Re:Harmony

by starcross7

5 - Dreams of the World Above

Chapter 5 - Dreams of the World Above

As usual, Trixie lagged behind scared, worried, and cautious. Yet Sparkle did not intend to head over to the Chasm that was her usual playground.

The two fillies had no idea how high up they went in the caverns. Reckless exploration was forbidden by Velvet’s decree, but that didn't stop Sparkle from finding various hiding places for many of the technological surface wonders she unearthed.

But there were wonders she simply could not take back with her. She could tell her brethren about her secret sanctuary in the upper levels, but that wouldn't just spoil the magic. If she told them, Velvet would immediately erect an enchanted barrier or physically sealing the pathway to keep her daughter from further developing her obsession with the surface world.

"Sparkle," said Trixie. "We're going to be late for our first Magisister exam. Even if you are her daughter, the Chieftain will seriously punish you!"

"We'll make it in time," smiled Sparkle. "Besides, I want to pray to the sun so I can pass."

"I'll say. You'll definitely need all the blessings from the Celestial Gods if the Chieftain is our proctor."

"Okay, we're here."

The area looked like just all the other cave structures that surrounded Unicornia: plain and small. Yet in the middle, Trixie beheld to her gaping amazement a single narrow pillar of light rising from the floor and piercing the ceiling.

"What manner of magic is this?"

"This is no magic. It's actual sunlight."

"We're really this high up?"

"I don't know," Sparkle walked into the pillar of light, initially shocking Trixie who believed that it might actually set her friend ablaze. For a while, Sparkle basked in the warmth of the pillar of light, and exhaled a long relaxing sigh.

"So warm," said Sparkle. "Trixie, you should take a look at this. You can almost see the sky."

"Well, okay."

Before any of the two fillies moved, they heard a distant boom not unlike they heard in the caves. Fearing a possible cave-in, neither of them moved nor spoke.

But Sparkle looked up through the narrow hole that led up the surface and the sky. Moments later, a rainbow-colored energy wave barreled down into the caves and struck Sparkle, imbuing her with untold amount of energy that sent the inside of her body and soul ablaze.

Then suddenly, everything turned white.

---

She woke to a familiar hummed tune she had not heard for a long time. Sparkle saw her mother's back close to her bedside, where she had just replaced another cold towel with a warm one fresh from the bowl.

Velvet now had an eye patch over her left eye.

"Mother, I'm sorry."

"Don't talk. Just rest."

Sparkle was so unused to her mother acting so motherly that at first it felt unsettling. Velvet had no stern words to say to her daughter. There were no commands issued, and no prospects of intense magical discipline. Quietly, she stayed by her daughter's side for many hours and took on knitting to pass the time.

"How long was I out?" asked Sparkle before she received her almost tasteless soup.

"A few days."

"Is everypony all right?"

"We... suffered losses."

"What about the orange earth pony? Applejack?"

"As much as I want to personally throw her from the top of the Chasm, we were forced to keep her under house arrest for the time being."

"Thank the stars."

"But I am not doing this for your sake. We ran into complications when we attempted to escort her out of our village. At first I didn't want to believe it, but I knew right when Minuette told me about your worsening condition that somehow during your magical outburst you transferred a part of your soul into the accursed Element of Truth."

"The Element of Truth? That means they're all real! I can't believe she had it all along. But what does the Element of Truth have something to do with holding parts of souls?"

"I can't be sure, but her appearance with one of the Six Elements does mean that the Starswirl Prophecy is coming true."

"Then I must be the Unicorn Betrayer that was foretold."

"That has yet to be seen. Rest now, my Sparkle. I have to prepare my announcement to the council tomorrow."

"Wait. Tell me about Trixie. What happened to her?"

"She's gone."

Velvet's cold gaze back to her daughter made Sparkle's heart sink further in personal guilt. It was too good to be true to have, for the first time in recent memory--a motherly Velvet.

Trixie was gone. After Sparkle, she was the one of the most powerful magisisters in the village. She wasn't just a friend and a study mate. Trixie was like a sister to her, and Sparkle slowly beat herself inside for allowing all this tragedy to transpire.

Yet she wanted to believe that Trixie was alive somehow and somewhere. Mother was certainly not going to dash her hopes just yet.

