Return of Harmony, part 3
20. Return of Harmony, part 3
Pain. It was all she knew. The agony of what she had just been put through, the sensation of her soul beginning to fall apart. How easy it would be to let go, to let herself unravel, to cease to be, to bring an end to the pain.
But then there was the voice. That oh so familiar voice that she clung to like a lifeline. Each time she sank to this point, when the pain was no longer being inflicted she would hear the voice, and she would come back to herself. Equations, variables, constants...the formulae of existence brought her back to herself. She listened as the voice spoke of relative densities, water pressure, temperature stabilization, magical quantities and vectors...
"You're talking about the cloud conversion formulas to make building materials, aren't you?" she asked, extending her awareness, opening her metaphorical eyes to look up into the rainbow colored light that was her only image of her friend.
There was a chuckle, and a smile could be heard in the response. "Got it in one, Twi," Rainbow replied. "You're good at this. I'm starting to run out of new equations to throw at you."
Twilight Sparkle managed to raise her essence up off the floor of the cage they were in. "Well, I've still got a few more Daring Do books in my head, so no worries there." A round of chuckles - somewhat hollow sounding - echoed around the cage.
As Twilight held herself together, she glanced around at the others in the cage with her, matching each cloud of light to the name and persona she had grown to know, the ones she called her friends. With each mental reaffirmation, she brought herself closer to herself again.
The orange glow was Applejack, current head of Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. She was as honest as anypony came, never wavering from the situation they were in. When they talked about their pasts, and those moments that shaped them, Applejack invariably spoke of the farm or her little sister, Apple Bloom. Apparently, Applejack was the closest her little sister had ever known to a mother, and AJ's determination to be the best big sister she could derived from one moment when Apple Bloom was very young...when she had called her Mama.
The somewhat faded pink glow was Pinkie Pie, the party expert of Ponyville. She lived her life for others sake, always throwing parties for everypony to make them smile. Her passion was spreading joy to others, but her own past had her own specters of regret. Her presence in Ponyville was because she had never returned to her family and home community at the end of her rumspringa, and her relationship with her parents and siblings had become strained due to the infrequent nature of letter deliveries between Ponyville and the place of her birth, a town so small and far off the beaten path that it didn't even have a name, known colloquially as 'The Rock Farm'. As much as she enjoyed her life in Ponyville, she often found herself yearning for the more close knit community she had left behind. Those regrets, and the lack of true bonds she had within Ponyville itself, had weakened her, and she had the hardest struggle of all of them to maintain her spiritual stability. She had broken not long ago, but a green light had filled her and stabilized her.
The yellow glow was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash's oldest friend and the animal caretaker of Ponyville. She was the strongest of them all here, and her light still shone the brightest. Whenever they had begun to lose hope, she had spoken, and convinced them all to hold on. If not for her, at least one of them would have faded by now...something they knew they must not do. According to Rainbow, Fluttershy was normally incredibly shy and reserved, but wouldn't flinch from anything if those she cared about truly needed her, and was always there to lend her shoulder to lean - or cry - on. Apparently, like everyone else, their personalities and strong bond had been shaped by an incident from their shared youth, one that had ended with Rainbow having one of Fluttershy's kidneys and Fluttershy developing a pathological fear of having her picture taken. And yet, despite Fluttershy's fearful nature, she had stood up to their captor, and he could do nothing to her no matter how hard he tried...and his attempts had eventually become little more than perfunctory.
The white glow was Rarity, the fashonista of Ponyville. (Twilight had pondered once why, aside from herself and Spike, everyone captured like this was from Ponyville.) She had bonded strongly with Spike - the purple and green glow that never moved far from her side - shortly after their arrival. While a bit of a dramatic, this had apparently appealed to Spike. When Rarity had bemoaned her fate, acting like a cliché damsel in distress, Spike had begun to strut, promising he would protect her. Rarity had taken to calling Spike her knight in shining armor. Upon learning that Spike was, in fact, a dragon, she had simply said that no armor could possibly shine as much as well polished scales. Rarity's own worries primarily focused around her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, and others within Ponyville for whom she felt a sense of obligation.
