Scattered Harmony

"Helloooo wasteland! It's another beautiful day in post-apocalyptic DC! And this is 3-Dog, waking you up with a healthy plate of music, and a refreshing cup of the latest news."

Jonathan had been playing Galaxy News Radio from his pip-boy for a few hours, but all they'd been hearing was music. Marcus snapped to attention at the sound of the DJ's voice.

"Hey, that's 3-Dog. Turn it up."

Jonathan did as he was told and turned a dial on his pip-boy.

"Alright, ladies and gents, I'll start you off with some relatively normal news... relatively."

"Like anything that happens out here is normal." Jonathan remarked.

Marcus replied. "Shut up, I can't hear it."

"A couple nights ago, some shadowy, hulking figures were spotted just North of Megaton. The man that saw them says he saw smoke coming out of a big hole in the ground. The figures were apparently patrolling around it, almost like they were looking for something. Who could the figures be, you ask? Supermutants? Mercenaries? Enclave ghosts coming back to haunt us? Your guess is as good as mine, but if you happen to be traveling through there, I suggest caution."

Church looked at Marcus. "Didn't you say you found Twilight in a smoking crater north of Megaton."

"It must be the same hole. But why would anyone be searching it?"

"And now for a bit of stranger news."

Jonathan interrupted. "It's a mystery, I guess. But hold that thought. There's more."

"It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a unicorn!"

"You're fucking kidding me." Marcus face-palmed.

"You heard right, people. A unicorn has graced our humble little wasteland with its presence. At first, I thought it was a joke, but more and more people started reporting it in. I don't have much more information, since the people that saw her also saw she was being escorted by slavers, making their way down south. Well, if this is true, and a unicorn is being held captive by slavers, then I hope that unicorn can hold her own, maybe throw them a few magic death rays and save us all the trouble.

"Well, that's all for now, kiddies. We'll have more news comin' atcha faster than you can say 'magical unicorn'. But first, here's Louis Armstrong with 'What a Wonderful World'. You got that right, Louis."

The song began playing and Marcus started to hum along.

"Magic death rays?" Jonathan remarked. "If Twilight has those, she might not even need our help."

"Even if she had a magic death ray, I don't think she'd use it unless she was forced to." said Church.

"Doc is right." Marcus stopped humming. "I spent some time with her. She's definitely not violent, or else she would have killed the slavers by now."

Jonathan shook his head. "Don't be sure of that."

"Trust me. Twilight wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Hey! Get back in your fucking ca--!" the slaver was interrupted by a blast of energy from Twilight's horn, sending him flying into the building behind him. Another guard raised her gun at Twilight, and Twilight responded by magically ripping the gun out of her hand and hitting her across the head with it.

"Damn it! C'mon, we gotta get those weapons!" Adam yelled, directing the other slaves from cage 7 to the gas station behind their cage. There were only about eight of them, and they each took an assault rifle from the gas station, except for Martin, who grabbed a 10 millimeter pistol. Twilight didn't like the idea of killing people, but she was also partial to living, so she took hold of a sub-machine gun with her magic and loaded in some ammo. After they were all armed, the cage 7 slaves exited the gas station. They were immediately met with four slavers aiming their rifles at the slaves.

One of the slavers taunted. "Get ready to die, motherfuc--"

A bullet from Adam's gun went through the head of the slaver. The other three slavers looked down at their comrade's body in shock. The slaves took it as their cue to fire, killing the other three. Twilight didn't shoot a round.

"Twilight, me and Adam will cover you. Use your magic to break the locks on the cages. It's faster than using a key." Martin said, watching the buildings for more slavers.

"Good idea." Twilight ran towards the nearest cage, cage number 8.

"The rest of you," Adam yelled. "cover the others when they run to get weapons! If you need ammo, pick it off the dead slavers. And most importantly, don't die!"

Twilight was happy to take Adam's advice. She wasn't intent on killing anyone, but she wouldn't let the slavers win on account of her squeamishness. Besides, she's handled a gun before... five years ago, for twelve minutes. And she did a really good job of hitting the dirt mound behind her targets.

Twilight decided to focus on the cages and keep shooting to a minimum. The locks weren't hard to break, and she was on the third lock when she heard gunfire behind her. The slavers already brought reinforcements. The slaves were fighting back, but it seemed the slavers were shooting from the windows of the building across the street. A bullet twanged on the ground beside her, making her jump. She quickly regained her composure.

