Crossing the Trixie Bridge
Chapter 123: 100.5. The End. Part 5.
Previous Chapter Next Chapter"Now… To finish what I started."
Teleporting off in a haunting laugh, Harmony disappeared from sight in a flash of light.
Despite the sudden act, Twilight knew where she was needed. The message couldn't have been any clearer.
"She's going after Peter!"
Harmony was going after Sniff, and all the wounded outside were just as vulnerable.
Cerb had seen how resilient Harmony could be. Deflecting a shotgun slug was something no Timberwolf could muster. Not even this new threat could hold up to that, not in theory at least.
Dividing their forces would be risky, but Twilight and the other three couldn't be placed anywhere else. Not when their affinity towards Sniff would make them stronger defending him. They'd be distracted if they stuck it out with him.
"Twilight, take your group outside. We'll take care of the rest here. Go!"
Twilight knew it was selfish in some ways to leave, but with six humans, two alicorns, most of her guard, and the rest of the royals, along with additional forces? The odds were still in their favor, so long as their loved ones were beside them.
"Stay safe! We'll make this quick!"
In another flash, Twilight, Ovens, Swifty, Cutter, and Celestia attempted to teleport out to cut off Harmony, but it was a failed attempt.
Twilight found herself right back on the same pad of dirt she’d tried to leave.
"Gah!" Twilight grunted, further enraged by the same tactic used against her as before. "That bitch blocked us again!"
The newly arrived Echoes were advancing on them, but freshly formed crystal vines had grown over their only exit. A strong measure to ward them off, had Rainbow not already discovered the means to overcome them.
"Swifty! You can cut your way out like you did in the throne room. We'll hold them off!"
Twilight led her group away from the humans splitting the remaining forces into four groups. It was up to them to stop the new invaders and rescue the children.
As much as Discord wanted to wreak havoc in all directions, he had to focus his attention elsewhere. To save Fluttershy and those he loosely considered to be friends, he'd do his best on his own but still had faith they could do what he wished could do for them.
A shout of support and maybe a half-lie from what he briefly encountered would have to be enough to encourage them.
"They're no longer alive! Crush them like The Pony of Shadows!"
Trixie surveyed the oncoming waves of Echoes. The center group moved slowly while the flanking teams ushered in their forces.
There were so many that she had no clue where to start.
"If what I learned from watching your Twilight train you with works here, I can probably take out at least-"
"Make sure none of them come near me," Discord demanded, cutting her off mid-speech.
Curious, Luna Ring spoke through her armor exterior.
"You're not joining any of them?"
Half paying attention, Discord brought forth another pair of hands to start preparing a small glass. He slowly added small drops of random liquids to it, having taken the time to add a mad scientist's jacket for effect.
"These humans can nullify more magic than I could throw at them. They don't need me and frankly shouldn't rely on me to begin with."
Trixie Rose tilted her head as she looked up to see what Discord was mixing together. It wasn't hard to perceive what they were. The why, on the other hand, couldn't have been for anything but one specific purpose.
"Discord, that base you're starting there… If you're planning on what I think you're planning-"
The small glass shifted to a larger beaker, sloshing with fluids blurring between black, green, and sickly purple.
“You’ve probably seen thousands of me, but there is no Discord in any existence that thinks like me.”
Tired of being ignored, Trixie decided to join the argument.
"We can help, damnit! Or are you three scared of being wrong all over again?"
To that, Trixie Rose took offense and shoved her hoof in Trixie's chest.
"Watch it! We risked our lives just getting here, and every time it's different, alright. We still don't know anything about these humans. We've never seen so many with so much Order, either. Even your world is rare."
Instantly, that started an argument. One that would last longer than it should. Sadly an expected result when you have two of the same pony known for her confrontation attitude in the same room.
[Outside, a few moments earlier.]
Two Lunar Guards step away from a cot in front of Redheart, one giving a nod of approval after he finished laying down some blankets.
“Will this suffice? We found more of these field blankets when recovering heavy weapons from the abandoned armory.”
Redheart stepped away from Buckskin, looking over the new bedding with a satisfactory sigh.
“Yes. Please be gentle with Peter.”
It was a careful endeavor with the guards coming together, gently placing Sniff down, though not enough for Spike.
“Easy! Don’t move him too much. And leave room for me.”
The moment the guards parted, Spike jumped into the gap between Sniff’s chest and arm. He took extra care to slide his tail under Sniff’s arm and bringing his mentor’s hand into his claws.
“You’re so cold, Peter. I’ll try not to burn you.”
Every creature quickly gave themselves distance from the cot, watching Spike open his jaws, breathing deep as the green inferno grew inside him.
When the flames were about to rupture, Spike swallowed hard, painfully pushing the fire down inside where the light illuminated around his ribs.
“Ooh… Too hot. Too hot. Need to push it further. Just a little…”
The strain paid off, making the light fade and the heat lower to a more pony-comfortable level. Yet, all Spike could do was provide a little warmth and a one-sided conversation while laying alongside Peter, cuddled up in his arm.
“Remember when you said you weren't into mares?"
A small laugh weakly escaped as he remembered his first day out with Sniff. Walking through the town and every mare flirted with and realizing how much had changed since that day.
"Now, look at you. Surrounded by girls. Mares that love you... You risking your life for them... And you still have to teach me how to pick up chicks. I'm not doing a great job at it without you."
Ralph, making his rounds, stopped by Spikes's side. The sad sight was too pitiful not to stop and offer some moral support towards.
"Sir Peter has shown himself to be a great friend to all, and his strength most certainly exceeds his kindness. The fact he still draws breath is proof alone that his days of tutelage over you are far from over."
Unexpectedly, Gilda was walking up, holding a small wooden keg in her claws. There wasn’t much of any other way to describe it. Small enough to double as a drinking glass yet clearly not made for drinking either.
“Hey, Spike? Blackthorne offered to let me use this but didn’t tell me what it was. He said you could tell me.”
Away from them, a stir rose up in the ranks of guards standing watch, interrupting the discussion.
"Is that Princess Twilight?"
"Halt! Who goes there?!"
"Alert!"
Ready for action, Gilda dropped the mini-keg in her pouch and jumped up to the front lines without an explanation. Once in the front, her crossbow was drawn and primed to fire before she even took aim at the out-of-place entity approaching. Though, understandably, the confusing sight was hard to process.
"What the?! You're not Twilight! Who are you?!"
Harmony continued her leisurely stroll towards the group's center, unphased by the weapons drawing down on her.
"My, my. Look at you. It's so exciting to see how much you've grown. I thought for sure I'd hardened your heart more than enough to never to see you standing alongside so many with such earnest support."
Phsirt!
Gilda released her bolt from the flight groove. The broadhead whistled through the air, stopping inches from the center of Harmony's forehead, caught in her aura. Such a display of magic control and ease was enough to frighten Gilda into faltering in loading her next bolt.
Harmony, however, closed her eyes, widening her already cocky smile as she shook her head in a faint display of an overconfident master of a dojo walking in on a class of untrained recruits.
"Ah-Ah-Uh... You'll be called in to help my ponies one day, but this is not the way I'll ever allow you to fight. It's much too dangerous."
Spike called out from the front line, now standing front and center, his unfettered anger glowing as the inferno still raging inside him.
"You! You—" He clenched his fist with hate-filled tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm gonna tear you apart for what you did to Sniff!"
Taken back by the anger and what she saw in the young drake, Harmony came to a stop. Her cocky demeanor switched to one of intrigue and bewilderment, looking over Spike as he stomped his way closer.
"Oh, no. Spike? Those humans have tainted you. To think that their vile Order could even corrupt the Ether of a dragon. Was it that filth you're protecting that-"
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Spike released the pent-up flames he held back in response to the insult towards his mentor. His childish voice screamed out as a mighty roar once more, devouring Harmony in a blaze of green dragon fire.
Eventually, with the exhausted breath relenting on summoning the flames, the burning green began to die down, exposing the scorched Earth.
Sadly this act of wanton destruction proved useless as fulgurites snapped and popped as they formed from the molten sand, crunching under Harmony's hooves, and she retraced her steps to where she once stood in front of the angry drake swallowing another breath.
Retaking her prior position, she stood defiantly, both disappointed and perturbed over the assault. Though, in her defiance, the signs of pain were showing through.
Twinges of pain, the stiffening of her wings, failed attempts to hold back the wincing in her eyes, and even a few uncomfortable shutters as the clear streams melting silicon and trails of black liquid carbon dripped from her crystal coat.