Almost an hour had passed since Velvet had left to tend to other matters. Sparkle had eventually realized that this room was not hers, and perhaps its owner was a unicorn who had been killed by the Clone Soldiers. Despite her mother's command, she did not want to rest. Disobeying her was still as natural as ever in the calm after the battle.

She gained enough strength to get off her bed and walk out of the house. The dimmed sun spell illuminated the ruined village where many of stony buildings had been turned into scorched rubble. However, some semblance of cleanliness and order had been restored since the aftermath of the attack. The streets were at least clean, but there were still many homes left in ruin. Very few unicorns were seen trotting about their business, but none seemed to have paid Sparkle any revulsion or acknowledgement. Perhaps they blamed her for bringing Applejack to their caverns, or perhaps they were afraid of the raw magical outburst she had released when she saw her fellow villagers in mortal danger.

Sparkle surveyed the damage with a short walk and tried to find anypony she could speak to. Then, in a familiar cleaning that was once a back lot where the foals played, she saw a lone gray stallion with a parchment as his Destiny Glyph somberly tending to a makeshift graveyard. There weren't too many of them, perhaps twenty or so, and Sparkle feared that she knew all of them. There were names etched on some of the gravestones. The rest remained blank.

Trixie wouldn't be buried there, she convinced herself. She was about to ask the stallion she knew to be Written Script if they found her body, but he had already trotted away without even acknowledging her presence. She could chase after him, but she didn't want to upset him any further. With a heavy heart, she approached the graves, and immediately recognized all the names that had been written thus far. There had been gravesites for others in many other parts of the cave system, mostly for the unicorns who had died of old age, diseases, and unfortunate accidents, but to have one within the village meant that they would soon abandon this one and carve out another one.

In the corner of her eye, Sparkle noticed a unicorn colt staring angrily at a partially ruined house a few paces away. A short time later and straining with fury, he levitated a stone and shot it through the window.

"Go away Earthian!"

Applejack. Sparkle never thought they would use a vacant albeit ruined house as a prison, but it wasn't like the earth pony would be able to simply walk out of Unicornia. Obviously, hex stones had been placed around the house to restrict Applejack's movements.

"Kuiper, what are you doing here?" asked Sparkle. "Shouldn't you be at home?"

"I don't have a home any more."

"What about your parents?"

"They're all dead, and it's all because of her and her earth pony kind! I hate them! I hate them all!"

The little colt ran away in tears, and as much as Sparkle wanted to comfort the little pony whom she taught a spell or two, no words would ever heal the deep wound in his heart.

For more pressing matters, Sparkle poked her head into the house and saw a naked Applejack winding up her rope. Upon noticing her visitor, the orange pony blushed and immediately threw her duster coat over her body.

"You should knock first," she said.

"Sorry. I forgot earth ponies are sensitive about revealing their Nature's Call. Should I wear something over my flank?"

"You don't have to, but don't wave it around."

"Have they been treating you well?"

"They haven't been treating me, period. Had to dress my own wounds and whatnot. Sometimes I find food and water left in front of my doorstep. It's still better than the scraps I had to scrounge for when I was on the run."

"So you crossed the Chasm to escape from those Clone Soldiers."

"Bingo. I'm a rebel opposed to the current government of Gaea. If you want to blame somepony, blame them. Although I wouldn't blame y'all if you blamed me for luring them over here. You shoulda killed me when you found my body."

"I would never do such a thing, whether you were a unicorn or an earth pony. Besides, you have something that has been told to me through prophecies and legends."

"So they told you about the Element of Truth, huh?"

"You have to tell me where you got it and how it works."

"All I know that my family have been holdin' on to this for who knows how long. Magic ain't my strong suit, and I have no idea how this thing works exactly. This here Element of Truth sort of chose me. It isn't anythin' I can explain other than the fact that I can transform it into a sword and allows me to see through ponies' lies. I tell you, the entire government is built upon a mountain of lies. So tell me, what does your unicorn history tell you about the history of the beginning of the Great Pony War?"

"Well, my mother told me that it was caused by a small group of earth ponies opposed to the Unification upon the assassination of Chancellor Puddinghead."

"Your mother was right on the mark."

"What were you taught on Gaea?"