Come on, Twi, just focus on the lock. she thought to herself, concentrating her energy and shattering the lock. The slaves in the cage rushed to get weapons from the gas station. Most of them, anyway. A couple sat cowering in the corner. Twilight didn't have time to worry about them. She moved on to the next cage, guarded by Martin and Adam.

Twilight was halfway done with releasing all the slaves. She had been to busy to see how the fight was going down. As far as she knew, the slaves were only barely holding the slavers off. The parking lot of the gas station was nearly devoid of cover. Some of the slaves ducked behind benches closer to the road, but that made the slaves coming out of their cages vulnerable until they got to the gas station.

A slaver came around the corner, but didn't get far before being hit with a blast of magical energy. A few seconds, and the next lock was broken. The slaves from that cage rushed out, but before they were all free, the last one caught a bullet to the chest. His tattered clothes weren't enough to stop any kind of bullet penetration. The man fell to the ground with a sickening thud, instantly killed.

Twilight stared at his corpse, unable to move or speak. Some of the blood ended up on Twilight's face, but she didn't notice. Interesting, she didn't even hear gunfire anymore, like she turned down the volume on the world. In fact, she wasn't thinking anything at all, just staring at him, not sure what to do or think. The first thing she did--when she was able to do anything-- was hope it was painless.

"Twilight, come on!"

"Hm."

"Come on, he's dead! I'm sorry, but we need to get the others!"

"Others." she replied absent-mindedly, not taking her eyes away from the body.

Twilight was taken out of her moment of confusion when Martin started shaking her violently.

"Snap out of it, Twi! I'm sorry he's dead, but if we don't release the others quick, there are gonna be a lot more like him!"

Twilight's mind cleared up. Her senses returned to her, and she remembered she still had a job to do. The lives of these slaves still rested on her.

"You're right, let's go!" Twilight yelled back, running towards the next cage.

"We can't move! We're pinned down here!" Adam yelled, peeking over his cover, and ducking back down fast enough to avoid the volley of bullets that flew at him. The slavers were shooting from the ruined 8-story building across the street, keeping the slaves behind cover until reinforcements could flank them and decimate the lot of them.

Eight cages. That's how many they'd had to open. As it was, their small group of slave rebels equaled up to about 67. Not bad, considering the circumstances. But that number went down every time an unfortunate slave popped his head out and caught a bullet from a slaver. Twilight already worked it out in her head. If they were to have any chances of success, they'd need a spot to defend. The gas station wasn't good enough. She needed to ask someone who knew Greenville well.

"Martin!" Twilight yelled, trying to speak over the sound of gunfire. Martin turned his head towards Twilight. "Where is a good place to defend if they send reinforcements?"

"Well... The plaza, I guess! Lots of cover in all directions, easy maneuverability... Why?

"Because we're gonna get crushed if we don't get out of this spot!"

"She's right." Adam spoke up. "We're sitting ducks out here! We need to get to a more fortified position!"

"Alright, that sounds fine to me. Everyone!" Martin yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping most of the slaves could hear him over the fighting. "Move to the plaza! We'll give you suppressing fire until you're out of their distance!"

Only the slaves closest to him heard his order, but it was a start. Martin turned his head towards Adam, counting down from three, and they nodded.

"Covering fire!" Adam yelled. Twilight, Martin, and Adam stood up and began shooting their guns at the building. A group of about ten slaves began sprinting towards where she assumed the plaza was.

She emptied her magazine firing at the building, and replaced it with another. Bullet after bullet whirred past her head, striking the ground near her, or the building behind her, but never hitting her. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe it was speeding up... Twilight couldn't tell. She knew it was only adrenaline rush, but the feeling of it, the feeling of dodging death with every bullet that just barely missed her... it was breathtaking. It was like, for the first time in her life, she felt alive, almost invincible...

"Fuck! Martin's hit!" Adam's booming voice called out, jerking Twilight out of her euphoria.

"What?!" Twilight went into a near panic. Just like Adam said, Martin lie on the ground, clutching his abdomen and groaning in pain. Adam bent down to help him and Twilight followed suit.

Twilight didn't know what to do. It was too quick to even comprehend. Martin was bleeding out, and what could she do about it but watch helplessly?

"Go. Get to the plaza." Martin demanded through gritted teeth. "There's no time left to waste. Just forget about me and move everyone you can."

"No, don't be stupid, Martin! You know that's not happening!" Adams lifted his pant leg to reveal a stimpak tucked underneath a strip of elastic band. "Got it from a junkie, thought it would be useful."

"Good idea." Twilight yelled over the fighting. She only wished there was a spell she could use to fix him.

Oh... oh yeah.