Her patience would not last much longer, as evident in her voice.
"Spike... Move aside, and perhaps in the many years to come, I will consider inspiring Rarity to have a more favorable opinion of you so that you-"
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
[Back at the cave's exit.]
Swifty Swung her halberd across the vines, dropping another pile the others pulled away.
"Damnit! There's so many more than last time!"
Growing impatient, Cutter drew her sword and took a swing.
Clang!
Her sword bounced, barely chipping the crystal vines.
"Curses! Is it enchanted or something?"
With no time to explore the details, Swifty kept her answer short.
"Something about our bond with Peter is making us stronger. He must-" She took two more swings, widening their path through the vines. "-have done the same thing to my blade. Putting part of himself into it so I could pierce through that bitch like the knife could… Pretty sure it's done by his touch."
Taking the next pile out of Swifty’s way, Twilight noticed the dried blood splatters on the spike and axe portions. Her theories on the human's blood changing to work in more ways than one.
"We have to hurry. If she gets a hold of Peter, she'll be even stronger than she is now."
Hearing how Peter aided Swifty, along with Celestia's long list of poor choices, she couldn't help but herself any longer. The guilt was piling up.
"Twilight… I'm sorry for everything. Had I known Harmony was behind this, I would have destroyed her when I had the chance."
Only now hearing about this, Twilight stepped back to confront her old mentor.
"You had a chance? When? Did she make you try and keep us away from Peter? Is that why you were so adamant about us not getting close to them?"
Another pile dropped, and Ovens stepped in to tend to it, letting Twilight approach closer to Celestia.
"When?! How?!"
Celestia stepped back, not expecting to have to answer for her actions, making her vomit her response without a filter.
"Discord came to me. He told me that I was unwittingly a puppet for Harmony. He let me see the strings she used to whisper her words to me. So we tricked her into a contract that gave me most of her power."
She hung her head low with regret.
"I thought it was only me she controlled… I don't think even Discord knew how far her influence was."
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
From beyond the vines, sounds of Spike's retaliation boomed with the green light of his flames. With Swifty at the front, she called out in alarm.
"That's Spike! Damnit!"
As Swifty went back to cutting, Twilight was suddenly conflicted about her initial mistrust of Celestia. It was unknown just how much influence Harmony had, given the lack of knowledge displayed about them in the discussions. Even still, there was something else too genuine from Celestia.
The anger, the distance, and then the sudden turnaround? Twilight knew something was there was another layer to Celestia’s complexity.
"We'll talk about this later."
[Back outside with Spike.]
As Spike finished his second bout of fire, the Lunar Guard took their formation behind him. Heavy axes, flails, and broad swords had replaced their spears. Behind them, the three Wonderbolts and every other fighter stood ready to protect Sniff and the wounded.
From the raging green fire, Harmony’s voice echoed through the gorge, her prior compassion and patience replaced with frustration and anger.
"You ignorant fools. Do you not know who I am?! When you were simple-minded beasts, I gave thought! When you made war, I gave you peace!"
Unphased, the troops held their ground, taking up new positions in the shadows and in the air.
"Now you show me this insolence?! Then allow me to show you discipline!"
Beams of white magic shot out in all directions. A barrage hit the front lines and darkest shadows, their explosions breaking the formations. Bat ponies were knocked out of flight in the air, joining others blasted out from the shadows.
Harmony marched out from the flames. Her face grimaced with a desire for war.
"I created and rule this world, and no creature will stand in my path to set it the way I see fit!"
From high above, Evening Aster called out to her troops.
"Team Four! Strike!"
Out of the shadows, Bat Ponies leaped from the darkness with their heavy weapons.
Harmony turned to her right, unleashing a beam from her horn that tore up the ground, sending an explosive wave of destruction that removed several bat ponies. Having addressed one assault, she turned to her left to repeat the attack.
"Insignificant little-"
Ting!
One lucky bat pony made it before her horn discharged, delivering his mace to her shoulder. His steely determination shifted her frame slightly before his bludgeoning weapon was bounced out of his fetlock.
Harmony stood solid, temporarily fixed on the sensation of Equestrian metal having impacted her. It seemed impossible, but the fact it happened fueled her rage, drawing her wrath upon the one who struck her.
"You! INSECT!"
With a high charge in her horn, she aimed at the lone guard scrambling to remove the stinging in his foreleg to pick up his weapon. The punishment would be brutal. Without thinking, she was determined to rid the world of this forgettable peon.
"DIE!"
"Duskfall, move!"
Shink! Voom!
Another sting of steel introduced itself to Harmony’s jaw, brought forth by an upward swing from Ralph. The impact was strong enough to turn the blast safely up into the night's sky but not enough to deter Harmony's goals.
"All of you!" She lowered her gaze to find both guard ponies reeling back for another strike. "BEGONE!"
Both ponies swung their weapons into an eruption of white light rapidly booming out from Harmony's core.
Any aggressor close enough to pose a threat was hurled out of reach, along with the mud and stone from the crater carved into the Earth. The sudden blast left a pillar of soil and rock in their place. From that point, Harmony slowly ascended like a heavenly being rising from its perch.
"You protect these humans as if they were one of your own! They are not! That human is nothing more than an unwelcome burden that will continue to corrupt the perfect ending that I will ensure-"
Phsirt!
"-GAH! WHY YOU LITTLE!"
With a shit-eating grin, Gilda loaded another bolt to her crossbow, giggling at the sight of Harmony attempting to pry the spent bolt from her eye.
"I don't know what you're going on about, but those humans are awesome. So you bad-mouthing them just really grinds my gears, ya know? And that's on top of you starting a fight with the rest of my friends. And if you really wanted to give us a perfect ending, I hate to tell ya, but it's gonna be one where we mop the floor with you."
Harmony finally pulled the broadhead out from under her eyelid. The sting it left behind made it almost unbearable to keep one eye open, let alone both. It distracted her so much that she almost missed the sift in the air.
She lurched her head back, narrowly missing a grey blur fly past her head and the dark cloud trail it left behind. A clever sneak attack, leaving her open by the bolt in her eye. Then again, she knew this setup well and turned her head with her horn glowing.
"Nice try."
A loud grunt came from the cloud trial, and Spitfire was yanked out, surrounded by Harmony’s aura. She had been caught and was now left dangling with Harmony's grip held around her neck.
Spitfire's sneak attack was foiled, but she still had one ace left up her sleeve. A plan so brilliant that it needed only one adjustment.
"Bank hard-right!"
From the cloud trial, Fleetfoot flew out in a flip, double mull-kicking Harmony in the ribs.
Crack!
Harmony was hit with audible cracks, knocking her out of the air, tumbling outside of the crater.
She immediately rose to her hooves, confusingly without air in her nonexistent lungs and Spitfire no longer in her hold. It was as if she couldn't breathe, but how could she. Her lungs were as absent as the Wonderbolt she lost hold of.
Now, with her left eye searing in pain and her chest burning, she was too overwhelmed to notice the bulk of brown fur charging in at her.
"Vogt crush you!"
Harmony brought her eyes up from the dirt just in time to see Vogt lowered his head.
CLANG!
The steel ribbing of the yak's helmet crashed into her throat.
"Guh!"
Again, she found herself moved, bashed off her hooves, slamming into the gorge’s unforgiving rock walls. Embedded into the stone, hurting, half-blind, failing at any attempt to breathe, her mind whirled with questions and calculations to try and understand what was happening to her.
“Emph!”
The world was a blur for the moment as she attempted to pry herself out. She could faintly see Vogt swaying back and forth as he held his head, only to limply fall over to his side as Spike slid down from his back. Off to her side where the Wonderbolts had attacked her, Fleetfoot was screaming, clutching her rear legs.
“Medic!”
That was Spitfire calling for help, waiving for assistance. Then, her eyes were back on Spike. His eyes, glowing green, vibrant with anger as he stomped his way forward, drawing a deep breath.
Finally, close enough, Spike swallowed the flames, his chest glowing brightly. A swarm of bat ponies descended on Vogt and Fleetfoot, only to cart them off post-haste.
“RAAAAAAAAH!”
Spike spat out a ball of slow-moving fire that crawled, approaching its target with the roar of an elder dragon.
Harmony was finally gaining her mental acuity, though the sight of the rolling ball of green flames almost made her second guess that fact. She had never seen this before and was ready to teleport herself out of its way.
