The sun was starting to set. It had been a lovely day. My deliveries that morning had gone smoothly, and my family and I were meeting an old friend and his family for a picnic. We had met at that spot, though I had seen him around before. It was a secluded spot just outside town, a lovely clearing on the edge of the forest. Good food, fun, and good friends. It seemed like the kind of day that nothing could spoil.
So, of course, something did. Two large ponies wearing what appeared to be the tattered remains of Canterlot palace guard uniforms ran towards town from the direction of the city. As they saw the scene, the guards started frantically shouting and motioning the ponies to run back to the town. We quickly gathered up the kids and the remains of the picnic and started back towards town just as the guards caught up to us.
"What's wrong, is there anything we can do to help?" I asked, giving them a blurry eyed glance. I was scared, and when I get upset, it's hard to concentrate. That's when my eyes start drifting. I tried to calm down, and it helped. I could see them a little more clearly.
"We need to find Princess Twilight and the element bearers. They are the only ones that can help now," answered the mare, a statuesque pony with a dark grey coat, vibrant red mane, and a cutie mark of a fiery orange dagger.
"I'm not sure where they would be. There was nothing special going on today, so perhaps they are all home by now. At the least, it's as good a place to start as any," my husband spoke up, pausing for a moment before continuing, but I cut him off.
"I'm the only one that can reach Cloudsdale to look for Rainbow Dash. Why don't you take the kids and see if Twilight is in her library." If there was danger, the last place I wanted to be was away from my family, but I also knew that I had to do this. He looked about ready to protest, but then we both knew I was right, so he just nodded, his spiky chestnut mane shaking visibly as he tried not to picture the worst. I kissed him quickly, then bent over to talk to our little girl.
"You be good for Daddy, ok? I'll be back as soon as I can," I tell her, wrapping her in my arms and giving her a warm kiss. I can tell she's worried. This is all happening so fast, and none of us know what's going on.
But if there's one thing we Hoove's are good at, it's being brave in the face of adversity. So she gives me a smile that doesn't quite hide the fear in her eyes. "Ok Mommy, be careful." I smile back, knowing she can see the worry in my wall-eyes as well. One more quick hug, then I'm off, glancing back to watch them hurry towards town.
It's not far to Cloudsdale. I'm not the fastest flyer in Equestria, but I probably made it there in about the same time it took the others to make it to Ponyville. Everything looks normal from what I can see. The sun was near the horizon now, though it seemed to be taking longer than I expected for it to set. That might be my imagination though. Anyway, I arrived at Rainbow Dash's house, and fortunately she was home.
"Oh, hey Derpy, what's up?" She looked surprised to see me. Understandable. It's not like we were good friends. She wasn't mean to me, like a few of the other pegusi were, though sometimes she would get a little impatient with me. I understand though. I try, but sometimes it takes me a few tries to get things right. Still, she never gets really upset with me.
I try to catch my breath, but before I can explain, we hear a scream. We turn to look, and there's what first looks like a black cloud invading the city. Looking closer, we can see it's really a swarm of some kind. The few pegusi that were still out and about are running, and the bug-like things seem to be chasing them down. As we watch, one of the bugs lands on one of the pegusi that was running away. She screams, trying to shake it off, then suddenly stops. We both gasp, close enough to see as her cutie mark changes, turning into a stylized version of the bug that was now attached to her back. She calmly turns and flies off, back towards Canterlot. Several other's join her. I turn to look back at Rainbow Dash, just in time to see one of those black bugs creep in through her window. I don't even think, I just shove her out of the way as it leaps for her. "Hurry, get to Twilight's!" I shout as I struggle with the bug. She looks like she wants to stay and help, but as more of the bugs start heading for us, she nods and flies off at top speed.
I try and bat the bug off of me, to fly away, but there are more now, and one has a good hold on my back. I can feel it digging into me. I think about my family, my friends. My little girl. I hope they made it to the library ok. I start to hear a buzzing in my ears. It's almost like it's coming from my head. It hurts, and I can't hold back a scream. The buzzing is getting louder, and there's a burning in my legs. I manage to turn my head and look. The bright bubbles that always make me smile are fading, an inky black patch forming instead.
