A Tear in Harmony

Twilight shivered a bit in the cold as she leaped off from the huge hole she had blown in the side of the Palace of Ur. Behind her, seven griffons lay unconscious or dead on the fiery ground. Twilight was relieved; it would be quite a pain to have to battle them just to get back to where she sorely needed to go.

She caught the air in her wings after freefalling for a good hundred feet or so. When she swooped up along the slope of a mountain, gaining height, she reactivated her radio and her position transmitter to allow the ponies back in Equestria to know that she was still alive and kicking. She was certain that most already thought her dead at this stage of the griffons' attack on Equestria. But, little did she know that she was out of range from even her nation's most advanced radar systems. Only by getting closer would she be able to alert them of her presence.

This fact escaped her. All she knew was that she needed to get to back home as soon as she could to stop this madness and the potential deaths of millions of ponies. The feeling of being short on time made her even more scared for everypony, all of her subjects, her friends, and especially the three other Princesses, which she held very closely to heart. These emotions, suddenly showing themselves, made her think hard and think quick.

She flapped her bare wings rapidly in the frigid air, feeling them numb almost instantaneously. Deciding to go against normal procedures in this desperate time, she grew the nano-suit to fit snugly around her feathery lavender wings. Usually, doing so would impede a pony's ability to fly, but this was an emergency situation; she couldn't risk losing her wings on the way back during this time of dire need.

Her speedometer noted that she was travelling at roughly 248 miles an hour. She gritted her teeth; at that rate, she would reach Equestria in just over twenty-four minutes. That would be too much time spent trying to get home; her nation didn't have a chance at this rate! She tried to flap her wings to go faster, but her suit, tight around them, stopped her from doing so. She felt helplessness and hopelessness grow into feelings of anger and annoyance.

"Come on! I need to get home!" she shouted loudly in a burst of sudden frustration. She began to pant at the effort of trying to go faster, but after a few minutes, when she finally accepted she couldn't, she stopped and resumed onwards normally. The harsh snow beat at her, but she was in too much of a hurry to even think of flying above the clouds to avoid the gusty winds and occasional shards of ice. Only by leaving the tall mountain would she be able to remove her suit from her wings to fly faster.

All of these things — nearly getting killed in a mass drowner, seeing the plans of legions of griffons and Chaos forms coming together to attack Equestria, and the harsh environment — caused Twilight to begin losing her sanity. She began to panic, grinding her teeth harshly against each other. She naturally began to think up all of the horrible outcomes that could possibly take place if she couldn't get home. Her earpiece, connected wirelessly to her HUD lenses, beeped rapidly, trying to remind her to calm down. Her heart rate was escalating, higher so than it already was in its stressed state.

Oh, dear Celestia! What if I don't make it back in time? What if the griffons and the Chaos forms already took down the bubble shield? What if they're invading and killing innocent ponies as we speak?! she screamed to herself. These progressively more and more negative thoughts made her whimper and sniffle as she felt tears well out from her eyes.

She continued to fly, but this time, without screaming or shouting in hopeless pain. She flew onwards in silence; the blizzard still surrounded her, and she began to feel as if she would be stuck in it for the rest of her miserable eternal lifetime. She grew more and more depressed in a span of a few minutes and even closed her eyes as she glided shakily towards home. Her vision and her mind slowly descended into darkness, and she felt herself plunge into an odd semi-conscious dream state. Her wings continued to flap toward home, and she felt herself slowly become part of what she was seeing and experiencing: her past, her present, and, to an extent, her future, too.

-

"... Twilight? Tell me, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I failed, mom! I failed my test! Now all the other fillies and colts are laughing at me because I'm the only one who didn't pass! What am I supposed to do? I can't go back there!"

The little filly Twilight cuddled against a full-grown mare, her mother, who had a white coat and a white-and-purple mane and tail. Her small frame shook and shivered sadly as she buried her head into her neck and shoulder, wetting it with her tears.

"Oh, sweetheart..." her mother's smooth, gentle voice gently coaxed her to relax as she spoke into her scared filly's ear. "You have to stay strong, or else — heh — the monsters will getcha!" she suddenly pulled away to tickle Twilight Sparkle's belly and neck, causing the little filly to squeal aloud in laughter.

"M-Mommy! Sto-Stop i... ohhff- ah-hahaha!!" she giggled loudly. When her mother pulled away after a few seconds, she was left to lie on her back on the soft bed, letting out occasional tired laughs.

