Order-naries

by CTVulpin

Chapter 13

The first thing Soul Mage and Ashen Blaze did with the Emerald was to clean up the mess Trixie had left and take down the phoenix statue to retrieve the Ruby. Several ponies, including the mayor, were upset at the wonderful piece of art being dismantled, but the two unicorns were insistent on making the town square just like it had been before. Once the rocks and dirt were back where they belonged, or at least close enough, they went to rejoin Gold Heart and Gale and found themselves being set upon by Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and, seemingly from nowhere, Pinkie Pie.

"That was so awesome!" Rainbow said, clapping Soul on the back.

"Great job showin' her up," Applejack said, "She ain't gonna show her face round here again now I reckon."

"That statue was just darling,' Rarity said.

"And you got another of your Gems!" Pinkie declared, "I'm going throw you a party!" She dashed off before anyone could respond.

"Girls, please," Ash said, trying to get himself and Soul out of the press, "Give us some space." The trio backed off and Soul slinked over to Heart and Gale while Ash turned to Rarity and pulled out the Emerald. "It's time I fulfilled my promise to you," he said, "And to Twilight, if Zecora hasn't been able to fix Spike."

Rarity blinked in confusion before she remembered. "My house!" she exclaimed happily, "Right! You must get to that, immediately!" She began pushing Ash in the direction of the tangled stone mess where her shop had once stood. Ash chuckled as he let himself be herded. The others followed them at a distance. They arrived at the site, and Rarity sat back, looking expectantly at Ash.

"Ok," the ash-grey unicorn said, moving the Emerald onto the ground in front of him, "Stand back a little folks, and brace yourselves; this might get a bit crazy." He placed one hoof on the Gem and another on the rock in front of him. Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate as his horn took on the same green glow that began to come from within the Emerald. A similar glow began to spread from his outstretched hoof into the rocks, which began to quiver with power. With a resounding Crack they began moving, slowly but surely untangling where possible and breaking apart when they couldn't move past each other. The ground began to shake under the ponies's hooves as the rocks slid back into the ground, and a small crowd began to gather to watch the show. After several minutes, the last of the rocks vanished beneath the ground, leaving a flat, featureless circle of dirt that showed no signs of ever being disturbed. Ash released the Emerald and swayed slightly as he regained his balance and rubbed his forehead at the base of his horn. "There," he said weakly, "No more rock pile. Pardon me."

"Wait, is that all?" Rarity asked as Ash tried to walk away.

"Were you expecting to find your shop all put back together?" Ash asked sourly, looking over his shoulder at Rarity, "The earthquake obliterated it, remember? There wasn't enough left over to build a decent table. So, unless you want a copy made entirely of stone, which would take days of painstaking detail work if I recall the place's appearance right, I've done all I can. Now, please excuse me; I need food." He began to walk away again, only to stop next to Twilight and say, "I need money for food, don't I? Skvetch…"

"Here," Rarity said, walking over to him and holding some bits out to him, "I'm sorry I expected too much from you."

"Keep your money," Ash told her, "You're going to need it more than me. I'll be fine."

"I insist," Rarity said, pushing the money at Ash.

"Calm down Rarity," Applejack said, "He's got a point; yer gonna need a lot of bits ta pay fer rebuildin' yer store. How's about I pay for lunch, fer all of y'all?"

Rarity sighed and put her money away. "Very well," she said, "Thank you Applejack."

"No problem," AJ said. As the group walked off, the orange earth pony leaned toward Ash and said, "By the way, I'd be willin' ta pay if ya do some extra chores 'round the farm." Ash just shot her glance and kept walking.

---

During lunch, the topic of conversation turned toward Soul Mage and Gold Heart. "I haven't seen you two use your special powers very much," Twilight said.

"There hasn't been much reason to," Heart said, "They're more suited to fighting than anything else."

"And,' Soul added, "For some reason I can only guess at, our powers are more restricted in these pony bodies. What you've seen us do is about the extent of it: our spirits link and allow us to lend each other energy, Heart can create the Element Wheel spell, and I can focus the energy into my hooves. I used to be able to form a whip out of the energy, and both of us could fire small blasts of energy. Tau'rin finds those rather painful, so not having access to them is a pain."

"That is an understatement," Ash said. Soul gave him an odd look. "What?" Ash said defensively, "Just because I keep giving you grief over calling it magic doesn't mean I don't think it's useful. Anything that'll help save the world is ok in my book. Not that that's worked out so well up till now," he finished in a mutter.