I think about those bubbles. I remember the day I got them. I had come home from school crying, again. Another day of getting teased, of being told I wasn't good enough, that there was something wrong with me. It was hard not to believe it. I managed to avoid giving them the satisfaction of seeing my tears at school, but couldn't stop them when I was alone. My dad put his hoof on my shoulder, and wiped away my tears. He helped me make a picnic, and we went to my favorite spot. The spot I had been at today with my family. It was so beautiful there. He had a present for me, a little jar of bubbles. He showed me how to blow them, and soon the clearing was filled with the iridescent little globes. I had forgotten how upset I was. He managed to catch one of the bubbles, and held it up for me to see. "Look at the colors," he told me. The light caught it to make a beautiful shifting rainbow on its surface. "Each one of these is unique, each one is special." He picked up a rock in the other hoof. "This rock is strong. It can stand up to a lot. But," he said, throwing it in the stream, "when you put it in water, it sinks, and eventually," he said, reaching in again, "the water will tear it down." He pulled out several rocks. Each was much smaller than the first, all of them smooth, and though there were some slight differences, they all looked the same - a bland, grey, dull rock. "A bubble on the other hand may be delicate, but put it on the water, and it will sail along as far as the river can take it." He set the little bubble down on the water, and I watched as it drifted out of sight.
"The river is like life. You can be like the rock. You can try to fit in, and let life chip away at you until you look like every other rock. Or you can be like the bubble. You can rise above it, and float along, enjoying it. You'll see things no one else will see." And suddenly I did see. I saw the other ponies in my class. I saw the colt with no cutie mark as he teased me for my eyes. But now I saw as he shifted uncomfortably, hiding his blank flank when a couple other ponies he knew passed by in the hall. I saw the popular girl as she sat surrounded at the lunch table, whispering and giggling as they occasionally glanced over at me. But now I saw the longing she couldn't quite hide, the loneliness as, even though she was surrounded by others, she was still alone. I saw others - trying to balance their desire to fit in with their true selves. And I saw myself. I couldn't hide who I was, and in a way, that made me lucky. I just had to realize that I actually liked who I was. I felt a tingling in my legs, and turned to look as a cluster of bubbles formed there.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening, into the night. As we lay on the grass, staring up at the moon, my dad told me a story. Once, long ago, there were two sisters. One ruled the day, the other the night. The one that ruled the night became jealous. She felt that no one loved her. She wanted to be loved like her sister. Eventually, the nightmares took her, turning her evil, and forced her sister to banish her to the moon. I felt sorry for her. I remember asking him if he thought she ever got lonely up there. He said she probably did. I told him that if she were around, I would tell her how much I love the night, and not to be sad that people liked day better because the night is important too. You can't go out and play at night, but night is when we get hot cocoa before bed, and bedtime stories, and goodnight kisses, and sleeping in warm cozy beds, and best of all, when we get to dream, He smiled at that, and told me he thinks she heard.
As we packed up and went home, I waved at the moon, and the mare in the moon. That night, my dreams were sweet, filled with bubbles and rainbows, and even rocks that sparkled. And my dad and mom. I missed her, but I was happy that I got to see her. That was the last time I came home from school in tears. They still teased me, but like the bubbles, I drifted above it.
I heard an agonized shriek, and felt the weight on my back drop away. I looked back. The bug twitched for a moment, before falling still. My beautiful bubbles were back, and I smiled. I didn't know exactly what had happened, but I felt it was important. I picked up the dead bug (ewwwww, it tasted awful!) and put it in my saddlebag, then hurried off towards Ponyville.
I pounded on the door of the library. There were a lot of skeptical looks - Rainbow Dash had gotten there first (naturally) and had told the other adults what had happened. The last she saw me, I had a bug on my back. But showing them the corpse in my bag, and my bare back and cutie mark, was enough to convince them. They were of course all curious to know how I had gotten away. Eventually they just chalked it up to my being "special". Twilight took the bug I had brought, and went to her lab to study it. The others were looking up in her books to try and find anything they could. I went over to my family and friends. We hugged tightly. The kids hadn't been told, but they knew something had happened, and were still worried about me, so there was a lot of relieved tears.
It wasn't long before we could hear the buzzing outside though. Books were put away in order to shore up our defenses as Twilight continued her research. That didn't last long though.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" The library shook with the power of that voice. It was familiar, but I had never heard it sound like that before. Regal, sure. With an air of authority even in everyday conversation. And always kind. This was none of that. It was pure, raw power. It reminded me of the first Nightmare Night after Princess Luna's return. Twilight came up, recognizing the voice as well, and we all peeked out the window, afraid but knowing what we would see.