"That's it. Don't be sad, sweetie," her mother smiled and got to her hooves. She leaned down beside the bed and gave her daughter a loving kiss on the cheek. "Always be happy, and don't ever lose hope in yourself or anypony else... okay?" she said in that nice, light-hearted tone of hers.

The small lavender filly nodded and relaxed while her mother pulled the sheets up, tucking her snugly into bed. She gazed up at her with her soft, violet eyes, before closing them sleepily. "Goodnight, mommy..." she yawned and closed her eyes, feeling darkness embrace her once more, pulling her down to pitch-black depths.

-

"... B-But what am I supposed to do?? The coronation is tomorrow and... and I don't even have any sort of royal vestments to wear! And I don't even know how to act like a Princess, let alone do the duties that a Princess must do... oh, what should I do?" she had to force herself to stop hyperventilating.

"Dearie, listen to yourself! You were born in Canterlot, for Celestia's sake! Your brother is captain of the... the Royal Guard! And his mate is a lovely alicorn, just like you! Of course you should know how to be a Princess, or at least royalty, to some extent!" an alabaster-white unicorn with a curly royal purple mane tried to reassure the scared, newly-turned lavender alicorn. Her voice was tinted by a distinctive Atlantic accent.

"Yeah! And if you're not sure about it, just make it up on the fly when you get there! I don't even think it'll be hard being a Princess; I could probably do it in my sleep!" a sky-blue pegasus mare with a colorful mane boasted as she flew around the main area of the library tree.

"Umm... if I could make a suggestion, I... I think you should ask Princess Celestia or Princess Luna for help. I'm sure they'll always be ready to give out some advice for anypony, especially you!" another pegasus, this time with a long, pink mane and a yellow coat suggested.

"Come on! You're an alicorn! You can do whatever you want!!" a pink Earth mare giggle-snorted.

An orange Earth pony mare sat down right beside her lavender alicorn friend and reached up to give her a light nudge. "Aw, c'mon Twi. Ya can't just give up this easily! Ya aren't that kind'a pony, an' Ah know that for certain!" Her friendly, Southern-accented voice managed to finally put her at ease.

She smiled over at all of her friends and extended her arms out wide as she sat up. "Aw, come on, girls. You five are the best friends a pony could ever ask for," she said laughingly as all of the others came together with her in a big group hug, with her at the center. The big group of colorful ponies, best of friends, smiled and giggled happily in the tight, close embrace. "I'm sure things will go much better than I think they will... thank you," she murmured, hugging them all close to herself.

"I hope..." she whispered quietly under her breath before the other five unexpectedly dog-piled on her, making her yelp in surprise before she suffocated in darkness.

-

"... Are they all dead? Tell me, now."

"Yes, Princess Sparkle," her guard muttered in a low growl. "The deed is done. How much farther are you planning on going...?"

She narrowed her eyes, her horn beginning to glow as she glared down at him. "You will stay under my command and follow my orders without question unless I relinquish you of your duties, which will be... never," she hissed. "Though, I am quite happy that you miserable little foals were actually able to quell that stupid rebellion back at Ponyville... for a moment I thought I would have to go there and stop it myself..."

The five leaders of her army stayed where they stood, shuffling nervously from side to side. One of them finally mustered enough courage to report to her what he'd been assigned to report.

"Princess Twilight," he stepped forward and gulped.

Immediately her dark violet eyes locked onto him. "Speak," she ordered.

"Ah-ahh... I... I'm here to report that five of the six bodies you assigned us to find have been... recovered," he gulped. "The last one, ahm, well..."

"What about the last one?" she growled harshly at him. "Speak!"

"T-The... I-It's the dra-dragon! W-We couldn't find him, b-b-but we were able to get the other f-five ponies you requested..." he began to breathe rapidly. "Please d-don't kill me, Your Highness...!" he threw himself down on the ground, his face plastered to the floor and his entire body quivering.

The lavender alicorn bit her lip at the news and shook her head. She was furious, but she decided it would be better to let this pathetic little heap of organic material live instead of wasting her strength just to put him down. She growled down at him. "Get up, you blithering idiot," she snapped. "Obliterate the bodies!!" she shouted down at the rest of them, who flinched at the sudden, harsh sound. "I don't want to see those foals ever again..."

"Y-Yes, Your Highness," they all said, before bowing their heads low to her and leaving in a single-file line out the door.