"What's the matter Ash?" Rainbow asked, "You've got, what, five of your gems now? That Tau'rin guy's not going to stand a chance against you."

"It's not a question of who holds which Gems," Ash said, "So long as all seven are nearby, Tau'rin has the chance to activate the Ultimate Chaos."

"Why not leave a Gem or two behind when you go to fight him?" Rainbow suggested, "If you're fighting him, he can't sneak around behind you and steal them, right?"

"That's not a bad idea," Gale said, "The Diamond's element isn't that useful for fighting. We don't need it."

"If Tau'rin gets the Amethyst, we'll need it to counter the Dark element," Soul pointed out, "And that Gem has a habit of winding up in Tau's hands."

"One of the others then," Gale said, "We've got the entire Classic Element set now, so we don't need to worry about canceling any of those out. Leave the Emerald in somepony's care."

"Last time we did that, somepony's house got eaten by rocks," Ash said with a narrowed eye.

"Simple solution," Soul said, miming spreading out a banner, "Store it under a sign saying 'do not eat under pain of petrification' with a big flashy arrow pointing to it. Modify the text a little and we could leave one of others behind if you're so intent on crushing Tau'rin with a cave-in." Ash just gave his fellow unicorn an unamused look.

"We can't leave any Gems behind," Heart said, "You haven't forgotten about my vision, have you?"

"What vision?" Twilight asked.

"Back when we found the Gems for the first time," Heart explained, "The Diamond did something to me when I picked it up. I was given what I'm sure was either a vision of the future or a prophesy associated with the Gems and Tau'rin. Whatever it was, I distinctly saw all seven Gems being present as Tau'rin was engulfed in their energy and destroyed."

"We've tried to fulfill that thirteen times already Heart," Soul said, "Not once have we accomplished anything besides giving Tau'rin the fuel to destroy another world. It might be time for a new tactic."

"We'll help you," Rainbow Dash said, thumping the table for emphasis, and then looking at Twilight Sparkle, "We do have the Elements of Harmony after all; that ought to count for something."

"I guess so," Twilight said uncertainly.

"Tau'rin seemed to like the touch of your magic as much as he does Soul and Heart's power Twilight," Ash said, "I'd be happy to have you by our side if you're willing. And," he turned toward Gale, "I'll think about leaving a Gem behind if you can find a way to insure it won't get chomped by some random dragon or something."

"Speaking of dragons," Rarity said, "I wonder if Zecora has had any luck restoring Spike."

"I think we should give her one more day to try," Twilight said.

"Why?" Soul asked, "We've got the Emerald now. With it Ash can un-do the petrifying in no time."

"It'll be easier than pie," Ash said when Twilight gave him a curious look, "I shouldn't need anything more than a stick or a piece of chalk to scratch out a simple spell-weave, the Emerald, and half a minute."

"Well then," Twilight said, standing up, "What are you waiting for? Let's go! Oh, and thanks for lunch Applejack."

"Yer quite welcome sugar cube," AJ said with a smile, "Now go get that rascal Spike fixed up." The group waved as Ash and Twilight exchanged a quick nod and galloped out toward the Everfree Forest.

---

On their way to the forest, Ashen Blaze and Twilight stopped to check on Fluttershy. The meek pegasus was fine, having suppressed her own anxiety over the numerous tremors from Trixie's show that had been felt even at the cottage by keeping her pets and animal neighbors calm through all of them. She was very happy to hear that Ash and Twilight were on their way to restore Spike, but declined their invitation to come along. They left her as she began to administer to the still-frazzled nerves of her chickens. Twilight led the way into the Everfree and down the path to the zebra's hut. No sound came from within, and after Twilight's knocks went unanswered for the second time, Ash went to peer through the window.

"Doesn't look like she's home," He said, "the fire's out and the cauldron looks like it's just been cleaned out."

"Is Spike in there?" Twilight asked.

"Not where I can see," Ash said. He walked back to the front door to see Twilight holding a piece of parchment up against it as she wrote on it. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Writing a letter to Princess Celestia," Twilight answered, "Once Spike's back to normal I'll have him send it to let her know that he's ok."

"So I take it we're just going to wait here?" Ash asked.

"Zecora should be back soon," Twilight said, "she's probably just out collecting ingredients."

"Still," Ash said, glancing around, "Wouldn't it be a bit… safer to wait at Fluttershy's?"

