The Music of Harmony

As soon as she closed her eyes, she heard a loud noise.

Beep, beep, beep.

She turned over to see the source, and was annoyed, but not surprised, to see it was the alarm clock. The bright red numbers showed that it was four o'clock.

No, she thought with determination. I will not get up. I don't care if I have to save the world. I won't wake up at four in the morning.

She put a pillow over her head to drown out the incessant beeping. The other ponies seemed to do the same. Eventually, even Vinyl Scratch couldn't take it anymore.

"Octavia!" She shouted. "If you don't turn that thing off in ten seconds, I'm gonna drop your cello off of town hall."

Octavia's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"Believe me, I would."

She sighed and turned off the alarm. It wasn't worth fighting with Vinyl Scratch, especially not this early.

Vinyl pulled the blanket back up over her head.

"Thank you," she muttered.

The memories of saving Luna came back to her, and suddenly she remembered why she had set her alarm so early. She sat up quickly; energy flowing back into her body.

"Vinyl, we need to wake up. Right now."

"No. You can't make me."

Octavia's voice took a more sinister tone.

"We'll just see about that."

She walked up casually to the couch, and pushed Vinyl off of it. She hit the ground with a loud yelp.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"I told you to get up," she said calmly. "And you didn't."

Vinyl threw up her hooves in surrender.

"Fine. I'm up. What now?"

"Now we need to wake up the rest of them," she said, gesturing at the other four ponies who were still sleeping around the room.

Octavia and Vinyl went to each of the ponies and gently nudged them. They awoke slowly. None of them seemed too excited to get up at four A.M.

"C'mon Octavia," Lyra whined. "Can't we just wait another hour?"

"No, Lyra," she said firmly. "Celestia is going to come any minute. We can't afford to be late."

Octavia grabbed a scarf and threw it around her neck.

"I would advise you to dress warm. It gets cold around here in the mornings," she added.

Vinyl finished waking the other ponies and walked into the kitchen.

"I'm going to make a pot of coffee," she said.

"Vinyl, we don't have time for that," Octavia said. "Hurry up and get ready."

Vinyl turned and stared at her blankly.

"You wake me up at four and dump me off the couch. The least you could do is let me make one pot of coffee."

Octavia gave up. "Fine. Just make it quick. We need to get out the door as soon as possible."

She left to make sure that everypony was ready to go.

Octavia couldn't help but feel nervous. She did her best to hide it, but it was impossible. After hundreds of musical performances, she thought she knew how to deal with stress. This was different. The future of every pony in Equestria, including herself, rested on what she did this morning. It was too much to comprehend, so she didn't bother trying.

After they had all dressed warmly and had a few cups of coffee, they were pumped up and focused. All of them had some nerves, but they pushed it to the back of their minds. It was way too late to turn back now.

Luna's Army, as they liked to call themselves, headed out the door and to the Everfree Forest. The morning was sunny, but brisk. Dew from the previous night was gathered on the grass, and it made their hooves wet as they walked. The cold air made them shiver, and Octavia was grateful for her scarf.

After walking silently through a thin layer of fog, a line of trees appeared on the horizon. They had arrived. Whether that was a good thing or not was still debatable.

They started searching for Princess Luna. After looking for what seemed like forever, Lyra finally spoke up.

"Are you sure she's here?" Lyra asked. "She could be deeper in the forest or something."

Octavia was shaking under all the stress.

"I... I don't know. Just keep trying," she said quietly.

She turned around and started looking a little farther away. Her mind was awfully busy, and she almost didn't notice when she walked straight into a pony.

"Sorry," she muttered.

She went around the pony and kept walking.

"Looking for something?" Asked the pony in a familiar voice.

Octavia's eyes widened when she heard her voice. She looked up to see who it was. Right in front of her was Princess Luna; staring coldly back at her. But beneath that coldness was a bit of sadness, as if she felt sorry that Octavia had come. It was enough to make Octavia shudder.

"Luna! I have so much to say to you. We all got back together and-"

Luna cut her off. "Did I not tell you to stay home and never look for me?"

She was a bit taken aback. "Well, yes, but you have to understand-"

"I did not want you to come. You will surely be hurt, or maybe even killed. Not to mention that you can not work together, which will make your presence meaningless. I was ready to die alone. I do not need you to die with me."

"No! Luna, please listen to me," she begged. "We changed. We apologized and got back together again. We would do anything to help you, and none of us want to watch you die. I know you feel forgotten sometimes, but we care about you, Luna. There was no way that we could go through our day knowing that we had just let you down."

The other ponies noticed the argument and went over to join them. Luna looked at them all silently.

"I knew we might get hurt, but it's worth it for the sake of Equestria. We will fight for you, even if it is a lost cause."

The coldness slowly seeped away from Luna's eyes. She even smiled, although it was a sad one.

"And you all understand what is at stake? It will take only your best effort to make this work," Luna said.

The other ponies nodded.

"Then until our last breaths, let us fight side by side, as friends. Through wins and losses, success and failures, we will never hang our heads or accept defeat. If that is done, this battle can be won."

Luna stopped and turned her head to a sound that the others could barely make out.

"They are coming. Prepare yourselves to fight."

She stopped talking and stared straight ahead. The other ponies jumped around and gritted their teeth. They had all been through some skirmishes, but nothing close to a battle with an immortal princess. None of them knew exactly what to expect.