Twilight knew how she could make herself useful. "Actually, save your stimpak! I can heal him with my magic! It'll be tough, normally a job for multiple unicorns!"

"So what makes you think it'll work?"

Because I have enough adrenaline flowing through me to sate an elephant.

"Because we have to try!"

Adam looked uneasy, but put the stimpak in its holding place again, allowing Twilight to do her spell.

"Fine, but make sure it works!"

"Okay, I'm gonna need a lot of concentration."

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on her magic. Her horn glowed a bright purple. For a second, it felt like she was doing it, but she stopped when a bullet impacted the ground a few inches from her, startling Twilight out of her concentration.

Adam noticed her difficulty. "Twilight, you're sure you can do this?"

"Yes, I just need to concentrate!"

She looked at the line of slaves behind cover. One of them further down was hit and fell backwards. Another slave tried helping, only to get shot as well. The second slave's body fell atop the first. Twilight clenched her eyes and turned her head away from the gruesome scene.

The sound of gunfire only got more rapid. Not a second went by without a gun-blast being heard. The sound was almost omnipresent, every single shot resonating and blending in with the others, making a giant cacophonous roar that bores into your brain and doesn't go away. Twilight found it increasingly hard to concentrate. Attempting to drown out the sounds of the fighting, she closed her eyes again. She was finally beginning to focus her energy, but that sound... that awful sound--

Twilight felt a singeing burst of heat in the midst of her focus. She looked up to see what happened. Apparently, the slavers had incendiary weapons. A couple slaves were on fire, running around and letting out blood-curdling screams. The other slaves went into a panic and began moving from their cover. A few of them got mowed down in seconds. Still... more screaming.

Twilight was starting to get irritated. Concentrating was becoming nearly impossible. Especially with the ever-present gunfire, and the screaming-- Twilight wished they would just stop the screaming and let her concentrate.

She tried to close her eyes, and she felt the energy flowing into her horn, but it only lasted a few seconds before she was interrupted by another bullet hitting the ground next to her.

"Oh come fucking ON!" Twilight yelled to no one in particular. Martin was bleeding heavily, but he could see the frustration on Twilight's face. It was threatening to consume her.

Twilight pounded a hoof into the ground, breathing erratically and trembling. She began mumbling things under her breath before looking at Martin with a wide smile on her face. It was a look that truly scared him.

"Alright Martin, we're gonna fix you right up. Just give me a moment to focus." Twilight said in a cheery, singsong voice. "Just give me some time to concentrate."

She closed her eyes, and was immediately met with another bullet next to her. "Just give me some time." Twilight said through gritted teeth.

"Honestly, it would get done a lot faster if they just stopped the fucking screaming!" her eyes twitched wildly, and one of her ears kept flopping up and down. Martin didn't like where this was going. Another wave of heat hit Twilight. The incendiary projectiles impacted a few meters away, a misfire on the slavers' part. Some of Twilight's sweat got into her eyes, clouding her vision. She had to blink uncontrollably to get it out, cursing under her breath.

"Twilight, are you almost done?" Adam yelled from his spot in cover.

"How about you give me some time, huh!" Twilight yelled back angrily. Adam looked at her in shock. There was something different about her eyes, something that wasn't sweat.

"What the hell... Twilight?"

"All I'm trying to do is help a man in need, but I can't because I CAN'T CONCENTRATE! ALL THAT GUNFIRE, AND ALL THAT FUCKING SCREAMING! JUST GIVE ME A GOD DAMNED BREAK!"

"Twilight, please, calm down."

"Calm?! Calm?! I am calm! I'm the calmest pony you ever met! Why would you think I wasn't calm?!"

Adam just stared at her. Twilight tried to focus on her magic again, but it was no use. She was too enraged to concentrate.

She began breathing heavily, in short bursts. Twilight felt like her blood was boiling, like every single thought was corrupted and singed with anger.

She turned to the body of a woman a few feet away and started yelling at it. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR FUCKING SCREAMING, SO QUIT IT!"

"Twilight, she's dead!"

"SHE'S TAUNTING ME! TRYING TO MAKE ME LOSE FOCUS! TRYING TO KILL MARTIN! I WON'T LET YOU DO IT, YOU HEAR ME?! I WON'T FU--" Twilight was stopped mid-sentence by a bullet to the shoulder. She looked at the wound, slowly touching it with a hoof. Twilight examined the blood dribbling down her hoof, shaking and breathing even heavier than before. She let out a deafening roar as she stepped out of cover.

