Tree of Harmony

Chapter Three:

True strength is found.

Aura winced, stopping her frantic gallop, as the burst of magic vanished from her mind.

“My love,” The king came to a halt eyeing his wife in question.

“Briar Heart,” she whispered softly.

“Then we must truly hurry now.”

The walls of the hidden room shuddered against the devastation outside but the noises of battle began to wane.

“The ponies cannot hope hold out against the dragons alone,” Tree Song hissed quietly.

“The King and Queen command us to stay and defend their daughters,” I whispered back.

“No, they only ordered us to protect them,” She paused and placed her charred hand on my shoulder. “They only command you to stay.”

Unable to speak another word to her, Song rallied my remaining brethren and left me to the filly Alicorns.

In battle minutes can feel of hours, I had found, but now it seemed of days pasted since Song left. Little Celestia was cowering in the corner with her sister Luna. The look of fear shone on their faces, breaking my heart. I cast my head down defeated but something I could not have expected to have occurred happened. A small hoof poked at my leg, Tia was looking up at me her eyes glowing slightly.

“Mommy told me a secret.” I stood in awe as the sounds outside the room began to hush.

“What was that, my princess?”

“Mommy told me, she saw you protect us in a dream and she said that you would stop the bad dragon.”

“Did she?”

“Yes, I’m not scared anymore now cause I remembered it and I know you won’t let the monsters hurt us.” She smiled at me, so full of certainty that I found myself believing it. I knelt down in front of the tiny Alicorn, placing my forehead against her small horn and spoke my oath as I had done once before; to her mother.

“The mother forest as witness,” I recited feeling a small spark tingle from her tiny horn. “I pledge myself to you, till my sap run dry, till my bark breaks and crumbles, and till I return to the forest that bur me.” The tingle became a humming buzz that rang in my ears. “I will protect you.”

I stood, my wounds no longer feeling the burns they carried. Celestia only smiled at me but I felt energy in my sap unlike any before. The sound of claws scrapping across the stone, seeking our location, met my ears.

“Stay here Celestia and keep the door shut behind you.” I drew Warden’s blade, a strange blue glow pulsed from it. I turned to face her as the door opened and smiled.

The dragon gurgled as my sword cut into his hide, slicing him as if parchment. The humming in my ears formed in a voice, formed into Mendy’s sweet tone.

“You promised me, you promised me that we wouldn't fail.” Her voice echoed in my mind as the next dragon fell before me, its claws tearing at my bark but no pain greeted me.

“I did, my love.” A tear ran down my cheek. My eyes burned at the next target and to my surprise the dragon flinched. “We won’t fail.” The sword cut forward as a flash of orange magic cascaded from the hilt and covered the blade. The wound burned from the dragon as it fell into a pile of smoldering blood.

“Together,” her voice whispered lovingly in my mind.

“Together.” The words left my lips as my blade cut down another. The floor gained a new occupant to join the piles of broken scales and hides. My pony allies had fought hard and proved themselves more than their foes expected it seemed. Holding the glowing blade in front of my sight, the light shone upon the forms of my fallen brethren. They lay in a small circle surrounding the three slain unicorns they gave their lives to protect. Their weapons burnt down to the hilts and their armor mere dust on the floor but around them laid fallen dragons beyond count; piled almost to the ceiling of the throne room.

“Together,” Song’s voice joined Mendy.

“We fight for each other,” I spoke, kneeling down, and kissing Tree Song’s cold cheek. Golden light erupted from the blade and covered my tattered armor. The petrinite mended itself and the burden vanished from its weight.

“Stronger than the darkness alone,” The voices sang gently.

“Stronger,” A fireball blasted off me as the words ended but the fire neither burned nor was felt. I cut the beast down, cleaving its head to the floor; to join the others. The hall ended with a pile of slain dragons that blocked it completely. The Earth ponies and pegasi that lay with them on the stone floor were testament to our conviction. Without hesitating I turned back to passage I had taken earlier. The rampart opened up to me and I saw the monstrous form of the Dragon King; locked in battle with the Alicorns that assaulted. I shuddered, moving to the stairs that led down. I spotted Green between the littered corpses of his foes, impaled by Ebonwood bolts too swallow to have been fired. He was suspended in the claws of the last dragon he fell. The bolt he still grasped in his cold hands, rammed through its heart.

“I told you sprouting, never give up.” His laughter filled me.

“Never,” I chuckled; a pink glow lightly ran around from everywhere but also nowhere. The twisting mass of pink encased me as a smile grew over my lips. I faced the battle below me, the towering dragon, and my fear was simply no more. I watched the Alicorns battle against their foe, magic erupting into the air around them in such powerful blasts the sky echoed. The remaining dragons simply sat on the ramparts, the Dragon King –in his pride- must have ordered them out so his intended victory would be his and his alone. I pushed myself over the courtyard, fighting to find purchase in the devastation. Entire sections of earth had moved as if the very mountains had made claim to grounds. I found my way to the center of the yard and was greeted by the leader of all our Hierophants, still alive. Briar Heart lay in a puddle of ashen sap mumbling the name of her husband over and over as if time had no end. She lifted her head I approached, the wild magic still burning in her eyes.