"Aside from Smart Cookie being the one who was framed and later executed for murderin' Puddinghead, they also told us that it was the unicorns who manipulated him in doing so. We Apples are descended from Smart Cookie, and I'm the last. I intend to clear my family name by assassinating Chancellor Posey and topple the government, but I can't do it with just one Element of Creation. I need the other five in order to fulfill my goals."

"So you know about them as well."

"Not many in Gaea believe in them, but this here Truth Element tells me that they exist. However, I need to find an alicorn thing that is said to be able to find the rest of them."

"An alicorn?"

"I don't know what it is either, but I can't exactly do it when your ma placed all these hexes around my house and the caves. I have a feelin' they plan on separating me from my Element by force."

"Did they tell you that half my soul is transferred over to you through the Element?"

"No, but that couldn't be the reason they hadn't done me in, could it? Other ponies in the past tried to take my Element, but they usually ended bein' severely injured or killed by it."

"Does your Element know?"

"Like I said, magic ain't my strong suit. I don't know much about my Element, and it only wants me to know the truth when it needs to. So far, what you told me aren't lies."

"I think I'll need to test that."

"I told you the truth so far, sugarcube."

"I meant to test the theory that my soul has been split in half."

"Are ya sure? Your mother looked awfully worried when they told her that your body went cold."

"I don't remember that happening, but I still need to know for sure. Do you know when that happened?"

"Couple days ago when they were about to blast me off a top cliff in the Dark Ravine. Why do you ask?"

"I have an idea what is going on, but I need to leave you for moment. You will be all right when I am away, right?"

"I'll manage. I don't see anypony trying to steal my Element as of yet, and I like to see them try."

"I'll come back as soon as I can so we can talk some more. I must know more about the surface world."

Sparkle trotted backwards to make sure no unicorn would magically de-cloak from his or her invisibility spell and assault Applejack, but she knew well that under Velvet's watch, any kind of disorder would not be tolerated, even against a prisoner.

The purple unicorn had acquired an important clue about her predicament. If her body went cold when they attempted to throw Applejack off the upper levels of the Chasm, then distance might be a factor in keeping her halves of her soul linked and functioning. Many of her brethren believed in souls, while Sparkle remained skeptical of their existence. If not science, there had to at least be a magical reason for souls, but to bring one of the six Elements of Creation in play, all logic might as well be thrown out the window.

Based on her calculations, the distance from Unicornia and the upper levels of the Chasm was almost a kilometer. She would have to leave Applejack and her village for longer than she intended, and the first path she sought after was the one heading towards her secret cave that was five hundred meters away. Beyond that was a more dangerous path, but she surmised that it was a good five hundred more meters further.

Passing through the village and into the cavern paths, Sparkle saw piles of Clone Soldier armor and weapons gathered next to one of the exits. The further she went towards her secret cave, the more she saw the empty armor husks of the Clones thrown against the wall as if they were struck by a powerful magical shockwave. These weren't the ones Applejack had slain not too long ago, and the more she passed through, the more she saw. Sparkle never expected her magical overload to reach this far, but at least the threat had been extinguished.

She finally arrived at her secret cave that had remained untouched during the razing of Unicornia. Instead of continuing on further she went inside and flipped the wall switch she installed to control lighting. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered on. There was still battery power left.

Sparkle slowly walked through all the gathered trinkets organized on makeshift hooks, ledges, tables, and bookshelves along almost every square inch of her sanctuary. Each item elicited a unique memory for Sparkle, like how she used a worn hydraulic service manual to create a makeshift water pump, which failed despite days of excitement of building it. Another was an old computer monitor that she managed to hook up to a computer motherboard. When it turned on, the initial image shocked her friend Trixie so much that she blew a hole in it with her magic. There was also the incident that she shared toothpaste with Minuette, who then, after thinking it was a sweet snack, became sick after ingesting the entire contents of the tube.

Besides trinkets of technological wonders, Sparkle had collected many literatures washed up on the Chasm's polluted river shores. Many of them were hateful propaganda posters that called for earth ponies to rally against pegasi and traitors. Those she kept rolled up in a shelf she built, but there was one poster she took extra care to hang up and frame at the very end of her secret cave.