The tyrant Princess Twilight Sparkle sat alone in the large throne room. It was late at night, and the inside was lit dimly only by a few torches.

After a good half-hour of sitting motionlessly on her golden throne, she let out a sigh and made her way up to her room on the tallest tower of her castle. Her castle wasn't too far from Ponyville, being situated down south. She had been assigned the responsibility of ruling over the southern provinces of Equestria, including Ponyville, but the small town's rebellion she finally had the time to put down showed her that these ponies didn't like her way of ruling.

What was it to them? All she had done was impose very strict laws on jobs to increase productivity — for her subjects' own good! And she had just doubled taxes just so she could get herself things she wanted; she was a Princess, after all. If ponies rebelled against her and her way of ruling, then she would be forced to put them down.

"Gotta get some sleep... have so much stupid stuff to do tomorrow..." she muttered and carelessly threw off all her royal vestments into her closet. But she was much more careful with her crown, her beautiful, golden crown topped with a six-pointed bright magenta star. Right now, it was glowing and pulsating quickly, and she gazed at it closely, trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

"Stupid thing..." she muttered before setting it as gently as she could onto a bust of her head on her nightstand. It began to pulsate brighter and quicker, and the moment she set it down, it abruptly...

Shattered.

A large crack instantaneously ran straight through its center, immediately extinguishing the bright multicolored flashing within. It even split off from the rest of the crown, falling onto the nightstand. Though usually bright, it was now completely dim and dull, with black smoke slowly rising out from where the cracks were the widest.

The sudden damage done to it made Twilight squeak and rear back in shock. When she turned her gaze back to it to see what had happened, she felt her heart nearly stop.

"My crown... what happened to my crown?!" she growled, her voice growing louder as she spoke. She was furious, beginning to breathe rapidly in building anger. "One of the guards must have set this to explode... they hate me anyway..." she heaved.

Out of nowhere, she felt a thought grip her tight. She froze as her mind brought her back to what had just happened less than an hour ago. The other five ponies were now dead, and their bodies recovered, just as she had ordered.

"The Elements of Harmony...?" she breathed and glanced up at her ruined crown. "Oh no... oh, no..."

What have I done...?

She felt herself being pulled down into the very ground she was standing on, and darkness overcame her once more.

-

Her eyes snapped open. An unfamiliar landscape surrounded her as she found herself automatically flying high in the sky on the way to go somewhere, though she had no idea where she was heading or where she intended to go. It took her a few moments to gather up exactly what had happened, and she realized that she had come out from utter blackness back to the real world. She didn't remember anything that had happened for the past ten minutes she had been gone, but all she knew was that she was far away from Ur now; the snow below had been replaced with lush, green forests. The dense clouds that were around her were gone now, and up above was a clear, moonlit sky.

But she was still confused as to why she was back. The feeling of hopelessness still lay within her, but... there was something else as well. She could barely feel it within her, but once she was able to figure out what she was feeling, she became utterly confused. They were emotions; very strong, negative emotions like anger, resentment, anguish, and, most of all, sorrow. She tried to figure out exactly what made her feel such things, but once she traced them back to their origins, her heart thumped in emotional pain.

She gritted her teeth. Her nano-suit receded from her wings, freeing them up and allowing her to move faster through the air. Her speedometer now measured 497 miles an hour, much faster than she had been going earlier. Now, instead of wanting to get back to Canterlotian Equestria just because she was a Princess obligated to her subjects, there was a different reason.

She had failed them before. She had made them lose complete hope in her, and, as a result, they rebelled against her. But what did she do? Nothing except order the deaths of the ponies who were once her five closest friends without wondering why they had gone against her. She realized; they wanted her to be a better pony. And she had failed them.

I'm not going to let that happen again, she said firmly to herself. I don't just have obligations to these ponies; I owe them something. Something big. And if I can't save them, then I won't ever be able to forgive myself for what I'd done...

An outburst of noise from her earpiece caused her to yelp in surprise. She almost twisted in the air, destabilizing herself, but she quickly reoriented herself and continued on home. She tried to track where the radio noise had come from, and when she saw that it was coming right from Canterlot itself, she smiled wide in relief and renewed confidence. She opened the channel up to them and began to speak; thank Celestia she wasn't too tired to turn her transmitters on earlier when she left Ur.

