The Music of Harmony

The Princess and six other figures soon came into view. Luna continued to stare, nearly motionless, until they were close enough to see clearly. When Celestia felt at a safe distance, she stopped. They stared silently, evaluating each other for a few seconds until Celestia spoke.

"Hello, sister. It's been a while," she said.

"It has."

"Are you sure you don't want to give up? I could turn away and let you live right now if you so wish."

All Luna could manage was to shake her head. Celestia's eyes narrowed.

"Then prepare to die."

She called Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash to her side. Luna did the same with her defenders. Suddenly, Luna stepped back in surprise. She looked around, clearly confused.

"Wh... Where are the Elements of Harmony?" She stammered.

"Oh. I'm glad you noticed," Celestia said coldly. "You see, I can't kill you and your friends here. It would be a bit too messy and I can't risk the other ponies finding out about it. It would hurt my reputation. It would be much better just to capture you and bring you back to the castle first."

"But what are you-"

"Oh, Luna. I have my plans and you have yours. I couldn't share everything with you, now could I?" She said in mock enthusiasm.

Celestia turned to her defenders.

"Capture the other six. I will take care of Luna."

She smiled, but not in a kind way.

"Let's begin."

The fourteen ponies rushed at each other before any of them had time to think. Vinyl Scratch pursed Rainbow Dash in pure rage. They had never known each other personally, but it did not stop them from having an intense hatred. Vinyl sprinted towards her and dived at her hooves. If she could get her on the ground, she could win this fight. Rainbow Dash looked at her casually and then flew straight up, causing Vinyl to hit nothing but the ground.

"Ha ha! Loser!" She called down to her dazed opponent. "You'll have to do better than that."

Vinyl got up and shook off the dust. She did not respond.

"Oh, giving up already? I can't blame you. I am pretty amazing," she boasted.

Suddenly, a grey pegasus smashed straight into Rainbow Dash at top speed, knocking her on the dirt. Vinyl grinned at her menacingly.

"Yeah. Amazingly stupid. Do you really think that we would have a team without a pegasus? I thought you were smart."

Rainbow picked herself up.

"Impressive. Maybe this won't be such a boring battle after all," she said.

Vinyl lunged and got ahold of her this time. The weight was too much for her to fly away, and Vinyl started attacking. There was little style to it. They kicked and punched at each other with everything they had, both of them inflicting as much pain as possible. After only a few minutes, their bodies were slick and their manes matted down with blood. Vinyl began to feel woozy. Rainbow noticed this, and a sinister smile crept onto her face.

"A little tired, are you? Don't worry, it will all be over quickly."

Vinyl desperately tried to steady herself. She wiped the blood out of her eyes and charged again with everything she had.

Immediately, she felt a sharp pain right across her jaw. Applejack had got her with a surprise blow. The force of it made her drop to the ground, but this time, she was unable to get back up. Gradually, she felt her consciousness slipping away.

"Thanks, Applejack," said Rainbow in what seemed like a far off voice. "That's one down, five more to go."

Then everything went black.

Slowly, the lights switched back on in Vinyl's brain. She tried her best to shake the cobwebs and focus on her surroundings. When it came into view, Vinyl wished she could be unconscious again.

Around her were her five friends, in similar broken and bloody states. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be dead, which made Vinyl breathe a sigh of relief. They had all taken quite a beating from Celestia's army, which seemed to be well-trained.

I wonder how such nice ponies could turn so evil, she thought. They didn't seem to care about what happened to us. From what I hear on the streets, they are wonderful ponies to be around, so why did they attack us in cold blood?

Vinyl contemplated this for a minute. The answer soon became very clear.

Duh. They have only heard what Celestia told them. They think that we are evil and disloyal. If Luna hadn't convinced me first, I probably would have believed the same thing.

She looked at her friends once again. They really did look horrible.

But still, can't they see how brutally they fought us? It doesn't seem right.

Vinyl no longer wanted to think about it, so she entertained herself by looking around the room.

It was not a happy place. Her five friends and herself were tied to chairs with a thin rope. She struggled and fought to get free, but it was no use. The rope was bonded with magic. She gave up and continued looking. In the corner of the room was a large magical sphere. Something was inside it, but she couldn't quite make out what it was.

Suddenly, her eyes opened wide in surprise. Inside the magical sphere was the the frozen figure of Princess Luna. It all began to make sense. Luna could break out of the chairs easily, so Celestia had trapped her in the one thing she couldn't avoid, time. Luna's expression was still that of shock, and Vinyl began to realize that Celestia was even more powerful than she let on.

It was too much. Vinyl closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, but to no avail. She couldn't ignore the fact that every pony in the room would soon be dead. She searched through her mind, hoping for a plan or escape route. She thought harder and harder, until she couldn't think anymore.

Still, there was nothing.

Her breathing got shallower, and she broke down crying. Vinyl had cried before, but never like this. There was nothing she could do to stop it or make herself feel better. Every time she had ever felt sad before, she could cheer herself up by knowing that tomorrow would be better. This time, there was no tomorrow to look forward to.

She heard the sound of a pony stirring, but she was too hysterical to care.

"Vinyl? What's wrong?" Said the pony.

Vinyl turned to the sound of the voice, finding that it was Octavia. She continued to sob.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?" She yelled in frustration. "We're all going to die! That's what's wrong!"