Phsirt!
Another bolt raced past the roaring ball of flames from up high, pelting Harmony in the forehead.
“Blasted!”
She looked up to see Guilda fluttering in place. Her crossbow in one claw, the mini-keg in the other, and smirk that just drove Harmony crazy.
“A little gift from Blackthorne. Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
Harmony was about to explode from yet another distraction—a diversion to keep her from teleporting out of harm’s way. There was still time, even more time now that Guilda was flying off.
She pooled her magic back into her horn but didn’t feel it transition into the desired effect. She felt something else coiling around her horn, tingling with magic she hadn't summoned.
Suddenly, green. There were green leaves in her vision. Green leaves were growing at an extraordinary rate. Then it hit her.
“Blackthorne’s gift… The vine growing potion that can block magic… My, how The Words have turned against me.”
Then it hit her… Not an epiphany or memory of the magic binding vines potions she had ensured the deer kin would produce to protect their forest. The rolling inferno of dragon fire met her hooves that she could not hold back. Even as the incinerating heat scorched away the vines that bound her to the stone wall, she was trapped.
Like molten burning copper, the flames pressed against her. Slowly swallowing her limbs, reducing stones to magma, burning her alive with her screams melding among the erratic eruptions of the ether fueled magic fire that spat off around her.
Order had been melded with the flames, holding her magic back with stronger bindings than she could overcome. Its intensity was only growing violent as it tunneled further into the stone wall.
Beyond the inferno, Spike stood hunched over. His every muscle flexing taunt, huffing, fuming, watching to ensure Harmony would not escape her fate, yet unsatisfied with her cries of terror.
Behind him, Ralph rushed to prepare his comrades for what was to come next.
"Every creature! Get ready for fallout!"
The draconic fireball discharged erratically, shooting magma and volatile frays of magic at the far end of the gorge, buried under a boiling pool of molten rock and sand. Just at the point of detonation, a barrier of transparent violet magic rose up, walling off the impending danger.
KABOOM!
The rock cliff erupted in a cloud of lava, flames, and rubble. The late-arriving wall, forcing the explosion to blow out all its hazards into the forest.
As the explosion tested the resolve of the magic barrier, Twilight and her cohorts ran out in front of the defensive line, gawking at the chaos of burning rubble and dust.
"Spike! What were you thinking!
Spike turned around, his eyes still glowing with adolescent rage.
"She tried to kill Peter and was hurting everyone trying to stop her. I had to do something!"
Celestia turned to the sound of Fleetfoot whimpering, finding Spitfire and Soarin' trying to hold her still. It was a challenge by the looks of things, seeing Redheart had difficulties applying a splint to a disfigured rear leg of the Wonderbolt.
"I need you to hold still. Both your legs are broken. I'm going to set them back in place, and it's going to hurt."
Near frantic, Fleetfoot tried to pull away.
“No! Wait! I can still fly-” Crack! “-AHHHH!"
Things were no better for Ralph trying to get his yak partner back in the fight.
"Redheart! Vogt is breathing, but he's not waking up!"
As important as that was, Redheart was still busy with her current patient.
"Hold on! I'm almost done!"
More frightened than ever, Fleetfoot struggled even harder to get out of Redheart's firm grip.
"AHHHH! Please! Stop! Put me under! Put me-” Crack! “-GAAHHH!"
Fleetfoot continued to gasp and scream. No matter how skilled Redheart's hooves were in applying the bindings, each pulse through her veins throbbed with the same pain.
It was only a matter of seconds it took to hastily wrap her legs. When the short-lived eternity ended, Fleetfoot lamented with a plea for verification her efforts weren't for nothing.
"Please tell me that crazy bitch is dead!”
Flash!
Spike, still standing at the barrier, gulped. Fearing that it wasn't Twilight that teleported behind him, he hesitated to move.
Unfortunately, the voice that spoke confirmed that his eyes had not betrayed him.
"To be fair. Having Rarity string you along was my fault, but it was your infatuation that made her the Element of Pity."
With a belly full of fire, Spike turned around, but it was Harmony who was ready.
"And I'm not sorry."
Crack!
Rising on her hind legs, Harmony delivered a brutal kick, mercilessly punting him like a football. There was no regard for his well-being, holding back only enough not to kill him, though clearly enjoying a little payback.
“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted in horror.
Twilight teleported up to catch Spike in a flash, taking him in her hold before he could hit the ground.
“Spike! Speak to me!”
“... Twi?” Spike painfully moaned, turning his head against her chest, four bloody teeth falling from his mouth as he began to whimper. "I'm sorry."
A clear coating of Harmony's melted coat hardened in the cool air over Spike. Starting from under his stomach, over his chest, and running under his chin, the transparent sheet cracked, highlighting the point of injury.
If what happened to Sniff hadn't pushed Twilight over the limit, this was a push too far. However, it came with a sense of calm and purpose as she touched the ground and gently brushed the crackling crystal bits off her drake.
"Shh," she softly hushed. "I'm so proud of you, Spike."
She gently kissed his forehead in another motherly moment and turned to press him against Cutter, who instinctively took him in her wings.
"But now it's our turn. Go with Cutter back to Peter. Keep him safe and warm until we're done here. We're all going home soon."
She pulled both Spike and Cutter into a firm embrace, whispering something so quiet only Cutter could hear it, then turned back to Harmony. Her expression was frighteningly stoic, solely focused on one task.
"There's no point wasting my breath explaining why we're going to destroy you... You've prided yourself on all the evil you've done throughout time. The most recent crimes that have affected us directly pale in comparison to all of the-"
Twilight was cut short of the grandstanding declaration by Harmony cackling. Her laughter, akin to an asylum inmate embracing their own madness. A far cry from the seeming paragon of peace she’d once presented.
"You think!" She rolled her head back momentarily, lost in her company's short fallings. "You think what I showed you in there is the extent of what I'm capable of? Do you honestly think that it all stopped at letting two moronic races kill each other before I gave them peace? Have you not been listening? Are you so clueless not to notice you're own naivety?"
Harmony began to step forward. The closer she grew, the more signs of damage she wore. Her left eye had become ghostly, losing its pigment, and her front forelegs had thinned to near bones. Even her Twilight-colored crystal coat had lost its luster, turning pale and dingy. Irritated, red blemishes where other attacks had pierced her exterior stung the eyes just to see.
"The night before this whole nightmare began. You witnessed Trixie nearly die in the mouth of a manticore. It chewed her—attempted to swallow her. Yet she escaped, unscathed? Now, without my protection, you see how easily you lemmings break and fall. Are you getting it yet?"
Twilight's urge to strike down this villain was at the tip of her glowing horn, but the question was too compelling to ignore. Then answer, dangling within reach, tempting and taunting her to dare to be wrong.
"Ponies go missing all the time. It's a dangerous—"
It was at the moment she let go of her wishful thinking, and Harmony revealed in the sight of Twilight coming to terms with her true reality.
"That's right."
The ground started to tremble. Crystal vines rising from the ground, entwined in their thorns, skeletons of all races broke free from the soil.
Unicorns, pegasi, Earth ponies, dragons, griffins... Too many to count or name, clinking and clanking out of the smaller skeletal remains of foals. Their brittle bones churned over one another like the froth of an unsettling sea crashing against the shores. All of them raised around Harmony, looking fondly over them, petting one in particular.
"It is a dangerous world out there. What with the hungry beasts I keep fed on mere illusions, ensuring so many of you ingrates stay safe. Timberwolves, on the other hoof, I let them sleep when not needed for guiding adventurous mares or helping young dragons fulfill their dragon code obligations. It's only when the many paths meant to be left untraveled are crossed that they wake. Even a chupacabra left to live out its days, scared off by actions out of my control, can cause such a stir among them. Same for the foals that you forced me to take. And the owlbear I led to chase the others towards me."
Her adoring composure turned a glance towards Twilight, who was starting to put it all together.
"You're such a smart pony. I'm glad you understand now. But have you ever wondered why you love to read and learn so much?"
Acting as a puppeteer, she turned the skull of the unicorn she'd been petting towards Twilight.
"You get it from your grandmother, and it paired well with your grandfather's compassion."
Another skeleton was brought closer. A large Earth pony with a strong jawline, clearly a stallion's. One she held with delicate care in her hooves, even though one would swear those bones willingly came forth if only to save the bones of a mare. Her frame puppeteered to look as scared and lonely as one in Harmony's possession would honestly feel, hiding behind the rotting strains of orange-colored mane still held together in blue hair ties.
