Vanguard Of Harmony

by Enfield

The Return

Scott and Lauren watched the town as the MiG circled it, even though they were five thousand feet about the town Scott was able to use the Element of Chaos to enhance their vision. Scott looked in the streets, desperately looking for any signs of life. Lauren was too mesmerized about how accurate the town was to her show, aside from the several wrecked houses she could pick out Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres and Twilight's Library.

"What happened here?" Scott said.

"It's all real isn't it?" Lauren asked, not paying attention to Scott, "Is this all happening?"

"Yes, this is Ponyville," Scott said, "You can have your revelation once we land. I need to figure out what happened to this place."

Lauren kept staring out of the canopy.

"It looks so peaceful."

"Yeah, but the farm's apple trees are all dead and it looks like the town hall has been smashed," Scott said. Lauren didn't break her view with the town but she addressed Scott.

"It does look a little different from what I imagined."

"A little different? Half the bloody town has been destroyed."

"So what can we do?"

"Find out what happened, first we need to land."

Scott circled around the town a few times until he found a large flat field outside the Everfree forest, he lessened the throttle and created a landing pattern after circling the pattern a few times he landed on a patchy section of grass. The jet shuddered and shook as it rolled across the grass, Scott deployed the air brakes and slowed the MiG down. As the jet came to a steady stop Scott pulled it into a cluster of trees and switched off the engine. He undid his seat belt and took off his helmet.

"There we go. Miss Faust, welcome to Equestria."

The canopy slid open and Scott jumped out, he tossed his helmet on the pilots seat and helped Lauren out of the jet. As set her helmet on her seat and let Scott help her down, he then jumped back up on the wing and closed the canopy.

"So where do we go now?" Lauren asked.

"Ponyville of course," Scott said as he jumped down next to her, "But I need to do something first, you go ahead and wait for me outside this grove."

Lauren didn't object, she knew that now there was no chance of escape and she didn't really care too much anymore. Scott had said that he was going to take her to Ponyville and she knew what the place would look like, even if it was half destroyed. Not wanting to wander off Lauren waited under a tree, in a place she had created, there might have been something that she didn't take into consideration and she needed someone like Scott to show her the way.

"Right I'm ready," Scott said from behind her. Lauren turned around and was stunned ridged, walking over to her was a steel gray pony. It's mane was exactly the same as Scott's, black and silver colored with a swept back appearance. It also had the same burned arm or foreleg and Lauren could see the stallion's blue eyes and a small red stone around his neck.

"Okay, let's get going," the pony said, he also sounded like Scott.

"S-Scott?" Lauren said. The stallion nodded.

"You okay? You might want to hold onto something."

Lauren lost her balance, shocked by the sight. She staggered and then fainted. For a few minutes all she could see was darkness but she could hear some sort of distorted voice.

"Hey. Miss Faust? Can you hear me?"

"Where am I?" Lauren asked.

"Just relax," the voice said, "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't warn you."

Lauren felt herself being propped up against something, her vision was returning and just as earlier there was the pony. He was sitting beside her rubbing the back of his head. Lauren sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Let me get this straight, are you Scott Websly?"

The stallion nodded and conjured up a full water bottle from the air.

"I'm sorry about shocking you," Scott said as he handed the water to Lauren, "There's a few things I failed to tell you and I promise you that I'll tell you what to expect from now on as we make our way to the town."

"How did you make the water?" she asked.

"The Element of Chaos can do a lot more than just this. It's okay, trust me."

Lauren drank the water and handed the empty bottle to Scott, who took it and crushed it between his hooves. There was no evidence of the bottle when Scott brushed his hooves off on the grass.

"So, Scott," Lauren said. Scott looked up as she stood back up, his head only came up to her elbow. "When are we going to Ponyville?"

"Now, just stick by my side and I'll show you the way."

Scott and Lauren made their way to Ponyville, as they did Scott explained the Element Of Chaos to Lauren. She was quite interested to hear about what he was able to do with the powers that Discord gave him, Scott even explained how he got the burns on his arm. The time where he save the Cutie Mark Crusaders from a Manticore in the Everfree forest and how a bond between the fillies and him formed after he saved them from the abusive Chaos Guardians after Discord took over.

"So you took care of them until Discord was killed?" Lauren asked.

"I did what I had to in order to stop them from suffering a painful death," Scott said. Lauren sighed and looked down at Scott.

"What was Discord like?"

"He was okay at first, a little strange and rather polite. But after I killed the Maticore which he sent he punished me for my disobedience, after I learned my lesson I was sent to Canterlot for Luna's birthday, Discord told me that once I get there I was to destroy the Elements of Harmony so he could take over. After I was compromised I managed to escape and then find the Elements, once they were destroyed Discord took over and then he...changed. He became corrupt and I discovered that he was a true psychopath, ponies that were imprisoned were beaten and tortured by the corrupt guards. I was horrified by the atrocities committed and I swore to end it, I formulated a plan and soon I managed to confront Discord and kill him. After that, I got banished to the moon by Celestia and then, well I'm here with you now."

"But the jet," Lauren said quietly, "That was Discord, wasn't it?"

"He's the God of Chaos," Scott said, "Even now I don't think that he's dead."

"Let's just hope that he is."

Several minutes of walking later the two came to the bridge that led to Ponyville. Before they crossed Scott stopped dead. He looked around and cocked his head to one side.

"Something doesn't feel right," he said.

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked. Scott turned around and looked at Lauren.

"Look, it's been a year since the last humans were here and I don't know what their policy is towards our kind is. It's best if you leave the talking to me until they warm up to you, I've got a funny feeling that something has gone badly wrong."

"Did you not get that feeling when you saw the smoke?" Lauren asked.

"I did, but now that we're here the feeling is mutual and much stronger."

