What it takes

What it Takes

Act 1: Chapter 2: Harmoy Introduced

By: N30N-THUND3R

-(T)-

The darkness was overwhelming, and Tourmalyte Marquee Glare had only his fast-moving train of thoughts to keep him company.

What the hell happened? One second I was standing in the middle of that damned demon circle, the next, I'm unconscious. Am I dead? Who's idea of a joke is this? Tourmalyte thought while in his unconscious state. Then, Tourmalyte became aware of a faint beeping sound.

Aww, that's just great. We got injured, and now, a medic has us hooked up to the cardio-monitors. Might as well open my eyes. Tourmalyte thought. His eyelids crept upwards.

His pupils were assaulted by the bright light from the lights overhead, and they contracted instantly.

"Nurse Redheart, one of them is awake!" A female voice immediately shouted. Tourmalyte turned his head to the sound of the voice. All that was visible to Tourmalyte's light-blinded eyes was a lavender colored blob. Tourmalyte blinked his eyes a few times and restored his vision. The sight he beheld shocked him greatly.

It was a lavender colored pony with a horn. Its dark blue mane and tail were styled, much like how humans style their hair. It also had two streaks through its mane and tail one purple, one pink. Plastered on the side of the pony's flank was a pink six-point stars, which was surrouded by several smaller white stars. The pony looked at Tourmalyte with its deep purple eyes, taking in everything about him that wasn't covered by the blanket he was trapped under. Its eyes lingered over his green hair and the chains on his uncovered arms.

"C-can you understand me?" The pony asked in the same feminine voice, looking nervously into Tourmalyte's green eyes.

"You can talk!" Tourmalyte shouted, pointing a finger at the pony.

"Of course I can talk. All ponies can talk. I'm more surprised that you can talk. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm Princess Celestia's personal protégé." Twilight introduced, pointing a forehoof at herself.

"My name is Tourmalyte Marquee Glare. May I ask, how did we get here?" Tourmalyte asked Twilight, motioning his arms in a circle.

"Do you mean 'here' as in here in Equestria, or 'here' as in the hospital?" Twilight asked Tourmalyte in response.

"Both, I guess." Tourmalyte said with a chuckle. It was then that two winged Unicorns, one white with a mane and tail of pink blue and green and the image of a shining sun on its flank, the other dark blue with a mane and tail like the night sky and a crescent moon on its flank, both looking regal, walked into the room and sat down on a bench right next to the doorway, which was in front of Nathanius's bed. "Wait a second. Before you start, I should wake my friends up so they can here this." Tourmalyte spoke, lifting the covers off of himself. He got off of the bed and proceeded to wake up Nathanius and Formalendale.

After shaking them awake and explaining the situation to them calmly, soothing them when needed, which took all of half of an hour, he motioned for Twilight to speak.

"You three seem pretty much unfazed by this." Twilight said, making a gesture that referred to everything around the humans in general.

"You get pretty used to new creatures when you've dealt with demons and angels alike summoning new creatures to fight their unending war." Nathanius explained succinctly.

"What are the demons and angels fighting over?" Celestia asked with a look of recognition creeping across her face in a curious smile.

"Humanity." Formalendale answered with a cocky smile.

"Why is that?" Twilight asked, curiosity peaking.

"Humans are the only creatures in our world able to summon both demons and angels. We have both light and dark in us, so that gives us the ability to communicate with both sides without any ill effects. But we're getting off topic. Twilight, please continue." Tourmalyte wrapped up.

"Okay. So Princess Celestia,"- she motioned to the white, winged, Unicorn -"Princess Luna,"- she motioned to the dark blue pony -"and I found you when you came through a white portal, unconscious, in the abandoned castle. We brought you here, to Ponyville General, so we could make sure each of you were okay." Twilight explained.

"I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say thank you, Your Hignesses and Miss Sparkle." Nathanius said politely and gratefully.

"You even sound like him too." Princess Luna said under her breath. Unfortunately for her, Nathanius heard her.

"Sound like who, Your Highness?" Nathanius questioned, a strong hint of curiousity edging into his voice. Luna froze up at the question. After Celestia gently nudged Luna with her hoof a few times, she finally started moving again.

"It-it's nothing. It's just, you strongly resemble somebody I once knew, but it was quite a long time ago." Luna responded, ducking her head down as to avoid eye contact.

"Okay then. Oh, by the way, my name is Nathanius Aquus, this is Formalendale Bishop, and that is Tourmalyte Marquee Glare." Nathanius said, pointing to himself, Formalendale, and Tourmalyte in that order.

"Well it was nice meeting you three. Luna, we have much to talk about when we get back to Canterlot. Twilight, I hope to here from you sometime soon. I suggest you three rest a bit before you leave." Celestia said before she and Luna disappeared in a flash of light.

