doesn’t mean we can take a vacation.”

Concord leaped from the mud to his feet with a whoop. “That’s it! She doesn't know! Once she sees what I can do, she’ll realize we’re perfect for each other! Fortuna, you’re a genius!” He tore off into town.

Fortuna shook her head as she watched him go. “I suppose I should be glad somepony sees it.”