"Those traits skipped a generation, unlike Applejack's exceptional work ethic. She inherited that from her father, just like her mother's love for family. In both cases, these couples were chosen to ensure my perfect Elements would become the ponies I needed them to be."
More skeletons were brought forward, paraded trophies Harmony merrily showed off.
"So many splendid creations I've crafted over the millennia. All of them, meticulously sculpted to bring us to where you all are today. Where all the ponies you know and love are. Looking up to you for hope. Their last hope."
A tall, thin dragon's skeleton, covered in scraps, was puppeted out by vines that held it together and dropped to its knees. One set of claws covered its chest while the other covered the eye sockets before slumping over.
Harmony stood over the sad display, her vines coiling around the bones. The sharp crystal thorns tracing over the divots and scared portions of the bones as the bones reached out to Celestia.
Mournfully, Harmony followed the bone claws fold up, paws up, as if offering a precious unseen item.
"There are even others, looking down from the stars, wishing you would have just listened to me. Then I wouldn't have to keep hurting the ones they fought so hard to protect. And yet you’ve let their cries go unanswered and introduced pain and suffering into this world."
Celestia was finally getting the message. Not just the message, but visions of happening upon a lone dragon egg many, many years ago. There was no recollection of why she was there or why she was alone. Only the instinct to venture where it waited for her.
Alone. Then not alone. Another was there. Invisible, or only appearing out of sight, even when laid plainly in view. Still, Celestia could not remember the other that had abandoned the egg.
The memory was so hazy, and Harmony could see the fog lifting.
"Celestia, my old friend. Do not trouble yourself with the pain I saved you from. Think back to the morning you left Twilight to deal with Trixie and the joy I left you with. How perfect was that day? Everything was as it should be. That is the gift I offer to you, the purpose of the sacrifices of your subjects. The Words made that world possible. We can go back to that."
In Celestia's mind, her memories flashed back and forth between both events. Sipping her coffee. Walking away from her guards near the Dragon Lands. Listening to Twilight elaborating on the Moon-Shot Manticore Mouth Dive. Wandering alone. Cornering Twilight to confess her failure in trusting Starlight. Finding Spike's egg abandoned. Twilight hugging her, finally accepting responsibility for her shortcomings. The blood. Comforting Twilight. The egg, sitting alone. Being so proud of Twilight. The elder dragoness, offering up her egg. Holding Twilight as she took one step closer to filling the role of a proper leader for Equestria. The desperation of the dragoness offering up her only unhatched egg.
The fog was cleared.
Spike's egg was never abandoned, and she could finally remember the words she heard in her mind that made her overlook the bloody vines pulling the dragon down below the torched soil.
"Whoever can hatch this drake without fire will prove themselves worthy of raising the Dragon Lord who will bring peace between our nations. If he passes on his kingdom to the rightful kin so he may serve another princess of the Elements, she shall accept the burden to grant my freedom. "
Those weren't her thoughts. Not her words. Not the actions of a kind, loving, and benevolent ruler. Not the actions she would repeat as her body began to burn with anger as she stood next to Twilight.
"I remember," she spoke darkly. "You can't control us anymore with your self-fulfilling prophecies. We'll kill you a thousand times if that's what it takes to avenge all the lives you've taken."
Harmony took a step back, returning all but two skeletons clad in grimy armor to the Earth. These last two, she displayed along either side of her. The poorly aged bones of their wings spread open as they were turned to bow, laying their horns at Harmony's hooves.
"I had hoped you understood that all those lives taken were to give you the future you worked so tirelessly to achieve. A brave and beautiful world you all have desired... one of unity and peace that would last for many centuries to come. And yet as I’ve seen time and again, you’ve proven you don’t know anything at all.”
Harmoy’s words grew colder, sending chills down the spines of all those present.
“Why can’t any of you begin to comprehend what I am trying to accomplish. I gave you protection, peace, purpose, a life free of suffering, pain, something countless other worlds could only imagine in their dreams. And yet, in spite of that, despite everything I’ve given you, you will throw it away, throw EVERYTHING away, for these...Creatures!”
Harmony spoke the last word with disgust, sounding as though she was about to vomit as her rant continued.
“And why? Not because they provide something essential to this world, but instead all you seek, all ANY OF YOU have sought, is sicking hedonist gratification. You think you have any kind of understanding of what is at stake seeking out these fantastical new pleasures I’ve kept from you? Ignoring the fact they’ll bring pain, disease, suffering, and death to this world. They are a virus that even now, even after everything you’ve seen and learned you STILL refuse to see reason. But even worse, if you think two alicorns and their pitiful army can stand up against me?"
A flash of light pulsed out from Harmony, restoring her body to her prime condition. Not only was her body restored, but the grimy sets of armor also lost the tarnish and dirt they held from centuries underground. One golden on her right shined like the sun, and the darker polished armor shimmered like the night sky. More trophies that Harmony discarded back into the Earth with a come-and-get-me grin.
"Well... I guess that foolish thinking must run in your family… And the bloodline ends for all of you here."
Swifty, stuck between the rapidly freezing air to her left and the smoldering heat to her right, couldn't take another moment of this pompous imitation of life. The flashing of the two royal emblems was that last straw, forcing her to lash out with her blade, ready to fight.
"That's enough!"
She lunged forward, covering the distance with such speed Harmony narrowly had time to defend herself.
Clang!
The two stood face to face, both baring their grit. Swifty pressed the axe head of her halberd towards her foe while Harmony tightened her hold to keep the thorns of her newly risen vines together.
Despite both their best efforts, the blade did not reach Harmony, but neither were the thorns holding up as Harmony hoped. Much had chipped and been cut away, still cracking and splintering under pressure.
Crack.
Swifty forced a step further, turning the blade from a cross-section to point the tip closer to Harmony's face.
"You're going to wish Becky finished you off," she grunted, turning her halberd further. "Because this is going to hurt a lot worse!"
Shifting her position, she rammed the weapon's blades forward. The sharp edge of the small armor-piercing fluke cut into the ethereal mane. That was all the promise Swifty needed to keep fighting before she turned the shaft a complete 180 and pulled back with all her might.
The halberd was yanked back, catching Harmony by surprise. The sharpened underside of the ax blade severed off her right ear along with the vines protecting her.
A sharp sting cutting deeper than the wound itself rang soundly through the entire side of Harmony's face. Not lost to her was the rapid hooves of Ovens running up with a mouth full of fire.
She gave no war cry or ultimatum. Once close enough to strike and Swifty safely behind her, the fiery baker spat out a ball of flames that hit Harmony like a cannonball.
Wah-Boom!
The explosion engulfed Harmony in excruciating flames that put Spike's to shame. She bucked and rolled in the dirt to extinguish them, but the fire dashed and jumped free from being snuffed out.
She quickly realized the flames were there to stay. They would be difficult to fight with, but she held no advantage wallowing in the mud. A firm stance was needed to reclaim the advantage.
She pushed herself up, legs sprawled out to make her stand over the frigid ground.
Shwip.
All four of her legs slipped out from under her, and she landed chin first on the frozen ground, bristling with Twilight’s magic casting the muddy ground to ice.
"The friendship lessons are over," Twilight lectured harshly upon her approach. "Along with your tricks."
The frozen ground grew colder, crackling with ice crystals snapping around Harmony's muzzle and folded out limbs. She would soon be entrapped and flapped her flaming wings to rise up.
The ice pieces snapped as she parted from the ground, cracking her vulnerable exterior cracking from the rapid heating and cooling. A weakness that was about to be tested by yet another impact.
"This is for my family!"
Through the flames still covering her eyes, Harmony watched Cutter swoop in with a slash of her sword.
Shink!
The finely honed blade cut in like Swifty's, splitting open the shiny coat which had just been repaired. It cut so much deeper than broadsword before, carving into the crystalline structure acting as bone for her jaw. Even the impact was more significant than that of the mace, slapping her face to the side.
Of course, Cutter would not be content with one heavy blow. Without a second thought, she followed through with another slice up Harmony's neck, then driving the blade down through where the sternum would have been pierced.
"You!" Cutter barked. "Even with the lives you haven't reaped, you still rob them of a whole and complete love. My family is incomplete because of you!"
Without warning, Harmony took Cutter in by holding the pegasus mare in her aura.