Beneath the glass panel was a worn poster advertising a Gaea military air show over at Appleloosa of some unknown date. Aside from the obvious propaganda of earth pony aviators saluting to the Palace of the Earth, Gaea's flag, and propeller planes flying in the foreground, the rest of the poster showcased foals and their parents running across green fields of grass and flowers under a yellow and orange sun. The idyllic fields in the poster served as her ideal vision of what the surface world should look like for not just earth ponies, but also for unicorns, pegasi, and all the other sentient creatures of the world. At every chance she got, Sparkle would lie down and stare at the poster, especially after the rigorous training her mother put her through. She dreamt of living in that world, where the current Chieftain was nothing but a loving mother and her father and brother were by her side. Perhaps she would make non-unicorn friends. Perhaps there she would find a boyfriend, get married, and have children.

Yet with Unicornia being relocated further away from the Chasm, her dream might never come true, and there would be no way to carry all of her collection to the new village. Even if she did, many more years would pass by, and Sparkle deeply feared that she would lose interest in the world above and become content in living underground for the rest of her life. She just did not want to forsake her father or her brother. They had to be alive. They had to.

Suddenly, she felt a jolt of pain rippling throughout her body, but it did not feel like the physical pain she was used to. She felt the pain deep within her being as well as a sensation in the back of her heart that she was being moved elsewhere. This must be what her mother talked about: Applejack carrying half her soul.

Then she felt another jolt of pain from within. Sparkle did not feel as if her other half being moved further. Rather, she felt her soul being stripped forcefully and shackled to the ground. She felt the hateful eyes of almost a hundred beings staring down upon her, while one set bore down her with cold execution.

This wasn't right. Her mother would never kill a pony, especially with magic, but the real reason why Applejack was restrained was not because of her presence or the attraction of the Clone Soldiers.

The Element of Truth… Legend has it that it and the other five once comprised of the Element of Creation, a powerful magical artifact that had the ability to remake the world, and if necessary, destroy it in the process. Velvet had deep reservations of the Elements, and whenever Sparkle tried to discuss it, she was promptly told to never speak of it again.

But if the Element of Truth could not simply be taken from Applejack by force…

Quickly, Sparkle sprang to her hooves and galloped as fast and hard as she could back to Unicornia, only to find it deserted. There was only one other place they would have taken Applejack, and it would be the Endless Pits. She hurried towards its entrance, knowingly tripping a hex barrier put in place by her mother. Immediately, Sparkle performed a teleportation spell to arrive in front of Applejack, but as usual, Velvet was quick to pluck her daughter out of the aether subspace and slam her into the ground in before her stern eyes.

Applejack stood naked and magically shackled on the ground to be surrounded by all of the unicorns of the village. But the only open area was the ledge leading down into the Endless Pits, where Sparkle knew where Velvet had thrown all of her confiscated surface world trinkets, never to be seen again.

"Mother," Sparkle cried. "You're going to kill her? That goes against our tribe’s laws!"

"The laws only apply to the unicorn tribe," replied Velvet.

"It's the same thing because killing her means killing me!"

"I do not intend to kill you my young daughter. The Magisters and I are going to perform an incantation to forcefully separate the Element of Truth from the Earthian."

"But it can't be removed through any means!"

"There is one way: I will have to kill the original holder and become the next bearer so that your half of your soul will be placed in proper hooves. Now stand back."

Immediately, Sparkle teleported right in front of Applejack and lowered her horn in a fighting stance towards her mother.

"Sugarcube, you don't have to do this," whispered Applejack. "It was my fault after all."

"This isn't the way we should be doing this!" Sparkle cried out to all the unicorns, her mother specifically.

"She's an earth pony," said Velvet. "She is a stranger to our race and has brought misfortune upon our village. Many had died because of her, and that's reason enough."

"Don't take a step further! If you do, I won't hesitate to use my magic again. Against all of you! If this is the way we should treat non-unicorns, then we deserve to be extinct!"

"Are you willing to go that far for a stranger? It was her kind that cursed us to live underground."

"Yes. Therefore, I, First Magisister Sparkle, challenge you, Chieftain Twilight Velvet to a Magic Duel. If I win, I earn the right to travel with Applejack across the Chasm."

"And if you lose?"

"Then Applejack and I will throw ourselves into the Endless Pit along with the Element of Truth. Win or lose, my life or death will only benefit our village."