What happened next was a blur to Twilight. She focused every single bit of pure, unfiltered rage into her horn, releasing it in some form or another. No thoughts went through her head, no reason or logic to guide her, just releasing her anger into the world. What she found strange was that it felt great. In the distance, she could hear a faint voice crying "I'm going to kill every single one of you!" Wait a minute... Twilight recognized that voice.

It was her own.

It all happened so suddenly. Twilight wasn't sure exactly what time she passed out, but she remembered smoke. Lots and lots of smoke.

And silence. No gunfire, no screaming. Just sweet, sweet silence.

Discord stared agape at his mirror, his lower jaw literally smashing through the floor. When he pulled it back up, he spit out pieces of stone. With a snap of his talons, the mirror changed back into Discord's reflection.

"Well, I have to give Twilight credit on this one. I never thought she had it in her."

Discord tapped his chin. "In fact, if she's going to be pulling stunts like that, I might not even need to send you, Pyro."

Pyro wasn't paying attention. He sat on the table, trying to make his feathers look presentable. Philamena would arrive at any minute, and he wanted to set the mood.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

"Coo."

"Ugh, figures." Discord looked around the room, just noticing the candles spread out.

"Candles. Are you being serious?" Discord caught himself. "I mean-- not that I like serious."

"Coo. Coo coo." Pyro happily noted, lighting the candles with his wing.

"And what, no smooth jazz?"

"Coo." the phoenix dove underneath the table, struggling to pull up a stereo. He placed it down and pressed play. A soft, seductive melody filled the air.

Discord laughed at his bird companion. "Oh Pyro, you never cease to entertain me."

The phoenix cooed and bowed a wing. They stopped when a knock was heard at the door.

"Coo coo. Coo." Pyro motioned with his wings for Discord to get out.

"I would leave, but no other pony in the castle wants me to stay over, no matter how many times I assure them I'm not gonna make their furniture do a rain dance."

The phoenix rubbed the back of his head. "Coo. Coo coo."

"What, no! Of course I don't wanna watch."

Another knock came from the door. "Look, I'll just sleep at Celestia's tonight. I'm sure she won't mind. She always did like surprises."

"Coo."

"Just don't ruin the couch." Discord ordered before snapping his talons. In a flash of light, he vanished, leaving Pyro in the room by himself.

Slicking his hair back, Pyro cooed again, roughly translating to "You can com in. It's just me, no ancient Gods of chaos in here."

Twilight didn't remember the royal palace being this cold. The guards were acting strangely, too. Most of them never made eye contact, and the few that did scowled at her and looked away. She rested her hooves on the front of the doors that lead to the throne room. She couldn't deny that she was a little nervous, even scared. Twilight couldn't explain it. The whole place just seemed off. She braced herself and pushed the doors open with her full strength.

An uncomfortable wave of heat rushed out of the throne room, contrasting with the cold of the palace halls. She hesitated going any further, but she willed herself to walk into the room. The doors slammed loudly behind her, making her jump. She swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly approached the far end of the throne room. A familiar white pony sat atop her throne, looking down at her hooves, not giving Twilight a glance. When Twilight got close enough, she decided a bow was called for.

"Princess, is there something you need?"

The alicorn waited a moment to reply. "Twilight..."

"Yes, princess?"

"Have you ever killed anyone before."

"Yes."

Wait, what? No. Why would I tell her that? She doesn't need to know that.

"Did you really think you could hide it from me?"

"Yes."

No! Stop! Why can't I lie?

Twilight could feel the heat rising in the throne room. It was getting very uncomfortable.

"Hm. And exactly how many have you killed?"

Lie! Lie, damn it! She can't know!

"At least thirty."

"Just as I thought." Celestia stood up from her throne, approaching Twilight. The air kept getting hotter and hotter, becoming almost unbearable.

"Twilight, for crimes against sapient life, I have no choice--"

"No, please. Don't do this Celestia. It's me, Twili--"

"Don't interrupt me! You may have been my student, Twilight, but I never taught you slaughter. For crimes against sapient life, I sentence you to death, and eternity in the fires of Tartaros."

The heat sapped all the energy from Twilight, making her collapse to the ground. A ring of fire formed around her. Celestia stood on the outside, returning Twilight's pleading eyes with a cold, pitiless glare. The flames started to close in on her, dragging her helplessly into the void. The last thing she saw was Celestia's face, plastered with hatred. And then, all she could see was darkness.

Sunlight flooded Twilight's vision, making her cringe and cover her eyes with a foreleg.

"She's awake." she could hear a voice say.

"Should you talk to her or should I?" another voice replied. This one sounded like Martin.