The three princesses stood in front of the library. Each had a black bug on her back, and a stylized image of one on her flank. There were other ponies standing around them. I recognized many of them: the Mayor, Applejack's family, Rarity's sister, Scootaloo, the Cakes (even the babies), and so many others. There was nearly silent in that room, but the tiny sounds conveyed much. gasps of surprise and pain seeing loved ones taken by those things; tiny scuffs against the floor as we fidgeted in frustration, unsure what to do; cracking joints as we tensed up in anger seeing loved ones and friends forced to turn against us. Twilight's friends turned to her. "D...did y'all find anything?" Applejack asked nervously. Twilight just shook her head. "We're just going to have to trust that we can do this. We've faced this kind of danger before, and we've always managed to beat it, together. Together, we can do anything." They had been wearing the elements the entire time, and I watched them flash with power.
She turned to look at my group. "Stay here." Not that she needed to tell us. Turning, she spoke to the two guards. "You two, stay with them. Make sure none of those things get in here."
"Don't worry your highness," the stallion guard answered her. "We'll make sure they're ok." He shared the same coat color as the other guard, and his cutie mark was a streak of fire the same color as the other guard's, like a comet shooting through the sky, though his mane was a dark brown. Now that I was getting a better look at them, I wondered if they were related, perhaps even twins. They each took up a position at a window. The rest of us took up positions at other windows while Spike looked after the kids. I couldn't see what was going on with the element bearers outside, and I paced nervously back and forth in front of the window.
They were only gone for a minute or so before we heard a crash. Those things were coming inside. We fought valiantly, but there were just too many of them. One by one, I watched friends and family fall to them. I rushed to protect Dinky as I saw a group get near the children, but felt a tug on my tail as my husband grabbed it. I looked into his eyes, and saw the emptiness there. I wanted to cry, but I had to reach my little girl. But it was too late. She was already heading outside with the rest, the remaining bugs all following behind. None of them tried to take me, apparently having learned their lesson from the one that had failed in Cloudsdale. I followed them out, having no reason not to. I hoped I would see the element bearers winning out against these things, but my hopes were dashed.
They were struggling. The elements were in full force, but having little effect. Some of the infected ponies were driven back by the force, but the three princesses stood their ground. None of the bugs could get near the bearers, so that was good, but they couldn't keep it up forever.
"You may as well give up now my faithful student," I heard from all around me. "We are the embodiment of harmony. Your elements cannot harm us. We are one."
I heard the struggle in Twilight's voice as she tried to answer. "We... will... stop...you. You don't... understand...true harmony!" The light flared around them for a moment, as they strengthened their resolve, but a moment later, I was shocked to see black tendrils spreading from Celestia along the beam of energy back towards the 6 friends.
"Oh, but we do understand, more than you know. We are harmony, we have Celestia's and Luna's knowledge of the elements. You cannot defeat us. Surrender now, and join us. Join your friends. Join your family." To my surprise, I saw several of Twilight's friends mouthing along with the rest of the infected, clearly starting to fall under the influence, despite not being directly infected. I didn't know what to do, I just knew that if I did nothing, we would soon lose. So I ran in front of them, hoping to somehow stop the tendrils of energy. Maybe if the bug couldn't infect me, I could somehow stop their influence as well. I felt energy sweeping past me as I stepped into the beam from the elements. Too late, I thought that it might not be a good idea to put myself between that much power and its target, but fortunately nothing happened, other than a tingly feeling.
To my surprise, the tendrils of black did seem to slow. I could feel their energy as well, the noisy buzzing that I felt in my head before now vibrating throughout my body. It was painful, but I had to do it. "Let us go!" I shouted at them.
"Poor little Derpy. We know you too. We tried to give you our gift, but you are just too broken to join us. Your pathetic mind can't comprehend our gift. You are a poison, a freak," to my horror, it wasn't Celestia who answered. I turned around to see my husband, my friends, and my little girl, standing behind me, saying such hateful things. I knew it wasn't them, but it still hurt. For the first time in years, I felt like crying. I wished I could run home to my Dad and have him hold me in his arms and make everything alright. But he couldn't. That was my job now. I had to be the strong one for my little girl.
So I started to sing. It was our song. The song my friend had written the day we met. The day he almost left us. The song that played when my husband and I danced our first song together as husband and wife. The song I sang to my baby girl to send her off to sleep each night, so that she knew that she was special. I hoped it would get through to them. And maybe it did. Maybe there was a twitch, a slight misting of the eyes. But it wasn't enough. "How touching, but a pathetic sentiment. Difference makes you weak. Difference causes pain and suffering. We offer peace. There is no teasing, no name calling, no cruelty. We are one."