"We'd just have to walk back here to check if Zecora's home," Twilight said, and then a slight smile crossed her face. "You're not scared are you? You were quite confident about the Everfree two days ago."

"We had the Meis of Glare with us," Ash said, not denying Twilight's playful jab, "And I'd rather not meet another cockatrice. The irony would kill me."

At that moment, Zecora strode into walked into the clearing, a smile evident on her lips as she tossed the hood of her cloak off her head. A satchel full of various flowers and plants was hanging around her neck, evidence of a very fruitful foraging session. "Monsters have learned to avoid the sight of my home," she said, "I have taught them it is not a fun place around which to roam. If you are here about Spike, he is still made of stone. I was about to start the second potion, and I hope it is the one."

"Isn't it hard putting a rhyme into every statement?" Ash asked, "That last one seemed a bit weak to me."

"I am used to speaking in rhyme," the zebra said, "It is the way of my people; a tradition from ancient time."

"Ok then," Ash said, giving Zecora a strange look for a second. "Anyway, we're here because we've got a foolproof way to fix Spike."

"Only a fool calls a plan foolproof," Zecora said, "There is always a way plans can get out of…" she trailed off as Ash pulled out the Emerald. "An mighty aura of magic surrounds that," she said in amazement, "To the aura around the dragon, it is a perfect match!"

"This is what stoned him," Ash said," Or, rather, the power in it did… Spike tried to eat the old housing and- never mind, it's complicated. Point is, I can harness the power and reverse the spell."

Zecora stared in awe at the Gem for a second, and then shook her head and walked toward the door, Twilight stepping out of her way.

"Come," Zecora said, opening the door, "I will get Spike so you can set things right." She trotted inside and went over to a cabinet as Twilight and Ash walked in. Zecora opened the cabinet, revealing the petrified Spike nestled amongst stopped bottles filled with various colored liquids and jars of crushed plants and unidentifiable powders.

"You're keeping him in a cabinet?" Twilight asked, looking a bit upset.

"I preferred to keep him out of my way," the zebra said, removing Spike and setting him gently on the floor, "I have other tasks to accomplish throughout my day."

"Well, he won't have to go back in," Ash said, walking over to the petrified dragon and setting the Emerald down near him. "Do you have chalk or something I can use Zecora?" he asked, "I'll need to draw some stuff and I don't think you'd like having your floor permanently marked." Zecora gave the unicorn a strange look before fishing a small piece of charcoal out of her fire pit and holding it out to him. "Thank you," Ash said, grabbing the coal with his magic. He turned his attention to the stone dragon and began to focus his magic. The Emerald twitched and began to glow green, matching the color around Ash's horn as he began to sketch a pattern on the ground. He muttered to himself as he drew, eyes darting between the pattern to Spike, the charcoal never lifting up until Ash dragged it across the pattern a final time with a bit of flourish. He tapped the edge of the sketch with his hoof and the black lines took on a green glow. Lines of green energy became visible, wrapping around Spike like creeping vines and reaching out to connect to the Emerald. "No. Problem," Ashen Blaze said, grinning, "One little tug here and…" One of the lines around Spike seemed to snap and then began to unwrap itself from the dragon, taking the other lines with it until they had all flown off the statue and into the Emerald. A sigh escaped Ash's mouth as the glow around his horn, the Emerald, and the pattern on the floor all faded away. Color began to spread across the grey statue, and within seconds the stony texture had changed to scales and tissue. Spike's eyes spun as he wavered slightly on his feet, a clawed hand going to his temple.

"Whoa," he said, "What… what happened? Where am I- aaack!" Twilight had rushed forward and caught him up in a rib-crushing hug.

"Welcome back Spike," she exclaimed happily.

"Twi…light," Spike gasped, "Can't… breathe." The lavender unicorn loosened her hold a little, smiling sheepishly. "Why are we at Zecora's?" Spike asked, looking around, "Last thing I remember, I was at Rarity's about to enjoy this luscious looking emerald she'd set out for me."

"That wasn't for you," Ash said flatly, "but I'm guessing Rarity should've put more thought into where she put the thing."

"Who are you?" Spike asked, giving Ash a suspicious look.

"Ashen Blaze," Ash said with a slight bow as he stowed the Emerald in his saddlebag, "leader of the Order-naries, mage extraordinaire, and Cloudsdale exile."

"You've missed an interesting few days," Twilight said in response to Spike's confused expression, "We'll explain on the way back to town, but for now," she produced the letter she'd written, "Do you think you could send a letter to Celestia?"