“Don’t be naive you ignorant wench,” Harmony roared back, no attempt to hide her fury. “That human and his influence destroyed your daughter’s purity. With him gone, your family will be whole again in a few years. After the wars were over, you would be thanking me.”
Overpowered, Cutter was pulled away from her sword, lifted out in front as a living shield, then slammed into the dirt and held down with a hoof on her throat.
"Gah!" Harmony wailed from pulling the sword from her body. "This is?!"
Quickly surrounded by Twilight and the others, Harmony knew they would not approach so long as she held Cutter. Even still, she could only briefly examine the sword, searching for the source of the familiar wretched pain it brought to cut her so deeply. However, the strands of red left running down the fuller and staining the hilt made it clear.
"A cursed gift from Peter, I see," she sneered before dropping the weapon that hurt just to hold. "I see his mark upon your mind, but not your body."
Harmony pressed her hoof down further, making Cutter choke, but not enough to make her suffocate. She made it clear there was no intent to kill her, at least not yet. It was only a reminder for the others not to come closer as she examined the downed mare.
"Your mind is shrouded like the foals and Shining Armor's, yet your body has been left unspoiled... Hmph... What a shame. Your mind is left free to want and desire, but the body was left unable to receive what I gave you once. But since I took it away, let me show you why you secretly hated that self-centered stallion of yours."
A flash from Harmony's horn phased into Cutter's eyes, where long-lost memories were returned. A night of passion turned to pain and disappointment. One memory Harmony would add insult to injury over.
"Your chance encounter with Baked Fresh was a gracious gift I allowed to continue, and not even because of how damaged his bloodline has become. His frail composure was matched only by his insecurities that you loved to mother and nurture. He greedily allowed you to protect and support him. And after all the years of your sacrifice, his final act of appeasement? Giving himself to provide the foal you desired, but even in what should have been a brief moment of unity, he was as selfish as he had always been with you."
The condemnation was true. All of it was clear to her as her memories flooded back to her. The good and the bad all too clearly she recollected silently.
"From the very start of the night we met. He was scared of the world around him. He appreciated how safe I made him feel, knowing that nopony would bother him once they knew we were close. And I supported him even more, getting married, supporting the bakery."
Then the painful memory hit home, and she momentarily told herself that she preferred the hoof on her throat over the feeling of her husband clumsily giving in to their mutual temptation.
No patience or warning as she made herself available, listening to his instincts as her requests were ignored in place of his urgency. The trade-off for his participation was ignoring her desires to take it slow. Instead, it felt like a painful violation of her very being which only lasted long enough for her to notice a hint of something extraordinary starting as soon as he withdrew.
However, without resistance, the reclamation of her memories came with the validation she held proudly with contempt towards Harmony’s approach.
"You think I care that he was a lousy fuck our first time?" Cutter grumbled out, pressing up Harmony's hoof away with her own just enough to allow herself to breathe. "No foreplay. No passion. He was so much more concerned with losing time in his precious kitchen that I had to convince him I would take care of our foal, but I knew what I was getting into. So don’t give me your shit about how bad it was after you took his lust away from me. We could have worked on it.”
That wasn’t the response Harmony was expecting. This mare should have been infuriated over her treatment. Detesting every moment of the grotesque act of procreation, but instead, acted as if she wanted more of it?
“Accelero!”
The flux in magic rose in less than a blink of an eye, and before Harmony knew what hit her, her foreleg stepping down on Cutter was no longer attached to her torso. It happened so fast that she couldn’t tell if she lost it before Cutter’s sword had crashed against her chest in the blurred motion of Ovens’ speed move, or after. Regardless, her grasp of the world was changing.
Every attack from these mares or others imbued with Order caused significant pain. Beyond that, their magic was all but invisible when used around her. Yet, with the power of the foals still flowing through her, on top of whatever change that human earlier had caused within her, she could feel her power steadily rising as she crashed into the gorge’s wall yet again.
However, a new test was upon her as a brilliant flash illuminated off of Celestia marching forward. Her transparent flowing hair blazed back as waves of prism-colored ethereal light radiated from her body in streaks as she flew forward. Her previous rage, no longer reserved, grew with the bands of ethereal light hissing and popping off in flames.
“The brave human Justin once asked me ‘What's more wrong. Taking one life of someone who does evil, or not stopping them so that they can go on to kill more innocent lives?’ It was the first time I honestly questioned if I could trust them. But it is with a clear conscience that this execution be carried out. Prepare to die.”
Harmony stood up, another flash of light restoring her body free from her wounds, save those of the chest, which seemed to be healing slower due to their depths. Not that such trivial things would deter her from her lunacy.
“My execution? And how do you plan to carry that out?”
As Celestia passed Cutter, she released her last few mental chains on her anger. With one goal in mind, flames gathered overhead, removing her crown that wilted as the inferno grew. Together, magic poured out from the crown, empowering Celestia and fueling the flames that started to swirl into the shape of a brutal weapon of war. One she would rely on as Cerb himself had done, and even screamed it in her face.
“WITH AN AXE!”
The flames overhead flashed into the shape of a battle axe and all too quickly swung down from the alicorn engulfed in her own hellish flames.
As the flames drew closer, Harmony found herself unable to move. The once gentle lavender eyes of Celestia were now a wicked golden yellow matching the fire burning in her mane, surrounded by a red so dark the whites of her eyes were nearly black.
The Words foretold of this form Celestia was taking on, and Harmony knew she had unleashed a monster that was never meant to leave the realm of nightmares.
All her plans had changed in a flash. Even the rules she once religiously held were of little consequence. And thus there was only one thing she could say in that situation.
“Oh, shit.”
KABOOM!
[Back inside the cave.]
Even as the Earth shook and explosions continued to rumble the walls of the interior, the fight continued on in ways the Echoes never imagined.
"He's not surrendering-"
"-to save his friends."
“Mandala is abandoning us-”
"The music-
“Where is she going?”
"Make it stop!"
“Sword has not returned.”
“Those lyrics-”
“Asclepius has lost her vessel!”
"Anger-"
"Inapropri-"
The last commenter talking about the final battle song was cut down. The Celestia double, too distracted by the noise to notice Cerb rushing towards her in time. Taking on multiple attackers, bucking him, throwing their body weight against him, discharging blasts after blast, none could stop him. Only the occasional grunt and one distinct yelp was all they could get out of him.
Most of them fell from his axe splitting them open or when discovering how brutal the flat back side could bash them open while protecting their ilk fleeing for their lives.
They were not supposed to flee or break their formations. Now, because they failed to stay in sync, another blindsided Echo had an axe head stuck between her ribs. Though she was all but defeated, she had not yet left this world.
Her life force, the very magic keeping her going, dispersed even faster with every oncoming blast of magic she took in the crossfire Cerb held her in.
"Get the fuck out of my way!”
The two fleeing Twilight doubles slid to a halt, the wall of their comrades in the process of losing the fight, now overpowered, finally outnumbered. With nowhere else to run, and flight options limited, they turned to face their target again, dumping what magic they could spare into one final attack.
The combined beams raced towards Cerb, who raised his axe, still lodged in the defenseless Celestia double's chest.
"Wait!"
Without the ability or concern to avert the attack, it struck the double, immediately erupting towards a blur of blue, a cloud of magic smoke, and a spray of crystal shards in all directions.
Cerb closed his eyes, before the magnificent magic beam struck the construct he held. The concussion force of that erupted around him, mixed with the warmth that hugged around his torso as fragmented shards of crystal peppered his arms and face. Stuck in this unending conflict, he wrestled with the new threat that had wrapped around him, taking whatever it may be down to the mud.
Finally opening his eyes, seeing through the thinning smoke, Thunder looked up into his eyes, pinned under him.
Her eyes full of relief, pain, joy, and fear; she carefully uttered what she could.
"Cadance can't get up… I came to help."
It had all happened so fast. He couldn't have known it was her who threw herself around him. But pulling his arm free from under her, the lacerations and shrapnel from the Echoes body protruded painfully from his bloody forearm. The damage extended past his flesh, severing the axe head from the handle. Both sights scolded him of what pained Thunder to speak between her labored gasps.
"She'll wake… Rarity… and Flu… Fluttershy… as soon as… Uhh.. ahh… she… can."
From under her back, where Cerb’s other hand was trapped, the hot blood from Thunder's new wounds warmed his skin as well as her own. But he was safe, and that was what she desired other than wishing they were holding each other close under more favorable conditions.