"That's where you're wrong." Twilight spoke up now, and though I heard the strain, I also heard renewed determination. "It's our differences that give us strength. You may think you know harmony, but you can't have true harmony without individual notes blended together." She looked directly at me as she smiled. "And that's why you're about to lose." She winked and her horn started to glow brighter. "From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled. From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!"
The light from the elements flared brightly, blindingly. I tried to move my hooves up to shield my eyes, but they were frozen. I felt myself being lifted up into the air. For a moment, I was afraid that somehow Twilight had fallen to their influence and was trying to defeat me. But I felt a warmth and peace flow through me, and instead of just feeling the power flowing over me, it was now flowing through me. I could feel it change, and I heard screams from all around me.
The light dimmed, and I saw the ponies all around my laying on the ground. I was terrified that they were all... but then I saw them struggling to their feet. The bugs lay on the ground beside them, a few twitching, but most still. "M...mommy?" I turned to see my little Dinky getting shakily to her feet, and I quickly snatched her in my arms, holding her tightly. She hugged me back, tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of it!"
I shushed her, smiling. "I know sweetie, it's ok." She smiled back, hugging me tighter.
"What's that?" she asked suddenly, pointing to my neck. I looked down, surprised to see some kind of necklace there. It was a brilliant gold, with a yellow circle-shaped gemstone in the center. It seemed familiar, but I was sure I'd never seen it before.
"That is your mother's Element of Harmony, the element of Individuality," Twilight and her friends came forward. Despite looking tired, she was radiating the same air of regal authority that the other princesses had. I was a little intimidated, but her words got through the confusion and uncertainty.
"My what?" I asked "How... I don't... what?" I stuttered, still not quite fully engaged yet.
"Your element. You embody the aspect of individuality. That is why they were unable to infect you. When you stepped into the beam, you started glowing. At first I thought it was just an effect from the energy moving around you, but the more you talked, the more I could feel it. There was something special about you. So I took a chance. I used the most powerful spell I knew, the same one that transformed me into an Alicorn. I wasn't sure what would happen, but I hoped that it would give you the power to defeat them. And it did. The purity of your uniqueness, your certainty and self confidence even in the face of adversity - all of it was crystallized into a brand new element," she explained. I looked around, blushing as a cheer went up from the crowd of ponies that had recovered and were gathering around us to listen to Twilight's explanation.
I could feel the crowd parting behind me, and turned to see the three princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, stepping up to us. I moved aside so they could talk to Twilight, but Celestia stopped in front of me instead. "Thank you," she said, looking at me. "Your bravery, not just in the face of danger, but every day, have saved all of Equestria." I couldn't speak, overcome with emotion, as another cheer went up from the crowd. She smiled at me, nodding to show she understood, then turned to Twilight. "And well done, princess. You, all of you," she said, turning to include the rest of Twilight's friends, "continue to make me so proud."
There were a few more minutes of congratulations, before the crowd started to drift apart for cheerful reunions. Applejack was busy hugging her family, Rarity was fussing over Sweetie Bell, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were trying to play it cool, but they snuck a hug when they thought no one was looking. I was trying not to strangle poor Dinky as I held her tightly. She didn't seem to mind, her embrace just as tight, except when she was examining my element with fascinated wonder. My husband had his arm draped over the both of us, and not for the first time I was struck by just how fortunate I am to have my little family, though I'd never felt it as strongly as I did after nearly losing them both.
It was then that we were interrupted by a voice that was at once both quiet and timid, and yet held a commanding presence. I turned to see princess Luna standing behind me. "May I interrupt?" I nodded, again overwhelmed by all the events of today. "I just wanted to thank you as well. And not just for today."
I looked at her, confused. "What could you possibly have to thank me for?"
She smiled. "Do you remember when you were a filly? You and your father were out gazing at the night sky. and he told you the story about me? I saw you from where I was. I heard what you said and, though the nightmares still held me, it touched me. So thank you." She smiled warmly at me, giving a little bow.
"You're very welcome, your highness. Thank you." I gave a little bow in turn, and she smiled shyly and moved back to her sister.
There was a reluctance to split up among the townspeople, so the impromptu celebration lasted for a while, but we all eventually went home, tired after the long day. I handed the element necklace to Twilight. Dinky was a bit disappointed, but I told her it was ok. She decided she should make one for me to wear when I couldn't wear my real one. I smiled, and told her it could wait till tomorrow.
I tucked my little girl into bed, kissing her forehead. She was out before her head even hit the pillow. I knew that princess Luna would be sending sweet dreams her way tonight.