"H-Hello? This is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Please tell me what's going on!" she breathed, unable to retain her formal tone since she knew she was speaking directly to those in Canterlot. They had to know what was happening.

"Twilight!"

Her eyes widened, and her wings nearly faltered. She didn't realize how much she had missed her teacher, especially after what she'd been through at Ur, until she heard her. "P-Princess Celestia?! I... I'm on my way back home, but... but..." she felt her heart nearly split in two in joyful relief at the sound of her beloved instructor's voice. Coupled with what she had done in the past that she had just remembered, hearing her teacher's eternally gentle voice was enough to make her cry.

"I was starting to wonder when you'd return," came the staticky reply. Though it wasn't a miraculously clear transmission, Twilight could clearly tell that she had been silently crying. Her voice had cracked, something she had never heard from her teacher before.

"Princess, I'm here now! I'm on my way back to Equestria, and I... I'm sorry for shutting off my transmitter! I didn't know you would be like this... I'm so sorry! D... Did you think I was... d-dead?" she breathed, wondering if that was what her teacher thought had happened.

After a moment of silence on both ends, Celestia finally responded. "Yes... Yes, Twilight," she admitted quietly. "I lost faith... I still don't know what I'll do, especially after seeing these enemies of mine right at our front door... my faithful student, I... we... need help that only you can provide..."

With her recently unearthed memories still in her head, especially her third one, she gritted her teeth, unable to think of anything else she could possibly be talking about. "Princess, you know that the Elements of Harmony were lost six hundred years ago..."

"This isn't about the Elements, Twilight," Celestia replied immediately, which made Twilight shut her mouth to listen to her speak. "We need you to fight them alongside us. Luna is already readying up, and I'm going to be heading out soon myself. These ponies are evacuating in escape pods, and I need to make sure that each and every one of them makes it out of the battle zone unscathed. Please, Twilight... I don't want to lose a single one of them..."

The younger Princess gulped, continuing to make her way back home. So her motives were just the same as Princess Celestia's... except that Twilight felt the need to repay them for what she'd done. And helping the others defend everypony was a task she was definitely going to be up to.

"A-Alright, Princess Celestia," she responded. "I'll help without hesitation... I'm almost there. Just hold on."

"Stay safe. We'll talk more about this when this ends... if it ends..."

Twilight gulped and nodded, and the connection was dropped. She was alone once more in the darkness of the night, and she couldn't help but shiver.

At least now, she would have a chance to redeem her soul to everypony and prove to those she had ever wronged that she truly was sorry...

———

"Come on everypony! Nice and easy, now; you'll be assigned a pod when you get down there. Don't worry, there's enough room for everypony! Come on, now, get along, no pushing!"

Cadance's team of evacuators seemed to be working the best out of all of the groups assigned the job. There was no surprise either; she practically radiated love, calming everything around her, no matter who or what it was. And that was a major reason as to why she had come down to aid in the vacating of everypony from the nation.

There were still crowds of ponies waiting to get in their assigned escape pods. Though many were loaded up already, the engineers were waiting for the all-clear to transport them safely out from the pod bays below. Half a million ponies would be hauled out in each wave, out towards the safety of the target landmass six thousand miles away. Their thrusters were rated as being able to achieve supersonic speeds, aided by their sleek shape. Three hundred would be able to fit into each one at maximum, and it wouldn't take too many to escape their doomed nation.

Directly above, the moon shone brightly. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the stars beyond twinkled brightly, far behind even the moon.

Down below, however, obscured in darkness, were the two armies of the Chaos forms and the griffons. The Chaos forms stood in the dense forests, waiting motionlessly for the order to attack like a hivemind, while the griffons were perched up in the trees themselves, shifting from side to side. It was so understandable as to why they were so antsy; ever since the dawn of their existence, they had been waiting for this moment for centuries: the chance to finally annihilate the pony race from the face of the planet.

And it was so, so close. They could almost taste it...

In the control room, activity was growing. Celestia was shouting out orders over her shoulder almost every thirty seconds now, though everything was progressing according to plan. The cameras had a clear visual on the enemy armies below, and there was a constant feed showing the Princess the status of each and every pony below. The first, "Equestria", read 15,622,901; the second, "Escaped", was obviously still at zero; the third, the one Celestia was staring at, was still at zero as well; it was the amount of Casualties there could possibly be.