Even still, she never felt a human’s touch that was filled with concern. It was more comforting than the pain stabbing her in the back. Certainly more warming the heat pumping out from piercings digging deeper under her own weight, though all she was focused on was looking into Cerb’s eyes that wore all his present worry for her.
She couldn’t help but admire those eyes.
"Don’t look at me like that,” she proudly uttered through the pain. “I answered the call… just to be close to you.”
Fear was overtaking Cerb, which left a feeling radiating out that Thunder didn’t appreciate. That wasn’t the human she wanted to serve under, and she pushed him away through the ever-thinning smoke, but a wishful smile still showed through the poorly lit cave.
"I won't regret these scars on my back if you can finish the fight."
The fight had to end, and for Cerb, the cost had already counted too high.
"HEEEEEY!" Cerb bellowed as he rose to his feet, with his boot knife now in his hand and his hate-filled voice stopping everyone in the cave.
Well, almost everyone. One of the Twilight doubles that last attacked him leaped into action toward his bloody state.
The sound of dense wood slapping against crystal echoed abruptly for all to hear. The Twilight double, taking an axe handle to the face, had her ambitions shut down, and Cerb's foot on her back stopped any others from returning.
"There's only a few of you left. One of ya did the smart thing and got the fuck out after your ring leader tucked tail and ran. So here’s your one chance. Leave now, and we won't come looking for ya."
The Echoes stood unsure for a moment. Their numbers were fewer than those they were fighting against, and the strongest amongst them had already fallen. Even worse, the more they had come to see those defending the humans, the more of a lost cause it appeared to be for this world.
What didn't help was watching their fellow Echo struggle to fight free from under Cerb's boot. Her every effort failed under his unseen aura, which even made it difficult for the Echo to funnel any form of magic into her horn, but not the words leaving her mouth.
“You’re abominations! No human from across the mirrors could be this foolishly monstrous will being so useless! You couldn’t even save—Ack!”
Shink!
Seeing how this double wasn't going to take the easy way out, Cerb decided to make her an example by stabbing his knife into her upper jaw. That seemed to get the attention of the others, but not nearly as much as him sticking his axe handle in her mouth like a bit and pulling up.
"You still wanna fight, bitch!? While talking shit under my boot!"
No Echo put up a protest or uttered a word as the music still played behind them. The lyrics repeated that the death of one is a tragedy, but as the crystal jaw of the Twilight double cracked loose and her eyes went dark, rolling back into her head, the lyrics screamed that the death of millions are just statistics; they got the message.
A series of bright lights flashed in and out, the centerline of doubles disappearing and reappearing at the pillar of light. The first few rushed to phase into it; others limped their way in or had to be carried and drug away.
Regardless, before the song had finished, only the heroes remained. Sighs of disbelief rose up from those still standing. They had managed to fight them off and sent the fakes packing.
Possibly the most received was Cerb, who gave one sad smile to Thunder before he collapsed to his knees.
"Guh! Fuck… Need... help… Becky? Guys?"
A rush of bodies began to descend on Cerb, but Cerb pointed them all away from him.
"Not me… Everyone else is down… Help them."
A quick look around showed that Cerb was right. Every creature that had fought alongside him prior to the split at the end was unconscious, unable to move, or still crawling towards those who needed help.
Of course, Becky couldn't leave Cerb bleeding and unattended. Dropping down to his side was the first stop she made.
"Thank Christ you scared them all off at the end… Holy shit, Justin."
It didn't take a second class while this close for Becky to see that Cerb was more than a little banged up.
"Don't move. Where does it hurt the worst?"
Becky was rushing her hands over Cerb’s shirts but failing miserably. She couldn't even manage the buttons that, despite being ripped and frayed, could have been mistakenly held together by blood.
Since Becky's concerns for his safety exceeded any concerns for fashion, she hastily pulled the knife out from the recently de-skulled Twilight double.
"I'll apologize to Rarity later."
It was obvious to Cerb what Becky was doing as the back of his shirt was pulled away from him. However, his concerns were still focused on those who were no longer standing next to him.
"Thunder Glide is-"
Becky knew what Cerb was going to say, but stayed focused on not turning the blade on Cerb accidentally while cutting his shirt down the middle.
"Shut up-I know. I saw. She's next."
Thankfully, the fabric split open easily, though the damage it had hidden underneath only made the situation worse.
"Holy fuck, Justin. Don't… Jesus Christ. Don't move, and don't lay down. We're taking you straight to the hospital as soon as we can."
Behind the battle-tested group, Trixie Rose, mentally and physically exhausted, slipped away to evaluate the remaining creature’s conditions. A task made simpler with sight beyond what only the eyes could see.
"Becky? You're not… Umm… Are you a nurse?"
Becky was still looking over Cerb, intentionally not looking over the new arrival that had joined them.
"No, but I'm the closest thing to a real doctor this world has to offer."
Trixie Rose relaxed with a sigh of relief, the likes of which she had not felt in what felt like eons.
"Oh, thank fuck. A human that can heal."
She adjusted her cape and started to trot out towards the foals but spoke loud enough for Becky to hear her clearly.
"Your yak friend needs to lay down. He's lost too much blood as it is, and Prince Rutherford isn't far behind him. The other one, I assume he's here close by, they're never far apart, can donate. Also, get Thunder off her back, or else her lungs are going to fill up with blood. The rest will be fine for now, but we need to wake these foals up, or Twilight and the others aren't going to get very far."
Cadance, still limping her way towards Rarity, stopped to address this new ally studying the foals in their dreamlike bubbles.
"How do you know so much? And what do you mean about the foals and Twilight?"
Trixie Rose looked up at Dinky, blissfully smiling, oblivious to the danger she was in.
"Six of these young creatures were meant to be the next generation of the Elements of Harmony, and already have that much power together. Throw in four more foals that share that connection with a Harmony that has been exposed to Order… Let's say that it's like Harmony is the embodiment of all the attacks used to defeat Discord, Chrysalis, and Tirek combined all at once because of these kids."
Applejack trotted up under Gallus, worried about what that might imply.
"Well, hold on now. How long can they hold this up for? The last time we used the Elements while interacting with Order to save Kelly, we all went down from magic exhaustion in less than a minute."
Trixie Rose lit up her horn to better view what type of spell had been used to hold the youngsters. What she saw was perplexing but not unexpected.
“Dinky has been exposed to a great deal of positive Order… There’s even plenty of Ether Magic that’s been mixing and influencing most of the kids here. If not for that, magic exhaustion would have set in. Not that they have much time left… Your Harmony keeps draining them to rebuild herself and avoiding the fatigue, so we need to wake them.”
Midnight tapped his metal wing-blade on the sphere, quickly drawing the dire warning from Luna Ring.
“Don’t!” The royal voice sprang out from the armor. “Their lives are in a dream! If you disturb the body, their soul might not wake with it when breaking that barrier.”
Luna, hesitant to leave Kelly’s side, trotted up next to the alternate form of herself. What she was hearing gravely alerted her to what was implied, given what she could already sense from them.
“My ponies and their new friends. They are in a dream realm. Deep in one that is not of my own? How is that-”
“There are as many pocket dimensions as Harmony needs,” Trixie Rose commented, cutting Luna off with a tone of embarrassed shame, though the warning was real. “It’s best not to go snooping around. I’m sure Discord can tell you that half of what she hides away in those places are better off left for the Darkness to find.”
Still refining the mysterious brew in the center of the cave, Discord shouted angrily.
“Don’t go snooping! Most of those pocket dimensions are ones I put there! Not Harmony!”
Still not fully aware, Luna tried to refine her questions on how to best help her subjects.
“So, where exactly-”
“You’re welcome!” Discord shouted again, just as bitter. “Not like I’m saving the world for you a third time over here!”
Luna Ring knew there wasn’t much time to waste, though she couldn’t pass this moment up either.
“Discord! It’s not their fault they don’t know. Now just give us a minute!”
Trixie Rose shook her head, honestly feeling bad for the Spirit of Chaos, but she needed the local dreamkeeper to get to work.
“Luna? If I can direct you in... Oh, fuck."
Looking directly at Luna, even Luna Ring could see the imprint left behind by Kelly.