Rarity's story from her past had hit them all quite hard, when she had explained why she dedicated herself so much to her work. Apparently, everything that didn't go into keeping the business running and growing went into Sweetie Belle's college fund. Not only that, she actually scaled her prices up and down, to ensure that all of her clientele could afford her best at a price at which they would value it. She credited this to a time in her life when Sweetie Belle was still going through the magic surges of the unicorn foal. One surge had been too powerful...and Sweetie Belle's horn had shattered.
Her family had immediately rushed Sweetie Belle to the hospital, both for the damage to her horn and for other injuries caused by the explosion. However, Sweetie had lost too much blood for a foal her age, and without immediate transfusion wouldn't make it. To top it off, she had a rare blood antitype, which she only shared with her great-grandfather who had died 20 years before.
However, an old unicorn stallion - looking to be easily on his last legs - was also in the hospital and happened to have the right blood type. He freely agreed to give her his blood and - when he saw what had happened to her horn - told the doctors to give her his horn as well. He apparently was already close to death, so told the doctors to harvest his horn while he still lived so that the graft would have a greater chance of taking.
Rarity was not yet 10 years old at this time, and had been shocked at such selflessness. She had asked the stallion for his name, so she could remember his generosity. She would always remember that moment, staring into his green eyes, his brown coat and green mane both going gray, his Cutie Mark - a tree stump - inexplicable. "Call me...the Giver," he said calmly.
The horn graft took, and Sweetie made a full recovery. The Giver had also told the doctor's to give Rarity his carbuncle - the focal point within the horn for a unicorn's magic - so that she could find some good use for it, rather than letting it molder in the ground. She still kept it in her jewelry box, as a reminder of his selflessness and an example for herself to follow.
They had all spent a long time talking, getting to know each other, and bonding as friends. In this place, there was little else to do...save wait for their captor to return. Wait for Tirek to once more take one of their souls for torment.
It didn't matter how much they fought him. They had no true bodies here, and could not harm him. At least, that's how it had seemed until two events. Once, when he had tried to grab Rarity, Spike had...changed. An animalistic snarl echoed from him and he had...slashed at Tirek somehow. The great red beast had pulled back, howling in agony, but he had returned, knocking Spike back and grabbing Rarity. Spike wasn't sure what had happened to him in that moment...but the slash had also temporarily damaged the cage they were in. Despite hope that it was a way of escape, Spike hadn't been able to bring forth that power again.
The other time, Rainbow had been close to breaking during one of her...sessions under Tirek's attentions. Then, without warning, a surge of Rainbow colored light had exploded from her, and that light had seared away a good amount of Tirek's flesh. The light had continued to pulse off of Rainbow Dash for some time after she was returned to the cage, and it had given them all strength. Unfortunately, like with Spike, Rainbow had no idea where the energy had come from, or how to call on it again.
It had been a long time, but they all knew they had to hold on. After all, they had figured out Tirek's motivation. They were still linked to their bodies, and Tirek sought to use that connection to channel his power into Equestria, and break the barrier that locked him out. If they gave in - allowed themselves to unravel - the barrier would fall. For the sake of everyone they cared for, they could not allow themselves to break. ...but each time Tirek tormented them, holding on was harder, and they were running out of ways to bring each other back from the brink.
Tirek watched them, as always, one eye on the cage and the other on a spell screen, giving him a view of Equestria. He seemed perturbed about something, but that did little to assuage Twilight's fears in this situation. She turned to the others. "How's everyone holding up?"
"As best as can be expected, sugarcube," Applejack replied. "But I don't know how much longer we got."
"I know what you mean," Rarity replied. "If something doesn't change soon...it may be too late."
"Don't worry, girls," Fluttershy said calmly. "I'm sure things will change for the better soon."
"That's right!" Spike said confidently. "We've got to hold onto hope. After all...it's all we've got left."
For some reason, Twilight thought she felt a brief pulse of energy, and she saw Tirek stand up. "Hold together everyone. Here he comes."
"And here we come!" Pinkie said, pointing, looking somewhat confused.
Everyone - even Tirek - turned to follow the direction of Pinkie's point. Approaching them across the molten landscape were six ponies who Twilight recognized. One was herself, and the other five matched how each of her friend's had described themselves.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Why are...we here?"