The white Sun Princess cleared her throat and activated her earpiece, establishing a direct connection with her sister. She had been out of the infirmary for a few hours now.. Ever since she was alerted of the incoming Chaos forms and griffons, she had pleaded with her nurses to let her go to help manage the situation, and they had checked her to make sure she was fit to walk and fly. Luckily, her amazing regenerative powers got her through all of the tests she actively had to participate in to ensure that she was prepared for what she wanted to do.

"Luna, are you sure you're up to this task?" the elder of the two spoke. Her voice still cracked a little, and she felt her heart thump at the realization of her sorry state.

"Sister... I would be willing to defend each and every pony in our nation until our very last breath; just exactly the same as you. If you do not allow me to go out and lead the initial maneuver, those escape pods of yours — that you had commissioned to be built five hundred years ago — will be their primary target. I shall lead a battalion of our finest warriors to distract and defend the escape pods below. The moment you see the first shot fired, please, Sister: do not hesitate to launch them all," Luna said solemnly as she felt her sleek, upgraded nano-suit conform to her body and accentuate her curves.

At least, this time, the group of three thousand ponies behind her were a mix of ponies of all races and genders. If a mare caught a stallion staring, she would immediately hoof him upside the head. Earth ponies and unicorns alike wore jetpacks and jet boots in addition to heavy energy weapons on their shoulders. Every single one of them wore a highly upgraded nano-suit made for dogfights and close combat. It would take more than a few shots to down any of these warriors.

Back at the control room, Celestia licked her lips and forced herself to relax. She closed her eyes, taking her gaze away from the projected screen above. The tension was rising; everypony could feel it. The time was coming, and there was no stopping it...

"Alright, sister. Go and do your job and protect our citizens. Come back safely..." she murmured in a very quiet whisper, so quiet that Luna could barely hear what she had said.

The nocturnal Princess smiled gently. "Do not worry for me, Sister. I will come back..." she murmured before glancing back at her battalion for a moment. She then gazed in front of herself and let out a quiet breath. A square drop opened up right in front of her to pitch blackness below, and she arched her back before diving down, freefalling with her wings tucked tightly against herself.

The other three thousand went in after her, splitting into their respective squads before following her into battle.

———

Twilight...

The lavender alicorn, still flying home, flinched. She was only ten miles from home, but a magical arcane thought-message had hit her hard. Though she had received thought-messages before, this one was quite different; it was in a voice that was so familiar to her, yet she couldn't pinpoint from exactly who it was; and she couldn't figure out where it had come from, which was something a thought-message should have allowed the recipient to find out.

However, after a few moments, a massive outburst of magic hit her harder than the thought had, nearly knocking her out of the air. She had to stabilize herself to figure out what had happened. When she had shaken her head vigorously and caught sight of the source, she didn't need to figure out where it came from.

Twilight, you need to follow...

Princess Sparkle's breath caught in her throat. She gulped nervously and shakily replied to wherever the voice was coming from. "I can't... not now...! Everypony back at home needs me... to help them out! I can't just leave them..." She bit her lip. She was torn hopelessly between saving her nation and potentially getting herself killed to find out where she had heard that voice before; the choice should have been easy for her, but she was desperate to figure out who it was and what it wanted with her. The magical force was so strong, and, despite her intention to get back home as quickly as she could to save everypony, she couldn't help but entertain her inquisitive mind. She was falling into the trap of knowledge once more, and her gullible self began to take over, thirsty for answers.

She halted in midair, turning her gaze to the direction the magical aura was coaxing her. Gulping again and clearing her throat, she opened up a channel to the control room back in Equestria.

"Princess Celestia. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a few more minutes. I've found something... something I can't resist," she quivered. "Just in case I don't come back, don't wait for me... but I swear that I'll be back soon," she promised. Before the Princess could answer or even utter a sound, she shut down all of her transmitters once more, leaving her alone in the dark night.

She mapped her destination out on her HUD, hardening her gaze. After a few moments of contemplating a few final thoughts, she gathered up as much strength as she could in her wings and shot off towards it.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm doing this..." she gulped. The thirst for knowledge was getting stronger within her, and she couldn't take it anymore. That familiar voice... she just had to figure out where it had come from, and she had to figure it out now. She couldn't help herself... And she knew that the fate of her own nation could wait for just a few more minutes...

Oh...! Please make this be worth it... Please tell me I've made the right decision... she whispered as she broke the sound barrier, rapidly closing in to her destination just two miles away, high in a tall, smoke-covered mountain. There was no turning back now.