"By my starry sky. It's been only a matter of weeks since these seven have arrived in your company, yet it took me nearly a year to warm up to even passing a flirt with my only love. How were you able to become so physically int-"
"Focus!" Trixie Rose shouted from her armor's interior, just to lower it back to a private volume. "You two can swap marefriend stories later. We have a new problem to deal with because of how lucky this version of you is."
Kelly, curious to check up on her mare, as well as this new Trixie that had crashed upon them, joined Luna at her side with Big Mac limping over as well.
"What's going on? How do we get the kids out? We already killed the Harmony bitch once. So what other options do we have if Becky and Chris shooting her didn't work?"
Trixie Rose facehoofed, not expecting these newly discovered complications of highly concentrated Order, let alone having to explain them.
"This Harmony isn't like us Echoes. If Becky shot Harmony like Chris did, then only the construct she was occupying at the time was destroyed. And to get the kids out, we need to wake them from within the dream they're in or have Harmony cancel the spell she put over them. The only problem is that since you two have been fucking, Luna won't be able to interact with those affected by Order in the dream realm... Not with that limited amount of Order, at least."
Obviously confused, Kelly overlooked the fact that her love life had been outed. Instead, turning to Luna as if everything else was a lie.
"That's bull shit. I've been with Mac and you, and you could see his dreams."
Sheepishly, Luna sunk a little, only now starting to understand her prior struggles.
"Kelly, dear... I must apologize, but I may have misled you when I said-"
Instantly, Kelly's recollection of her confession to Luna in her chambers came back to slap her in the face.
"Oh, goddamnit," she groaned at the sudden complication, sharply turning her attention more sternly to Luna. "You said you couldn’t use what you saw in other's dreams for your own gain, but you never said what you saw. You tricked me into telling you that Mac had a dream of us together."
Not one to stand for being misrepresented, Big Mac spoke up to clarify.
"Uh, Kel? I never told you or Luna that I had a dream of you two together, and nor would I. Ever since we met, I've only dreamt of you and you alone with me."
Unable to visually express shock while in the form of armor, Luna Ring could only blurt out the obvious.
"Kelly? You've been with both Big Mac and-"
"Oh, my god," Kelly grumbled, more annoyed at the constant reveals of her private life. "Look, we'll sort this shit out later. How the fuck do we wake the kids up if Luna can't... God damn, I can't believe you lied to get with me like that."
Seeing yet another argument on the verge, Trixie Rose stepped in between the two.
"Look, as fascinating as your relationship drama is, there is a time and place for it, neither of which is here. These ten have been linked together, so those without Order have been drug along with those who do. That being said, their consciousness won't be able to see anyone else not attuned to their Order-influenced magic... Not unless one of you hasn't been exposed to Order."
One quick look around the room showed Trixie Rose that none of those awake qualified, leaving her stunned.
“Really? All of you in here and not a single one had a purely platonic relationship with these humans?”
Most of those present looked away, though Trixie's eyes stayed on Rainbow for a moment, making the pegasus gulp, fearing what might be suggested. However, there was one prime candidate already asleep and she finally noticed at the last second.
"Dash, my apologies. Luna... We’ve got one shot at this, and it's probably our worst bet. So if this fails, take your humans and run. Run until the light of Harmony no longer can cast your shadows."
Kelly could see where this new Trixie had her eyes fixated on and immediately started to protest.
"No way. Fuck that. You're gonna blow our one shot on him? Why can't Luna do this?"
Trixie Rose, as much as she wanted to focus solely on finding the right dimensional path for kids, decided to humor Kelly. She only hoped her understanding of the human worlds she'd learned of carried the same concepts.
"Okay, if your world is anything like the human world I learned of, imagine all of us are cell phones. Luna is a service provider for calls to the dream realm. Harmony owns all the towers, which creates the space for ponies and creatures to call, slash, dream into while Luna only manages her users in active calls. Right now, all those kids are in a group call together, dialed in using private towers Luna doesn't have access to because they're using a direct connection, like a landline that only she manages."
Opening a portal similar to the one Luna used for entering dreams, Trixie Rose mentally stepped back, allowing Luna Ring to perform the fine-tuning and explain the rest.
"Normally, Luna, much like myself, would still be able to tap into any phone or dream my ponies have to monitor their calls, or in this case, dreams. However, with Order now involved, your Luna is broadcasting on a different frequency, and so are the kids. At least one side will always be invisible to the other, being able to send or receive communications, but never both ways, even if they're on the same network or overlapping frequencies."
In front of the group, the portal's interior bowed in upon itself, stretching and swirling as if being pulled down a drain, then snapped open with a faded vision of the ten altogether in Ponyville. They were happy, walking through town with coolers, towels, and a beach ball.
If not for the mortal danger they were all in, it would have been heartwarming. Instead, Luna came to realize how much more difficult this task was going to be. So difficult, she hesitated to even open up her own portal for the dream realm. Not before confiding into beloved.
"Kelly... I'm going to do everything I can to save them. But there is a chance that saving them might not leave me a way out. If—" She quickly raised her wings to silence Kelly from raising a fit. "If... I don't make it out. Please run, but know that while I feel terrible for deceiving you, I have no regrets of the time we shared. Skeletons and all."
Before any creature could ask any questions, Luna's portal opened up behind her, where she forced herself to fall back into. Vanishing into the realm she regarded as her domain, Trixie Rose and Luna Ring merged both portals, placing all their hope in what Luna's capable hooves.
Of course, all the flashing lights and new magic used finally attracted everyone else's attention, who quickly formed a circle to view the contents of the portal.
On one side, Luna navigated the illogical dreamscape. On the other, ten creatures all settled in for a day on the beach.
[Outside.]
A series of fiery explosions lit up the forest deep into the treeline away from the wounded. Harmony dashed between trees, bounding upward blindly to avoid a blast at her hooves.
Clearing one danger, she quickly caught the axe face of a halberd to the shoulder instead, sending her into a tree trunk.
Barreling through the tree, she unleashed a beam from her horn. The burst ripped through the ground under Swifty’s hooves, raising her up alongside the beam she hastily turned to avoid. The bright flash followed her, striking a tree face that exploded upon impact.
“Gah!”
Harmony hit the dirt, safe from another halberd strike, then rebounded to her hooves, coming face to face with Cutter and the glint of moonlight shining through the trees on her blade.
The partials of moonlight flashed out towards Harmony, who reared back to deflect the blade with the metal hoof coverings of her left hoof.
Clang! Clang! Clang-Clang-Clang!
A lesser sword would have broken under even more favorable conditions. Yet, held in Cutter's wing, slash after slash, chipping away at her enemy, the blade held strong under her care. However, it wasn't only Harmony that Cutter had to be wary of. Getting too close left Harmony reacting with increased desperation and new tactics. Something that was about to happen with another cut across her foreleg.
A patch of crystal vines shot out at Cutter's rear hooves, catching her as she jumped back. The snare left a limited opening where Harmony turned to slash down with her left wing.
In the moonbeams shining down, a series of glimmering lights whistled out from Harmony’s wing, flickering through the air at incredible speed.
Reacting just in time, Cutter struck out with her sword, smashing a barrage of crystal feathers darting toward her. She flapped her wings, attempting to free her hooves from the vines, catching Harmony turning again with a mighty swipe of her other wing.
With even less time to react, Cutter swung her blade out in a wide arch. Catching the first few dagger-like feathers in her swing, she hurled her upper body away, curling her back to the ground, and finished her wide swing under her hooves to sever the vines.
Crystal feathers finished whizzing past her head after the clinks and clanks sounded off. All seemed to have cleared as she slammed her wings against the dampened floor of the forest.
"Guh!"
Having gained the momentum needed, Harmony rose up, raising both wings tall and high. Finally, amongst all these troublesome mares, here in the growing warm amber light, she was ready to trust her justice down against.
BOOM!
The growing amber light blazed over Cutter, bursting against Harmony’s mending crystal fractures with infusing flames, blasting her away.
In the blink of an eye, Ovens jumped in to fill the gap, her horn glowing, forcing the flames to burn hotter.
“Mom, cover your eyes and hold your breath!”
Ovens flexed her waning magic, creating a gust of wind that pulled oxygen from the air. Now, starving for fuel, the flames bloomed, flashing with hellish heat. The sudden surge in rising temperature pulled steam and mists from the down branches and bark.
It only took a few seconds to produce the pending catalyst, all of which was drawn in by the starving flames Ovens was about to feed.
“Twilight! Order up!”