"Umm...I think the more important question might be...if that's not us, who is it?" Rarity asked calmly.
Rainbow, however, seemed to be examining them closely. "So Twilight, the purple one's you, right?"
"Yes Rainbow," Twilight replied. "That's my body. I did give a pretty good description of myself, didn't I?"
"Not really," Rainbow said calmly. "You said you were plain."
Twilight was secretly glad she did not have cheeks at the moment, as no blush could possibly be visible.
Tirek approached the approaching ponies. "So," he said, his voice menacing, "you have come. To rescue the originals? To face me in my own realm?"
Twilight - or at least her body - smirked up at Tirek. "Yes, Trigon, we have."
Tirek seemed momentarily taken aback. "Who are you that you know my true name?"
The one in Twilight smiled. "Here's two words to help you guess." A pitch black aura suddenly surrounded Twilight's body. "Titans, Go!"
As the six ponies leapt into battle, Tirek staggered back in shock. "WHAT?"
------------
Raven directed her magic in as heavy blows as she could against Trigon's legs, aiming to destabilize his footing. The team needed to hold his attention for as long as possible, so that Beast Boy's plan - discussed within the portal at the last minute - would have a chance to work. Jinx was at her side, also striking hard with her magic. Melvin was up in the air, directing Bobby into heavy - and invisible - physical assaults. Starfire was flying around firing her starbolts at full strength. Robin had been fully rearmed by Discord, and threw freeze discs that - for some reason - resembled apples. Cyborg had shot straight up into the air in order to build up momentum on his return trip.
As Cyborg returned, the Sonic Rainboom triggered, and the shockwave cut into Trigon's chest, causing him to howl in agony as Cyborg began to fly circles around the great red beast.
------------
Inside the cage, everyone stared in awe at the battle. Seeing themselves do things they didn't think possible was...intriguing, and a little unnerving.
"What...what is that black energy I - she - I'm wielding?" Twilight asked, shocked.
"I'm interested in those pink energy arcs I appear to be throwing," Rarity replied. "They're quite lovely."
"What in the hay are those things I keep throwing?" Applejack asked in confusion. "How do you fit that much ice into a tiny disc?"
"Umm...I'm a little bit curious about the invisible teddy bear," Fluttershy commented calmly.
"OHMYGOSH! I did a Sonic Rainboom!" Rainbow said excitedly, bouncing up and down with joy as the rainbow colored light once more poured off her, energizing the others.
"I'm flying! I'm shooting green energy balls! I've got eye beams! I'm a super hero!" Pinkie said, bouncing excitedly. "Wish I had my comic books, I might know which one I was! I'm sure those powers seem familiar..."
Spike looked around. "Say...where am I in all this?"
Suddenly, a purple and green bird flew up to the cage, grabbing hold of the bars with its talons. It's shape shifted and contorted, and Spike sat there. "Hey Spike," he said, reaching into the cage. "Care to give yourself a claw?"
-----------
Raven could tell their assault wasn't having the effect they had hoped for. Trigon was starting to resist and regain his footing. This culminated when he smacked Cyborg out of the air. "Crap, that's our heaviest hitter. We really need to-"
"Oh my goodness!" Jinx said suddenly, levitating what looked to be a large boulder. "Would you look at this diamond?"
Raven glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to call it...Tom?"
"I don't know," Jinx replied, using her hexbolts to reshape it into a massive, razor sharp sword. "I'd say he's much more a Vlad, wouldn't you?" She propelled the stone sword at high velocity, catching Trigon off guard as it impaled him through his massive chest.
Melvin suddenly dove down towards Starfire, yanking something out of Star's mane and handing it to Bobby. "Say Trigon, what's soaking wet and clueless?" Bobby then dumped the something - which turned out to be a massive bucket of holy water - over Trigon's head, causing him to howl in agony before the bucket was slammed down. "Your face!" Melvin cried as she bucked the bucket with all her strength at the same time Bobby punched it. The bucket shook, adding a massive sonic barrage to the damage to Trigon.
------------
"Huh?" Spike asked. "What do you mean? Who are you?"