"You are awfully confident that whatever destiny has in store for you will be the correct path. Very well. You shall meet me here within one hour's time. I'd advise you to prepare as much as you can."

Upon Velvet's nod, Minuette and the other Magisters and Magisisters dispersed the glowing magical shackles that wrapped around Applejack's limbs and tail, giving her a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before turning to the side and covering her Nature's Call with her tail. Excepting Twilight, the unicorns eventually dispersed back to their homes, and they had left aside the orange pony's belongings by the entrance as if they were discarded for being unclean. Though dusty and dirtied, Applejack harbored no anger against her captors, and had put on her overcoat and hat after tidying them up.

"Sugarcube," said Applejack, "you sure you can beat your own ma? I hope you still have that magical power you used against them Clones."

"I'm more worried that I might end up accidentally killing her."

"By the way she's actin', I think this village deserves a better Chief."

"I may not agree with her actions, but she is still my mother. Applejack, can you still walk?"

"Can I? I've been roughed up much worse before."

"Then if it's not too much to ask, I want you to help me train. Trixie usually helps me, but..."

"I'm sorry."

The two said nothing more, and somberly Applejack followed Sparkle to her training ground.

Comments

[Jirodyne]

Traitor Unicorn? Trixie Missing? Well we know she is alive and the Traitor now... and Chancellor Posey? Well we know who Fluttershy is too...

[Commander Darklight]

3661127 wouldnt suprise me if trixie is the trator

[Shining Dawn]

Oh my god, I love this fic! it reminds me of my favorites.
The pacing is a bit too fast. The story could use more detail and dialogue to slow it down.

[TheDeolex]

6144760

I agree. The pacing is a bit fast.

[Iamawesome]

Wow, I'm really starting to dislike your version of Trixie. She seems to be like one of these overly religious people who act on every stupid lie the right person tells them and never question their beliefs. (She might also be a traitor, but that's just a bonus)

[Misty Horse]

6144760

Agreed.

What the crap is the last paragraph about? That is way too random...

Just as a note, a better word to replace 'excepting' would be 'excluding'.

[starcross7]

7476339
It looks like someone's comments got mixed up with my chapter.

That has now been corrected.

[M4Tiger4014]

7477354 They kind of had a point. Really enjoying this, but some more world-building to understand what the actual fuck is going on would be nice

[Cylindryk]

Okay, I'm after 5 chapters and here are my thoughts:
Idea and lore is great. Very big potential, it could be maybe even another Fallout Equestria.
But it's missing more lore building. Dialogues are okay, but for me you are trying too much hasten your story, to some very bad extreme, when reader is lost, who is saying what and why. This chapter is a little above 4k words - In my opinion, even double that, but slow down, add something else than only dialogues. Of course action is important, but story witch only action is not really good. There should be some more scenes from village, from secret room of Sparkle, maybe more punishment than simple levitating rocks. Try to tell what your heroes are doing when speaking, where they are looking, what tone they are using and what they are thinking. Some more prequel, like what exatly is going on on the surface (because we know then unicorns know at least a little, like clones* and how to "try" to deal with them, they know that surface has a technology (quite advanced) and even know how to operate them, even if a little.

And... why did you kill Trixie? Did she really have to die? But, it's coming for Trixie fan... but yeah, Trixie alive and taking role as Cheftain daughter after Sparkle... banishment/journey will be good. Now I'm just sad, because she never did anything usefull here. :(

*About clones... I sense too much Star Wars here, but I'm coruios where you take it. Also, if they are SW clones, then your vision about them is... not really cannonical accorsing to Clone Wars, where they are organic killing machines, but they are also a living beings with feelings. But I wait with opinion about that for some time.

[paladinwolf]

a.wattpad.com/cover/75652375-352-k309433.jpg

[The Ohvist]

7979103
They story establishes that these Clones are made by means of a Mirror Pool like from Too Many Pinkie Pies, and that the only ones that get cloned are venerated war heroes and highly-decorated soldiers... and that because of overuse of this Cloning process, the Mirror Pools are slowly starting to dry up, forcing Gaea to create synthetic Mirror Pool Water which is less-effective than the real stuff and prone to more mental instqbilities in the Clones created by it.