The spell Ovens held was released, replaced with a small shield to cover her and Cutter. With the spell removed, the negative pressure pulled in oxygen-rich air along with the unburned, superheated gases.
Wah-Boom!
Instantly overfed, the dying flames erupted with a concussive blast that shook the ground. Its blast sent Harmony rocketing out from the canopy into the waiting line of fire of Twilight and disappearing in a violet blast from the alicorn, back down into another series of fire-axe-induced explosions.
“That’s my girl,” Cutter happily wheezed under a blanket of smoke. “Get going. I’ll catch up.”
Ovens turned to her mother, anxious to catch up with the others.
“Catch up? I’m not as good at tracking as you.”
Swifty fluttered down, shaking ash and dirt from her armor, suddenly freezing in her tracks.
“Sergent Major?”
Cutter undid a strap on the underside of her ribs with her hoof, pulling both back with her chest plate embedded with crystal feathers.
Having removed the armor made it easier to sit up, though her shredded wings struck Ovens harder visually than Cutter played off being hurt by them.
“Mom?”
Playing it cool, Cutter lifted her right wing, looking at the bulk of missing feathers like it was a prank that had backfired.
“I’m fine… ish. Now get moving. She won’t come after me. She wants Peter, which is where I’m going back to in case you let her slip away again.”
Both mares moved in to help, but Cutter forced herself up, letting her armor fall away, exposing the puncture wounds covering her chest.
“She’s getting desperate, and not healing as fast. Just keep the pressure on.”
There was no fighting her, and neither mare could leave Twilight and Celestia to keep the fight going as a duo. So, both nodded, rushing off toward the sounds of violence.
“We won’t let her get away, mom!”
“Watch over Peter for us!”
Now alone, Cutter began her labored trot for the castle, still hopeful but also furious with herself.
“Why didn’t I cut the vines first? Stupid, stupid, rookie mistake. Left myself wide open.”
The lights from the castle were easy to locate, leaving Cutter stuck with one odd thought on her mind.
“What I wouldn’t give for a new stallion of my own.”
A second thought came back to her restored memories, which only worsened her mood.
“Or at least a human to share… For fuck’s sake. Thirty seconds of disappointment only made worse by every year spent with him… I should have just let him go it alone in Canterlot. Give it a few years, maybe a few seasonal jobs to help us get by... I could have had my pick of the other humans when they showed up... Dammit.“
Still fighting it out, Twilight focused her magic into a narrow beam, cutting into Harmony's back from overhead. The high-powered magic cut past the thin transparent coating, slicing into something much more sensitive, driving Harmony to spin mid-air, launching a volley of her crystal feathers at the Princess.
The feathered daggers darted towards Twilight and her shield. Each one sparked in a discharge of opposingly charged magics. The quick attack gave Celestia enough time to take another crack at Harmony.
Crack!
The hellish, fiery axe carved its way into Harmony's abdomen. The blow carried her off course from her flight and into the ground below.
This time, Harmony rolled directly into her recovery, sliding back on her hooves to raise a mass of thorny vines that overtook Twilight on her descent.
With Twilight bound in what essentially was crystal barb-ware, Harmony unleashed a torrent of power through her horn from her core towards Celestia.
Celestia reared up, arching back to hold her position defensively, and returned with an equally charged torrent of magic to confront the attack. They met each other in the power struggle, holding their power at their limits, though Celestia was loosening what few restrictions she had left. The flames overtaking her mane held no influence over her any more than the irate fury screaming to be let out since uncovering her past.
"Everything and everyone I've ever lost has been because of you! You kept me trapped for all these centuries!"
Harmony began to slip, having to pull back on her healing to summon vines under her hooves to hold her in place. All the more aggravating to keep her attention divided.
"Your parents couldn't be controlled! Luna needed to embrace the insecurities I had to hold you back from expanding upon! It's why Star Swirl was so hard on you! Taking away the mirror was the only thing any creature could do to teach to fall in line or suffer the consequences! Even Sunset was a reminder not to venture across again! If not for the other worlds drifting away and shattering the mirrors, you would have verified that Twilight was still the only one who could fill your role! But even when you finally attempt to escape beyond the mirror, it ended no differently! You were always to return home alone! I didn't even have to make it happen this time! You were rejected! NOW LOOK AT YOU! THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS END UP ALONE!"
That was the last straw, and Celestia snapped.
“A THOUSAND YEARS AS YOUR PUPPET! AND FOR WHAT?!”
Harmony refused to back down.
“I GAVE YOU A THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE, PROSPERITY, HAPPINESS. YOUR KINGDOM HAD THRIVED WITHOUT SUFFERING OR BLOODSHED. ARE YOU SO SELFISH THAT YOU’RE WILLING TO IGNORE ALL THE GOOD I HELPED CREATE FOR YOUR OWN DESIRES?”
The golden pupil of Celestia’s left eye twitched and snapped into forming a serpent’s eye. The same demonic yellow of iris glowed brighter than before, along with her flames burning hotter in her mane.
“YOU NEVER LET ME KNOW YOU EVEN EXISTED! YET I STILL TRUSTED YOU WHEN YOU WERE CREATING WARS IN SECRET! SLAUGHTERING MY SUBJECTS! CREATURES I COULD HAVE SAVED!”
Despite feeling a sense of dread, Harmony again stood her ground.
“IT WAS FOR THE GREATER GOOD! WE ALL HAVE TO MAKE DIFFICULT DECISIONS FOR LIFE TO MOVE FORWARD! AND IT’S INCREASINGLY APPARENT WHY I KEPT ALL OF YOU BLIND TO THE TRUTH AND ISOLATED!”
Celestia’s right eye twitched and morphed, mirroring her left, triggering her tail's aura to put out in flames.
"YOU TWISTED EVERY CREATURE’S THOUGHTS! I'M ALONE BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Her rage unleashed, igniting her magic and driving Harmony back, flexed the strength of the vines to hold Harmony steady.
Suddenly, the vines holding her in place were tight and ridged. Had she been any more lax, she might have slipped on the rapidly freezing…
"Oh, shit."
The vines imprisoning Twilight crumbled to frozen dust under a pulse of her magic. Being so close together, the chill spread underground, trapping Harmony.
[Elsewhere, under a warm summer sun?]
Gruff opened his eyes to find himself staring up from his back at a clear midday sky.
"What the?"
He sat up abruptly, quickly trying to gain his bearings. The weather was warmer than it should have been; there was green grass under where he sat, tall trees and bushes surrounding him. There were children laughing somewhere nearby, which grabbed his attention. He would have rushed to investigate had it not been for a rainbow flickering light that alerted him to a piece of paper pinned to his hat.
That was rude, but maybe it held some answers, so he picked it off to read aloud.
"You're asleep, sharing a dream with the children. Harmony is draining their magic, which will soon kill them if they don’t choose to wake from this dream. You're the only one who can reach them, but your time is running out, and there will be no second chances if this world collapses. So don’t be such a hardass? Be the better father like Celestia said you could be? And if you can’t take the hint-"
The last bit was too much to read aloud, but he was oddly fine with it despite it sounding like something Rainbow Dash or Guilda would have lectured him with.
"Caw! Figures as much. Lousy fate of my family. Done in by tree, one way or another. Luna could have been a little kinder with her… Wait? How’d she even know about what Celestia said to me?"
He crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the nearest bush. Unexpectedly, however, the paper fell through the branches like a rock through wet tissue paper. When the paper hit the grass, the green blades collapsed as if they were as fragile as ash.
This dream world was either particularly fragile or slowly falling apart. Such a frightening thought left Gruff falling back into another bush.
This time, only some of the leaves fell apart to dust, but at least most of the rest of the plant stayed intact. And looking through it, he saw all those he was in search for.
Blindfolded and swimming in a large circle with the assistance of an innertube near the shore of the pond, Yona searched for any creature within earshot.
"Marko?"
"Pono!" Every creature called out together.
Even with all the splashing and merriment, one voice stood out as out of place. So, while ripping off the mask, Yona looked up and shouted.
"Fish out of water!"
It turned out that she was looking in the wrong direction but still managed to catch Gallus trying to sneak his way back in the water before he could slip in.
"Ha! Ya got me. Let me put the... "
While reaching for the blindfold, Gallus noticed a fellow griffon that was unwelcomingly out of place. Truthfully, more than unwelcome or out of place, this griffon was unwanted by three of the ten youngsters. Most of all, Gallus.
"On second thought, I need to be a fish out of water a bit longer."