The young dragon with Spike's face grinned at them. "Answers later. Right now, I'm here to bust you all out." He began to tug at the bars. "How do you get this thing open, anyway?"
"We don't know," Twilight said sadly. "The cage opens of its own accord when Tirek comes to take one of us. Other than that..."
"Spike damaged it once," Rainbow said. "Looked like claw marks. But we don't know how. He hasn't been able to do it since."
The one in Spike's body glanced around, thinking. He tried to scratch at the bars. "Huh. Guess it needs more than dragon claws. Must need a dragon soul. Come on, Spike, lend me a claw."
Spike started to reach forward...but hesitated. "I...I can't." He suddenly pulled back into the far corner of the cage.
"Spike?" Twilight asked, confused. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Spikey-Wikey?" Rarity asked, concerned. "What's bothering you?"
"I can't..." he whispered. "I can't let it out..."
Twilight and the others stared in confusion, but the one wearing Spike's face nodded understanding. "You've felt it in you, haven't you? A mad beast, struggling to break free, to rampage."
Spike nodded. "I can't let it out...it'll hurt them...it'll hurt Rarity, and Twilight, and the others...I can't..."
"Spike," the one in Spike's body interrupted, "you don't have to fear the animal inside you. It's a part of you, forged from you. Your most basic instincts, most primal urges...yes, it is an animal, uncivilized and brutal...but it wants all the same things you do. There's nothing to fear.
"How...how do you know?"
"Because I have my own animal inside. I feared it too, once, and kept it locked away. When it got out...it was me. It would not harm my friends...or the one I loved. All it wanted was to protect her, just like I did. ...she told me, having the Beast inside didn't make me a monster. Knowing when to let it out was what made me a man."
Spike looked up. "It's...it's me?"
"That's right. It's you. Stripped of civilized hesitation and reluctance, knowing only what you want and what needs to be done to achieve or protect it. Don't be afraid to let it out." The claw was once more extended. "And if you're still afraid...I know how to handle the Beast inside, and I'll be with you every step of the way."
More confident now, Spike took the extended claw. The body and soul flowed, merging together, and began to expand, shouldering the cage aside and into pieces as it grew.
-----------
Trigon roared in fury, and released a massive wave of power. The sword and bucket both shattered, and everyone was knocked back away from him. His wounds all healed. "Do you truly think you can defeat me in my own realm? You are utter fools. Do you not see? I am invincible!" Something tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned. "What-"
A massive fist flew forward, catching Trigon right on the chin. Trigon flew back like he'd been hit by a speeding meteor. Standing there was a massive green and purple dragon, sparse fur intermixed amongst the scales. Spikes ran up and down its body, across arms and legs, and all along the length of the tail. At the tip of the tail was a wicked looking blade. Massive wings spread from its back. Pure white eyes gazed out calmly, and a strange crystal glowed from the point where it was embedded in the dragon's forehead at the third eye.
The dragon roared its challenge, and leaped after Trigon. The battle had only begun.
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Pose as a team, 'cause shit just got real.
2835062 WE CAN'T POSE HERE, THIS IS TIREK COUNTRY!
...Ok that joke sounded a lot better in my head.
Hot damn! Trigon/Tirek is getting one heck of a tall drink from the glass of Justice from the Teen Titans... a drink made from juices of a can of 120% Whoop-Ass with just a spritz of Boo-yah!!!
.... Did you just crossover Lois Lowry's "The Giver" give us a pretty good bonding moment with Spike and BB, not to mention explain quite clearly what Twi and co have been up to in this chapter?
AWESOME!
2835093 With a bit of "The Giving Tree" mixed in for good measure (Giver's cutie mark being a tree trunk the give away for that).
So glad this is up! Epic chapter is epic, as per usual!
You can almost FEEL Tir-Gun's Oh Buck moment.
2835093>>2835119
Wow. Every reference caught. I'm impressed.
Also, the bit about Rainbow having one of Fluttershy's kidneys is a reference to another of my stories, called "The Perfect Match" if anyone's interested.
OH YEAH! INCOMING BEADOWN!
Never mess with a shapeshifter
ALTERNATIVE: "Here's two words to help you guess: hi, dad."