"Do you think that there's anyone who can help us?"

"I can think of one pony, one who will sound very familiar to you."

Scott took the lead and Lauren followed, both of them looking around for any signs of life. Lauren was trying to take in as much of the town as she possibly could knowing that this could not be real, not until it was proven real. Scott however was looking around, a mix of confusion and uncertainty on his face. He could see some staring eyes and shadows in the windows of houses and in alleys, Scott slowed down next to Faust and told her to stick close to him. He soon led her to the library where Twilight lived, Scott shook off his nervousness and stepped up to the door. Lauren watched as he rapped on the door and stood back.

"Stay close," Scott said to Lauren.

Scott knocked again and an irritated voice answered.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming."

"That sounds exactly like Tara," Lauren said. Scott stood back and a purple unicorn opened the door, she looked irritated it first and then shocked. Scott just smiled at the unicorn.

"Hi Twilight."

Twilight stood rooted to the spot, a stunned look plastered on her face.

"Scott?" she breathed.

"Did you miss me?"

Twilight didn't reply, she rushed forward and hugged Scott who embraced the welcome. Scott held her head and felt tears of joy trickling down his neck.

"I did miss you, I missed you so much," Twilight said.

"I'm just as happy to see you," Scott said, "So what's been going on?"

Twilight loosened her grip around Scott's neck and saw Lauren behind him, she let go and pulled him behind her.

"Stay back monster!" Twilight exclaimed, Lauren backed up as she watched Twilight's horn glow purple.

"Amazing," she said. Scott jumped up and stood between Twilight and Lauren.

"It's okay, she's not going to hurt you."

"How can I trust your former kind after what they did to us?" Twilight said.

"Look, I'll explain everything later but we really need to get inside."

Twilight looked at Lauren and then to Scott.

"How can I trust the human?"

"Because if I didn't trust her then she wouldn't be here," Scott said. Twilight stood back and let Scott and Lauren in, she looked unsure when Lauren entered her library but she went with it since Scott had said that he trusted her. Lauren looked around, agape at the new environment.

"What's up with her?" Twilight asked Scott.

"It's just like the show," Lauren said, "Everything is here, the books, the desks, everything."

"Almost everything," Twilight said sadly as her ears drooped. Scott placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Something up?"

"Spike walked out on me."

"What?" Lauren asked as she walked over, "How could he do that?"

Twilight shifted her view from Lauren to Scott, she didn't want to lay eyes on the human until she could trust her.

"Spike left here three days after the Changelings were expelled, he said that he didn't want to live with weak ponies and that he had gone back to the dragons."

"That's not the only thing that's troubling you," Scott said, Twilight looked up at him. Scott sat down next to Twilight. "Come on, tell me everything."

Twilight took a deep breath and then listed what had happened.

"It all started after the Changelings left. A lot of the ponies who had been freed weren't the same, they became bitter and unfriendly. I had arrived in Ponyville shortly after the town was deemed safe and I asked my brother what had happened, he explained everything and once he told me that the culprit had escaped I got mad at him because I knew that Chrysalis had taken his mind and I wanted to help him, we soon fell out and he said that he didn't want too see me ever again. After that it got worse here, the town had been half destroyed and the ponies who were rebuilding gave up thinking that it was too hard and the culprit of the attacks on the town was nearby living in the forest. Pretty soon the town started to fall apart, both structurally and socially. Homes started to crumble and ponies started to become paranoid of each other leading to distrust and hate, this even managed to spread to my friends. All of us haven't seen each other for almost eleven months, I know that the link between us and the Elements of Harmony has been broken."

"What happened to your friends?" Scott asked Twilight. Lauren leaned closer to hear.

"Rainbow Dash was the first to change. During the attack her wing had been badly damaged and she hasn't been able to fly ever since, she became really hostile and she didn't want to see any of us again. I haven't seen her flying or trying to fly ever since. Rarity was the next one to leave us, she didn't say much but the last time I saw her she was slumped over a table weeping. When I asked her what was wrong she said that she had lost all inspiration and creativity, she also tells me that Sweetie Belle has become malevolent and rude, refusing to see or do anything with Rarity. Applejack disappeared a day after what happened to Rarity. She went back to her farm and every few days I would see her bucking trees by herself, I went to ask her why her brother and sister weren't helping her, Applejack said that she could do it herself and she didn't say another word after that. I'm sure that you passed the farm and saw how many apple trees are left alive, because after a month almost all of them are dead. Now because of that we're suffering a famine and a lot of ponies moved out of town. But the famine was overshadowed by Pinkie, our beloved party pony has now become antisocial and depressed, almost like what happened when we didn't show up for her party but worse. I remember when Rainbow Dash told me that she had made friends out of inanimate objects but this time she just says in her room and stares out of the window. Ponyville has never been the same since Pinkie changed. As for Fluttershy, her own animal friends betrayed her and now they either moved away or have staked out and wreaked her home. This has happened so many times that Fluttershy has stayed here a few times because she's afraid of her own pet rabbit, I only saw her a week ago and I'm really worried. As for the rest of Equestria, I don't know if you heard what happened."

Scott placed a hoof on Twilight's cheek and he made her look at him.

"I heard what happened, Twilight, and I'm going to help fix it."

Twilight smiled a little but when she saw Lauren it dropped.

"Is she going to mess things up like the last human?"

"Who was the last human?" Lauren asked. Twilight sighed and stood up.

"His name was Douglas O'Riley, he was the one who was affected by Chrysalis' mind changing spell. She managed to get Douglas to work for her until he got rid of the Changelings, even though he did that he hit my brother in the face and made some sort of gesture at him before he vanished in the forest. At lot of ponies believe that he's waiting to attack again."

Scott sighed and walked over to the door.

"We can worry about Douglas later, but for now, let's get our five friends back."