“You,” sap trickled out gently with her word. “Th-that light,” Briar turned her gaze to ash and then back to me. “He was taken from me and I thought I could do,” I quickly knelt down as she fought on the sap that choked her words. Shaking her head, Briar weakly pushed me back. “I thought I could do nothing but now I see that I was wrong.” She placed a hand to my head and a pale purple glow replaced the green in her burning eyes. “The Dragon King forgot one thing, sapling.” She offered a weak smile to me. “We Dryad are much like our trees.”

“Briar,” I held her battered form in a gentle embrace.

“When you cut us down, our energy feeds those that remain and if there should be but one that still stands.” Her words softened and I found myself drawing the embrace in to hear.

“Take all that is left of us and all that is left of me,” The light began to fade from her as she fell limp in my arms.

“Remind the foul beast of our true magic and purge him from this land.”

Her words faded only to be replaced by surge, emotions, memories, my brethren filled my soul. The courtyard burst in my sight as a storm of fire burst forth from above. The body of my queen fell from the sky but somehow I caught her; not with hands but with a force that sprang from inside me. Purple light stained my vision as my queen weakly looked to me.

“He is coming.”

“You cannot hide from me nor can your little whelps, Aura,” a bellowing roar shook the ground.

“The king,” I spoke with hesitation. My queen’s head rocked gently.

“My daughters?”

“Safe, your majesty.”

The queen looked deeply into my eyes and hers in turn widened.

“What has happened to you, Dryad?”

“Touching,” The voice born of only malice spoke, dripping droplets of fire to the ground in front of us. I levitated the queen to safety and faced my death bringer with only conviction.

“Oh, another piece of kindling for my fire it seems.” A cold laughter filled the air. “No matter, pests are soon dealt with.” His maw opened as a river of molten fire sprayed forth.

A pure white light bathed out from my core.

“For our King,” I spoke watching the fire slowly draw near.

“For our queen,” The voices within me surged forth.

”For my brethren,” I ready my blade and shot forth towards the flames.

“For Celestia and Luna,” The voices crescendo into the white light and spilt into colors that coated me. A purple shield forced the flames back as my blade burst into a rainbow of light striking the Dragon King and marring deeply into his flesh. Scales fell to the ground around me as black blood gushed over the blade.

“What,” The Dragon King bellowed in rage. “What is this, what are you?” He raked his claws against the shield, small cracks forming across it. “You dare to strike me, to wound me,” slamming the full weight of his size against the barrier it shatters; a flurry of swipes assaults my armor but my body and armor heal with each blow. Striking back, my sword digs into his side again and again without pause.

“You are nothing, not even your immortal king could stop me.” Another blast from his maw bursts over me. The fire clears and I yet remain standing to charge again; costing the foul king another deep wound.

“I will rip you apart while you’re dying queen watches in horror.” A hidden blow from his tail slams me back against the rampart behind me. Sap springs from my mouth but the energy to stand comes freely.

“You cannot slay me, weakling.” I watch as he charges forth again. The rainbow of colors gleaming on my blade brightens.

“No,” I whisper softly. “I cannot because you deserve more than death, beast.” I cry out, the glow becoming a radiant sun in my grasp.

The little filly bounced in the courtyard looking up at me as my wife watched on smiling.

“Do you know what mommy told me today?”

Thrusting the blade out, I thought not of anger, hatred, or revenge but of my princess.

I ruffle her pink mane as she giggles at me.
The sword pierced into the thick scales and burrowed itself deeper; towards his black heart.
“What did she tell you?”

The dragon howled in agony as light sprang forth from his battered hide encasing his entirety within it.

“Mommy said the best way to stop someone mean was to make them your friend.”

The light dissipated and only a large purple and green egg remained in a small crater. The energy faded from my body as my healed wounds slowly began to open up again. My armor crumbled off, breaking against the ground below me; unable to hold myself up any longer I joined it.

“Are you frightened?” I turned my head to see my queen, broken as I, next to me.

“No, I just wish could’ve seen her once more.”

“Perhaps, you will.”

I turn my head back to sky the watch the sunrise. The remaining dragons had already taken flight and where flying into the distance beyond.

“Why,” I coughed heavily, feeling the pain rise in my trunk. “Why, are they leaving?”

“The Dragon King is destroyed and his possession on them as well. They are mindless beasts no more.”

“You knew,” I managed a quite chuckle between rasps.

“I hoped.”

I watched my queen slowly rise to her hooves and over to the dormant egg. Her magic, weak but steady, pulled my blade from the crater and floated it back to me.

“Aura, my queen, please you’re gravely injured.”

“And you are dying, my friend.” Smiling sadly over me, she levitated the blade. “I must ask of you one more thing; even though, you have already given so much.”

“Take this weapon, everything it is and will continue be, and join with it.” I nod and close my eyes.

“Tell Celestia that she was right, for me.”

“One day, Ever Free, you can tell my little filly yourself.”

The dryad remained still as the blade foraged from the collective emotion and love of his entire race penetrated his battered body. The same rainbow of light I saw defeat the dragon envelopes him as he is lifted into the air. Charred bark heals and grows, forming out longer limbs that seek down into the dark soil beneath as others branch out towards the rising sun. Shielding my eyes from the light with a battered wing the final image of my dream is before me. The tree of harmony stands and deep within it gently beats the heart of my dear friend.