"Now that she mentioned it, I am still extremely exhausted. If I never wake up, it'll be too soon by half." Formalendale spoke before yawning. He then rested his head back down on the pillow and went back to sleep in ten miliseconds flat. Nathanius did the same and fell asleep.

"Thanks for explaining that to us. I expect Nathanius will have hundreds of questions for you later." Tourmalyte said before drifting back off to sleep.

-(N)-

Sleep had accepted Nathanius as fast as it had accepted Formalendale, and it seemed to release him just as quickly. Oddly enough, the sleep was dreamless for Nathanius. When he woke up, he saw the lavender Unicorn, Twilight, sitting on the bench in front of his bed. In her hooves was a leather-bound book. On the cover in big, golden letters, was his name. It was his journal.

"What are you doing with that?" He asked in an accusational tone, pointing his finger at the leather-bound book.

"I-i-i was just reading through this to gain some information about you and your friends. I'm so sorry." Twilight said apologetically, attempting to pass the book back to Nathanius. Nathanius leaned forward and grabbed the book.

"If you needed info about us, you could have just waited until we woke up. Then you wouldn't have to steal my journal. On a semi-unrelated topic, what part did you read up to in my journal?" Nathanius asked.

"I was able to read up to your entry three months ago. That entry was a bit strange. You claimed to have seen a mint-green figure through some sort of window, which you happened to stumble across in your home. Then when you looked at it again, it was gone. That reminds me of something that happened about a month ago. Lyra Heartstrings was bounding around the town at midnight claiming she saw one of her mythical humans, which I guess aren't that mythical after all. I believe that you saw into our world, and based on the time difference, I would say one day here is approximately three days there." Twilight said, her train of thought expressing itself through her speech.

"That makes a bit of sense. I mean, it would be a really strange coincidence if two completely unrelated worlds had the same time movement. That reminds me, due to the time difference, what is today's date?" Nathanius asked. Tourmalyte's eyes opened as he sat up and stretched.

"Today is March 12th." Twilight answered at once. Tourmalyte's eyes widened at the news of the date.

"Ar-are you sure?" Tourmalyte stuttered.

"Yes, totally sure. It's only a week and a half from Winter Wrap Up Day. Why do you ask?"

"N-no reason in particular. Just wanted to be sure." Tourmalyte glanced around nervously, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "Do you know where I can get a slab of stone and get it engraved?"

"You can do both at Lapis Mason's shop. He is three stores down the street leftwards once you leave here." Twilight replied. Tourmalyte got out of the bed immediately and walked out of the room, and, presumably, out of the hospital. Twilight then turned her attention back to Nathanius. "Do you know what was wrong with him?" She asked.

"No one ever knows what's wrong with him." Nathanius replied. Formalendale woke up and sat up, yawning as he did.

"So are you two ready for a tour of Ponyville?" Twilight asked, an edge to her voice alluding to her wanting to get out of the hospital.

"Yeah! But where's Tourma?" Formalendale asked, gesturing to the empty bed beside Nathanius.

"He went out to get a slab of stone engraved. In fact, he should be back any minute now. Mr. Mason doesn't often take too long with engraving." Just as Twilight finished saying that, Tourmalyte walked back into the room, stone slab in hand. He held the engraved side to his body so nobody could read it.

"So how'd it go?" Nathanius asked, gesturing to the slab.

"It went well enough. He offered the stone and the engraving to me for free. The hospitality of these ponies is amazing." Tourmalyte commented in a flat tone, tears still in the corners of his eyes. Formalendale seemed oblivious to the tears, however.

"Let's go take that tour now!" Formalendale suggested enthusiastically, having already gotten out of bed and walking halfway out the door.

"Alright then." Twilight said leading the three humans out of the hospital. As soon as they left the hospital, the humans were met with an assortment of looks. Some were of curiosity, some of hostility, but most were warm looks of hospitality. It appeared as if most of the ponies were friendly. It was then that two ponies walked up to the humans and Twilight. One of the ponies was a pure white Unicorn with a deep indigo mane and tail, both of which were curled and shined, with a trio of light blue diamonds as the mark on her flank. The other pony was a soft yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail. On her flank were three butterflies.

"Twilight, darling. Just what are these three things with you?" The white Unicorn asked, pointing her manicured hoof at the humans. Nathanius quickly adapted his mannerisms before speaking.

"My dear lady. We are not things, we are humans. Nathanius Aquus at your service." Nathaniel's said with a short bow. "May I have the honor of knowing you and your companion's names?" Nathanius finished off. The white Unicorn giggled slightly.

"My, my, such a gentlecolt. The name is Rarity. My friend here is Fluttershy." Rarity said, gesturing to the Pegasus who was hiding behind her mane.