"You should do it. She knows you better."

They stopped talking for a moment. Twilight's eyes took a moment to adjust to the light. When she opened her eyes fully, she could see Martin was kneeling down next to her.

"Hey Twilight, it's good to see you up." Martin said with a smile.

"Martin... but, you got shot." Twilight rubbed her eyes and got to her hooves.

"Adam gave me a stimpak. Your injury wasn't too bad, no vital organs hit or anything. He improvised a bandage from his shirt."

Twilight looked at her shoulder, where the shirt was stained in red, but seemed to have stopped the bleeding.

She turned her head toward the bare-chested human a few feet away. "Thanks for that."

"Don't mention it."

Twilight looked around her. She was outside, in the middle of a clearing. Small office building flanked the clearing on every side. Armed slaves were walking about the clearing, apparently watching out for slavers. Small concrete blocks that looked like they were designed to hold foliage, surrounded the clearing. Other things like desks and refrigerators served as cover for the slaves. This must have been the plaza Martin was talking about.

Adam began explaining their situation to Twilight. Most of the slaves got safely to the plaza. Once they set up fortifications, they held off another slaver attack. Once the slavers retreated to lick their wounds, the slave forces followed them to one of the office buildings where they did most of their business. Now the slavers were pinned down with nowhere to go. Martin assured her that the slavers wouldn't be a problem for long.

Next to her was a flagpole, sticking out of the ground, but leaning slightly. At the top of the flagpole was an unfamiliar banner. The flag was simply decorated, red and white stripes with a blue block in the upper left. A circle of thirteen white stars centered around a larger white star. The color scheme was attractive, but the meaning of the stars and stripes eluded her.

Martin caught Twilight's gaze, and he looked at the flag too.

"It's the flag of old-world America. You know, before the Great War."

Twilight nodded her head, but in truth, she had no idea what any of that meant. It was obvious that America was a place. Probably a country from before that war. And for all she'd heard about the war, she knew next to nothing about it. Even then, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this place was called the wasteland.

She looked back at Martin, who had an uncertain look about him, as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure he should.

"So, uhh, Twilight. What exactly happened back there?"

Twilight couldn't answer the question herself. It was all kind of blurry. But if her subconscious was trying to tell her something in that dream, she imagined it couldn't have been good.

"I'm not really sure. All I remember is getting shot, then I passed out."

"And that's all you remember?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh. Well, do you want to know what we saw happen?"

Twilight nodded, but in truth, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Well, after I got shot, you kind of... snapped, a little." Martin said somberly.

"And?"

"You kept yelling and panicking. Adam tried to calm you down, but that only made it worse. After you got hit..." Martin looked nervously at Adam.

"What did I do?" Twilight's eyes stared at the ground.

"That's what we want to know."

"I told you I don't remember what happened."

"As far as I can tell, you used some kind of magic at the building the slavers were in, and... Well, let's just say it's not much of a building any more."

Twilight was afraid he'd say something like that.

Adam was next to speak up. "It was kind of like a giant purple beam that came out of your horn. Tore a big hole in the building. It collapsed in less than a minute."

She felt a knot in her throat as she pondered the next question. "Did I kill anybody?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"There were a lot of slavers in that building. I'd say maybe thirty."

Twilight sat back on her haunches. It was true. The dream was right. She was a killer, and she couldn't hide it. She stared at the ground in shame.

"Twilight, it's not your fault."

"How is it not my fault? I killed thirty people. Thirty. And I've only been on this world for a couple days." She felt tears begin to well up. She couldn't go back to Equestria. She couldn't face Celestia's disappointment. For a brief moment, she wished she would have died in the fight.

"I don't know what it is you did back there, but you're the only reason any of us are still alive. The other slaves would have been massacred if it weren't for you."

"So you're saying I stopped a massacre by causing a massacre." the thought didn't make Twilight feel any better.

"I'm saying you did what you needed to do. Those slavers weren't going to show us any mercy. All they care about is money. But you made sure they wont hurt anybody ever again. You're not cruel, Twilight. Don't ever doubt that."

"But I didn't mean to do what I did. What if I can't control it? What if I hurt someone I didn't mean to? Let's face it, I'm no better than those slavers."

Twilight was surprised to feel someone embracing her in a hug. "You're ten times better than the whole bunch put together. Whatever it is that happened, I'm gonna help you take control of it."

Twilight returned the hug with a smile. "Thank you."

Martin pulled away from Twilight, giving her a devious smirk. "Now let's go give those slavers something to be afraid of."