2835079
mpiremall.info/Smileys/mwo/pose%20as%20a%20team.png
2835192
Sorry, repeat post.
Awesome!!
Also
"By the way, I dating your daughter." Fire Breath to the Face!!
2835313
That would be great, except for two points.
One, that's Beast Boy AND Spike making that dragon.
Two, Beast Boy and Raven aren't actually dating yet.
GODZIRRA! GODZIRRA! Great chapter, keep goin and stay golden^^
This epic chapter deserves some epic music for the epic fighting:
2835346
Wish I'd had that link when I was writing.
2835631
Yep. That's where they've been this entire time. In Trigon's dimension being tortured on a regular basis to create an echo effect that would break down the boundary Discord erected against Trigon.
That is awesome!
Can't wait to see the next chapter. Thanks for the great reading
2835140
Thanks. Keep up the good work!
Shit totally just got so real. Real like a motorcycle jumping over a canyon with fireworks shooting off of it. And explosions.
2835338
ARGH!! I wait almost a month for this to update, and what do I get for my trouble? A STINKIN CLIFFHANGER!!! Other than that, this was an incredibly epic chapter! Update soon!
I love you so much for the "The Giver" reference. That is one of my favorite books to this day outside of the more fantastical fantasy adventure genre.
Also, loved the new tie-in to the Beast, and can't wait to see how this fight turns out. I hope there will be more stuff even after Trigon is beaten and the characters all regain their bodies again! Would love the Titans to exist in pony bodies of their own and actually interact with the Mane 6. Still, if it does not turn out like that, it would be fine too.
Nothing can create stronger friendships than bonding through adversity. This chapter was truly awesome hope we don't have to wait another month for more of this amazing combo of feels and epicness.
Oh YEAH, time for a beat-down by the OP Boss, Spike the Dragon Knight (Beast Boy included)! This is getting more exciting as the story goes on. And, now that the douchebag's attention is off the Mane Six (both set)...
C&Cs:
...when the pain was no longer being inflicted she would hear the voice...
> Comma after ‘inflicted’.
“...but it wants all the same things you do. There's nothing to fear.
> Missing the ending quotation mark.
Wait surly if Rainbow had a kidney transplant that would exclude her from joining the Wonderbolts...
2835367
Well there's always the 'Edit' button.
2836486
Nope. Kidney's have nothing to do with flying ability.
Besides that, organ transplant is still such a rare and difficult procedure amongst ponies that successfully surviving one is considered a sign of quasi-divine providence. Or, in essence, having a transplant actually puts you higher on the list.
2837026
I meant for background music to set the mood for writing it.
2837065
Ah.
2835123
*rewritten multiple times, but in essence it ending up being a simple squee at the appreciation of a great battle about to unfold*
Wut?
Thought you just said they looked like apples.
So, time to have two spirits in one body, mecha fight time, got it.
2838669
The first line is a reference to my other story "The Perfect Match".
The discs are still visibly discs, they just have an apple motif.
And yep, two souls, one body, Beast Dragon Godzilla.
2838682
...Spike Thingy that likes to punch.
2838699
...it's supposed to be a fusion of Spike's giant dragon form and Beast Boy's Beast form.
2838721
So you're saying we need a Hollywood couple's name for this? Speast? Bike? Beast-a-Spike? This is hard.
2838744
Hmm...How about the DraGar? Dra for dragon, Gar for Garfield?
Or the GarSpike?
2838765
or how about
"OH FUCK THERE'S A GIAN DRAGON BEAST HYBRID RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!111ONE
2838931
So...Godzilla-but-not-really-because-that's-copyrighted?
2835140
So it was a reference to the Giver. I wasn't sure.
I need to re-read that book.
2838947
exactly
2838765
Maybe Garike would work. Those Hollywood couple names usually just hack the names in half then paste them together.
2839372
Spifield, then? Pronounced like Spy-field?
*Sees fic is updated*
Has this reaction upon finishing new chapter:
2839386
Should we be combining first and last names or just sticking to first name combinations. Spike doesn't even half a last name that I know of. Hmmm, "Spark", combo of Spike and Mark.