"Please don't cry, Vinyl," she said weakly. "It's not so bad."

"Not so bad? We just got beat to near death, Princess Luna is trapped in a time bubble, and Celestia will be down here any minute to finish us off! How could it possibly be worse?"

"Well, we could have died alone. But we're here together... as friends."

She smiled sadly. Vinyl's anger subsided, and her crying was reduced to a loud sniffling.

"But Octavia... I don't want to die here. I never made it to one of your concerts. There's still so much I want to do..."

"You've done so much for me already, Vinyl. If I die here, I will die happy, knowing I lived a good life."

Vinyl managed to smile back.

"Only the good die young, right?"

"Right," Octavia said softly.

The other ponies began to wake. Their eyes fluttered open, and most of them were too shocked to react. Derpy spoke first, with a nervous edge in her voice.

"Wh... Where are we? Doctor? What happened to us?" She said to the brown earth pony.

"We've been captured," he said in a sad monotone.

"But what can we do? There has to be some way out of here."

Derpy pulled against the ropes on her chair. It did not budge.

"Please Doctor. Help me," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

He said nothing. All he could do was stare at the ground.

"No... Please. Don't do this to me... I can't..."

She stopped. The full wake of what had happened finally hit her. It was over, and there was nothing left for them to do.

"It's okay, Derpy," said Bon-Bon. "We're all in this together."

"But... I don't want it to end like this. Not after all we've been through. I mean... we were just starting to become friends. I never had many friends, and as soon as I get them, my life is over. It's all wrong. How could something so wonderful be gone so fast? We were only together for a day."

"Well, Derpy, as short as it was, that one day was one of the best of my life. I am grateful for it, no matter how it ends," Bon-Bon said.

"I agree," said Lyra. "Being with you guys was more than I could have asked for. We had our problems, but overcame them. We may have lost, but I would do it again in a heartbeat."

"We will die, but we will die as friends," Bon-Bon added.

"And that," said Octavia. "Is worth dying for."

The other ponies nodded and smiled at each other. Not another tear was shed.

Shortly after, the sound of hoofsteps pierced the silence. The door swung open, revealing Princess Celestia and the other six ponies. They were all wearing the Elements of Harmony around their necks. If it had been any other circumstances, it would have been beautiful. Instead, they were met by looks of slight annoyance.

Rainbow Dash walked straight up to Vinyl Scratch. She smirked.

"Hi, Vinyl. How's it going?"

Vinyl glared at her, but did not respond.

"I'll give you credit, you really delivered a beating out there. It's just too bad you were on the wrong side. That's going to cost you."

Vinyl stayed silent.

"Aw, c'mon Vinyl. You need to lighten up. Don't you have any last words or something?"

She thought for a while, and then grinned brightly.

"Actually, I do have something to say to you, Dash."

"And what would that be?"

"Fuck off."

Her eyes flashed with anger for a second, and then faded back to normal. She laughed a little.

"Oh, Vinyl. I normally would have killed you for saying that, but that would be kind of pointless because you're going to die pretty soon anyway."

"Hey Dash!" Called Twilight Sparkle from the other side of the room. "Quit playing with the enemy, will you? Let's just get this over with."

Dash stepped back from Vinyl Scratch and walked back to her friends.

"Enjoy the rest of your pathetic life," she said. "It won't be very long."

“Wow,” said Derpy. “You’re a total jerk.”

Rainbow stopped walking and turned to face the pegasus.

“What did you just say to me?”

“I said you’re a jerk. I thought you were supposed to be all loyal and super awesome. You're pretty much thought of as a hero across Equestria, you know."

"For your information, I am loyal and awesome. I deserve to be known as a hero."

Derpy shook her head.

"No, you're not. You and your friends just beat us up and are going to kill us. Then you come in and mock us, smearing our faces in the dirt one last time before we die. That doesn't sound very heroic to me."

"Yeah, right," she snorted. "You're one to talk about heroism, supporting Luna."

"No, Princess Luna is the good one. Whatever Celestia told you is all lies. Luna's trying to stop her. I don't know why you don't get it."

Rainbow leaned closer, to the point where their noses almost touched.

"It doesn't matter, Derpy. Nothing you say here matters. Every trace of your existence will be removed by tomorrow. It's like you had never been born. Plead all you want, it makes no difference."

Derpy just stared at her blankly.

"You're an idiot. Not only that, you're arrogant and a jerk. Don't you feel the slightest bit of sorrow that you're murdering seven ponies for no reason? I'm getting concerned about you, Rainbow Dash. I think you need some professional help."

Rainbow's voice quivered in anger. "Listen, you little mentally retarded bitch. If you don't shut up, I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna what, Rainbow Dash?" asked Derpy calmly. "Are you gonna kill me? Because I think you've already got that covered."

Rainbow tried to say something, but nothing came out. She glared at her one last time and then stomped away angrily.

"By the way," Derpy called to her. "I prefer the term mentally challenged."

As soon as she was gone, Vinyl started laughing.

"That was great, Derpy! You totally just showed her up."

Derpy smiled. "Well, what was I supposed to do? I wasn't about to let one of my friends be insulted like that. She deserved it."

"Hell yeah. I can't stand that pony."

They beamed at each other. Not a hint of sadness was shown on their faces.