"A pleasure to meet two fine girls today." Nathanius held out his right hand. Rarity placed her hoof in it as he leaned down slightly and gently kissed her hoof.

"Enough. You've had your fun Prince Aquus." Formalendale spoke with a chuckle. Nathanius cringed at the mention of his title.

"A prince?!" Rarity gasped.

"Umm... yeah." Nathanius said dejectedly. "My father is one of the four rulers of New Britania. So in essence, I am a prince. But I am not even worthy of the title." Nathanius spoke, hanging his head dejectedly.

"What do you mean by 'not worthy'? If that's alright with you." Fluttershy spoke softly.

"It's just... How am I supposed to be able to help lead and control a nation when I can't even keep my family safe when Lord Aquus is away? Tell me that." Nathanius retorted furiously. He closed his eyes as a single tear escaped from the closed lids. It was painfully obvious to everybody that the question was rhetorical. Tourmalyte's body quivered with pent up emotions as Nathanius wiped the lone tear away. Rarity and Fluttershy walked off upon seeing how emotional Nathanius was. It was then that Tourmalyte's senses went off at a familiar sensation, relaxing him immediately.

"Sugary aroma along with the distinct smell of crisped crust." Tourmalyte muttered before walking towards the enticingly familiar smell. He had gotten no more that three steps before he was tackled to the ground by a pink blur.

"Hi there! My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short. You must be new here, because I haven't seen you before. I want to welcome you to Ponyville by throwing you a party!" Was what one might have understood, if Pinkie Pie wasn't speaking at an intensely and insanely incomprehensible rate. Then, without any warning, Pinkie gasped and darted off towards where the smell was coming from, which was a building that strongly resembled a gingerbread house that was topped with cupcakes. Tourmalyte was only able to stare at where the pink mare used to be. Nathanius's brow furrowed at the illogical situation which had just occured.

"How is she able to do that?" Nathanius asked Twilight, gesturing to where Pinkie once stood.

"I think it's better off left unknown. I tried understanding her once, and it did not work at all." Twilight chuckled at Nathanius's still puzzled expression.

"But-but-but... fine." Nathanius sighed in defeat.

"I'll catch up with you guys later. I have some stuff I need to do." Tourmalyte said, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against the stone slab in his arms. Nathanius nodded as Tourmalyte started walking off.

"Look out below!" A brash voice shouted from above as a cyan and rainbow blur of color collided with Formalendale.

"What is with people getting tackled by ponies today?" Formalendale asked to nobody in general while the cyan Pegasus got off of him.

"Sorry about that. I guess my new move didn't work as well as I planned." The Pegasus quipped.

"Oh yeah, and what move could that be? Hospitalizing someone with a kamikazi dive." Formalendale shot back.

"Hey! You're just lucky I didn't put you in the hospital. It's not my fault that you were standing where I crashed."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted at the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow Dash seemed to pay no mind to anybody else as she took off into the sky. Twilight looked up into the sky after the Pegasus, only to notice the sun nearing the horizon. "It's getting late. Maybe we should head back to my house to recuperate." Twilight suggested. Her suggestion was met with nods from both Nathanius and Formalendale.

~(N)~

Nathanius, Formalendale, and Twilight were back at Twilight's house which was also a library.

"You actually live in a library? You are lucky. You can just walk over to the bookshelves at any time you want and just sit and read for hours upon hours." Nathanius said in awe, reaching for the door's handle.

"Hey guys." Tourmalyte said from behind the three, now having no stone slab burdening his arms.

"Hey, Tourma." Formalendale replied. Nathanius grabbed the handle and pulled down.

The inside of the library was dark. No lights or candles were lit at the moment.

"Spike, why are all the lights out?" Twilight called into the darkened abode. It was then that the lights flashed on.

"SURPRISE!" A group of ponies shouted as they erupted from hiding places from around the room. Amongst the ponies were Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail wearing a stetson. There were balloons tied to the tables and chairs, streamers stretching across the length of the room. There was even a banner, which took up most of the ceiling space.

Welcome to Ponyville

Nathanius, Formalendale, and Tourmalyte!

Nathanius, Formalendale, and Twilight jumped in fright at the sudden noise and light. Tourmalyte, however, didn't move at all, save for some twitching in his right arm. Then, involuntary tears sprang out from Tourmalyte's eyes.

"No... please stop..." Tourmalyte muttered softly and repeatedly, closing his eyes. He then turned tail and ran right out the door. Everypony took notice of his strange behaviour, especially Pinkie Pie.

"What happened to him? Nopony has ever run away from a Pinkie Pie Party before." Pinkie said to Nathanius and Formalendale.

"I don't know, but we have to find him." Nathanius said as he ran out the door after Tourmalyte. Formalendale, Pinkie, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and the orange pony followed suit as they chased after Tourmalyte as well.